No, it’s not easy to admit, I have been a professional illustrator for almost 10 years and I haven’t thought much about the definition of it – to explain or make (something) clear. It is derived from the latin, illustrare – to shed light on.
On the contrary, one thing I have thought a lot about over those 10 years is how most people I’ve worked with struggle to see something in their mind’s eye – an inability to imagine. I’ve described ideas in words, talked about plots and structures over coffee, written down explanations of characters and sequences of events, but nothing works like drawing. Nothing.
Perhaps it’s because I need to be better with words? That’s probably true. But I’ve learned a more likely reason is because people need to see the idea… all of it… on the page… to experience an emotional reaction to it – and drawings evoke emotions fast (in some studies, just 13 milliseconds!).
Once someone experiences a feeling, they can do something with it – describe it, react to it, understand where it comes from, or how the stimulus (the image) could be changed to heighten or dampen that feeling. Once something is on the page, everyone has an opinion on it – what it could or should be. That can be difficult to hear and manage sometimes, but it’s more useful than “I can’t see what you see”.
As it turns out then, the definition of illustration still holds true – drawing, more than anything, helps to shed light on things that otherwise sit in the dark. I like that idea.