Prehistoric Illustration: Semiotically Unlocking and Learning from Early Visual Communication

TY - GEN

T1 - Prehistoric Illustration

T2 - 10th International Conference on Illustration and Animation

AU - Wood, Dave

PY - 2023/7/6

Y1 - 2023/7/6

N2 - This paper aims to do three things. Firstly, it aims to make the case that the roots of illustration and visual communication stretch back to the dark cave walls during the last Ice Age. In doing so, secondly this paper orientates the reader into the basics of Peirce’s semiotic sign-action (Semiosis), as a phenomenological framework applied to illustration to enhance visual communications with a primary target audience. This will then lead to the third aim, which is to demonstrate how semiotics pervades every image in some way, whether intentionally or not. To illustrate how Semiosis works and how it can help modern illustrators to encode stronger levels of meaning in their work; we will see how Semiosis can still unlock meaning in paintings over 45,000 years old.

AB - This paper aims to do three things. Firstly, it aims to make the case that the roots of illustration and visual communication stretch back to the dark cave walls during the last Ice Age. In doing so, secondly this paper orientates the reader into the basics of Peirce’s semiotic sign-action (Semiosis), as a phenomenological framework applied to illustration to enhance visual communications with a primary target audience. This will then lead to the third aim, which is to demonstrate how semiotics pervades every image in some way, whether intentionally or not. To illustrate how Semiosis works and how it can help modern illustrators to encode stronger levels of meaning in their work; we will see how Semiosis can still unlock meaning in paintings over 45,000 years old.

KW - Peirce

KW - Cave Art

KW - Sign-action

KW - Semiosis

KW - Semiotics

KW - Palaeoillustrator

KW - Palaeontology

KW - Illustration

UR - https://confia.ipca.pt/publications

M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 9789895493999

VL - 10

SP - 414

EP - 421

BT - CONFIA 2023

PB - Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave

CY - Portugal

Y2 - 6 July 2023 through 7 July 2023

ER -