MED Profile
Visual thinking: the key to illustrating dictionaries

An interview with cartoonist Martin Shovel

Martin Shovel has been a professional illustrator for more than twenty years. His clients include a long list of dictionary publishers and his characteristic cartoon-style illustrations can be found in the recently published Second Edition of the Macmillan English Dictionary and Macmillan Phrasal Verbs Plus (2005). In this short question-and-answer session, you can find out more about illustrating dictionaries and the power of visual thinking.

How long have you been illustrating dictionaries and what was it that drew you to illustrating this very specific type of book?
Martin Shovel: I’ve been illustrating dictionaries for more than ten years and have been fascinated by words and dictionaries all my life. After university, I taught English to foreign students for a few years and while teaching I developed some materials which were eventually published as a book called Making Sense of Phrasal Verbs. The book needed lots of illustrations and the publishers asked me if I’d like to do them. They didn’t mind that I hadn’t drawn since I was a small child because it meant I’d be a lot cheaper than a ‘proper’ illustrator! Fortunately, my book was a success - it’s been in print for over twenty years - and it launched my career as a cartoon illustrator. I think that the success of my book combined with my background in language teaching are the two main reasons I’ve been asked to illustrate so many EFL books and dictionaries.

What do you think makes dictionary illustrations so popular?
Martin Shovel: I can’t put it better than Alice in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland who asked ‘what is the use of a book, without pictures or conversations?' Endless pages of text can be a bit boring. Illustrations create space within the text, making the page easier on the eye, as well as giving the reader some idea of what the words are about. Cartoon-style illustrations also bring a touch of humour to the reading experience, which is a good thing because relaxed brains learn much better than tense ones.

Could you describe the process of creating an illustration for a dictionary entry?
Martin Shovel: I think about the word, or phrase, I’m illustrating and let images pop into my head. Words that describe simple actions or things - like ‘injection’ and ‘blink’ - are usually the easiest to illustrate. It’s simply a matter of drawing what they conjure up in my mind’s eye. Phrasal verbs are more of a challenge because they are abstract concepts. You have to turn an abstract concept into something concrete in order to draw it; and the best way to do that is to make it into a story. For example, when I set about illustrating the phrasal verb ‘own up’ for the Macmillan English Dictionary, I began by asking myself the question ‘who is confessing to having done what to whom?’ When I started experimenting with various answers to this question, a rich cast of characters, relationships and possible stories emerged.

The who is a small boy, the whom is a grownup, and the what is a broken bottle on the floor. The image freeze-frames a moment in the middle of a story. It shows us the results of something that happened just before and it contains clues as to what might happen next. All we really know is that the small boy is implicated in the breaking of the bottle and that the grownup is thinking carefully about what to do about it. The lack of detailed information draws readers into the story because it invites them to come up with their own explanation of what has happened and what is going to happen as a consequence.

I draw up my ideas in pencil as I’m thinking of them – in fact the drawing process is part of how I do my thinking – and when I’m happy with them I scan the ‘pencil roughs’ into my computer and email them off to the editor for approval. Sometimes we bat them back and forth a few times, and when everyone’s happy, I draw up a line version by hand in ink, scan it in and then colour it on the computer before emailing it off for printing.

What do you find the most challenging about illustrating dictionaries?
Martin Shovel: Taking an abstract concept and finding a simple, concrete and clear way of representing it in one image.

Computer technology has affected the way illustrations are made these days. What do you consider to be the new technology’s advantages and disadvantages?
Martin Shovel: I’ve worked on a computer for many years now, and I love the way that it enables me to add effects like flat colour, airbrushing and so on at the click of a Wacom pen and tablet. Email has speeded up the process enormously, too. On the downside, the ease with which people can use and manipulate clipart has tempted some clients to cut down on commissioning original, bespoke artwork from illustrators like me. Not everyone appears to value the fact that a bespoke illustration is always going to be more successful than a piece of clipart when it comes to finding a visual solution. In the case of cartoons, especially, it’s the cartoonist’s ideas that the client is commissioning as much as his/her drawing skills.

You apply a very simple cartoon-style drawing which has general appeal amongst dictionary-users all round the world. What is the secret of the success of your illustrations?
Martin Shovel: Simplicity really is the key here. Good cartoon illustrations cross the boundaries of age and culture, which is probably why they are used so widely in language-learning textbooks. Cartoon images can be easily understood by adults and children alike, and they help to bring words and ideas to life in ways that appeal to the emotions as well as to the intellect. The use of animal and human characters helps to achieve this, and I try to make mine as amusing and sympathetic as possible.

In your opinion what special skills and talents does an illustrator need?
Martin Shovel: Being able to draw is obviously necessary but it’s not enough, because illustrators also have to be problem-solvers too - they have to be able to distil the essence of a complex idea and communicate it simply and effectively to a very broad audience.

In addition to illustration work, you also run regular workshops on visual thinking and communication. What is visual thinking and what is its significance in one’s daily work?
Martin Shovel: Visual thinking is thinking in pictures, images, shapes and patterns. It’s something we do from a very early age, long before we learn to think in words.

As much as half of our brain is devoted to visual thinking and processing. It dominates what goes on inside our heads, and links directly with the emotions and the senses. Advertisers know how powerful the visual imagination is, which is why they use images and image-based language to sell things to us.

In contrast to other kinds of thinking - like number thinking and word thinking - visual thinking has been sadly neglected in our education system. This may be because it comes so naturally to children that they don't seem to need to learn how to do it. Whatever the reason, the result of this neglect is that most people never learn how to develop and realize their amazing visual thinking potential.

In my workshops I try to redress this imbalance by helping people to discover how paying attention to their visual thinking skills can reap lots of benefits in their daily lives and work.

For example, pictures make ideas more tangible – that's why people talk about the importance of having a 'vision' of where you want to get to. Visual thinking enables you to share and inspire others with your vision.

Being able to draw your ideas out also has the great benefit of enabling people to share them with you, and literally ‘see what you mean’. And when you're looking for ways to communicate a complex idea simply and powerfully, sometimes a drawing or cartoon can distil and capture its essence like nothing else.

Another area where visual thinking is very powerful is in language. We all know that compelling speakers and charismatic leaders use visual imagery in their language. By using more imagery and metaphor, presenters and speakers are able to hold people’s attention more easily and get their message across memorably and with much greater impact.

What do your workshops entail?
Martin Shovel: All our workshops are about getting your message across. Whether it’s about finding the right words - and word pictures - or about creating visual images using drawing, we want people to enjoy the experience of discovering their visual thinking abilities and putting them to productive use in the work they do.

We put on two regular open workshops: Words that Move Mountains, and Cartoon Drawing for Trainers and Facilitators. Words that Move Mountains is a masterclass in the art of presentation, aimed at people who have to make important speeches and presentations. We ask our participants to bring along a speech or presentation they want to work on and, by paying close attention to the way they use language and how they shape their ideas using metaphor and imagery, we help them develop something that will really work for them. It’s done in a very small group – no more than six – so everyone gets plenty of individual attention.

Our cartooning workshop for trainers, teachers and facilitators is for people who want to learn how to draw and use cartooning in their work. As well as learning the basics of drawing, participants are taught how to make use of cartooning to create powerful learning experiences. We often run this in-house for training teams, or groups of teachers.

As well as our two open workshops, we design bespoke sessions for management teams, sales teams and others. One area where visual thinking is really useful is when people have to explain complex or technical ideas to non-specialist audiences. By learning how to use language that’s concrete and visual rather than abstract and jargon-laden, people who work with us find that their communication skills suddenly improve dramatically!

Useful links

For more information about Martin’s illustrations, visit his website at: http://www.shovel.co.uk

To find out more about CreativityWorks and its workshops, go to: http://www.creativityworks.net and http://www.creativityworks.net/page2/page2.html

You can sign up for CreativityWorks’ free monthly newsletter at: http://www.creativityworks.net/page7/page21/page21.html