Illustrations tempt kids to love books

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): Zainun is lazy and Zaenab is diligent. Although different in nature, the twin sisters both have beautiful long hair.

After their mother passed away, Zainun became lazier and left her hair unkempt, enabling the queen of fleas to do anything in her power to stay in her messy mane.

Using colorful and expressive pictures, illustrator Junaidi Syam of Yogyakarta tries to make children interested and, most of all, understand the story Anak yang Diterbangkan Kutu (A Child Flown Away by Lice).

In each illustration, young readers can easily distinguish between the characters of the twins.

Zainun is shown asleep or being carried by their mother on their back. In contrast, Zainab helps her mother cook and wash, or plays outside the house in bright sunlight.

Junaidi's illustration was selected the winner in a children's storybook illustration competition on Wednesday. He won Rp 5 million.

Three other illustration works also were commended by the jury. Each won Rp 3.5 million.

Tjiptoningtyas of Bandung was honored for his illustration taken from East Nusa Tenggara's folk story Kera dan Penyu (Monkey and Turtle), and Fathul Mudjib of Yogyakarta was picked for his piece, also adapted from a folk story from the province, Asal Mula Kera (The Origin of the Ape).

Dodi Rosadi from Bandung was selected for his illustration based on the West Kalimantan folk story, Lempaung dan Mandau Pusaka (Lempaung and the Mandau Heirloom). Lempaung is the name of the story's main character who receives the Mandau, a weapon, from a god.

The competition, held by the Ministry of Education and Culture's Directorate General of Culture, is expected to encourage illustrators and artists alike to produce fresh, imaginative, creative and innovative illustrations, which reflect the present development in the commercial book industry for children. It also was intended to increase the popularity of children's folk stories.

The committee received 87 illustrations from 76 participants -- 66 men and 10 women -- from 22 cities from October until the end of June. Entrants included students, teachers, artists and illustrators.

The winners, selected by a jury including caricaturists GM Sudarta and T. Sutanto, cultural observer Jim Supangkat and psychologist S.C. Utami Munandar, will receive their prizes from Minister of Education and Culture Juwono Sudarsono on July 28.

The directorate general's cultural director Sri Hastanto said that quality illustrations were expected to lure children to read.

"If we want to make children read stories, which is good for their development, we should be able to provide them with interesting ones," he said.

"Reading is very important for children. Through reading, we can build children's appreciation of art and culture."

Although there are many children's books and comics in bookstores, most are imported, particularly from Japan, like Dragon Ball, Kungfu Boy and Doraemon.

Local ones, including folk stories, also are on display but attract less attention.

Sudarta praised the illustrations as original and unique in their visualization style, lacking the gratuitous violence of many Japanese comics.

"This is happening maybe because many participants are students or illustrators, who don't work for certain publishers, making them feel free to express themselves ... We see lots of new innovations."

Quoting psychologist Utami, he said: "The illustrations show better quality, both in terms of artistic quality and creativity, which are good for the children's development." Caricaturist Sutanto praised the illustrations as "80 percent good".

The competition also is expected to empower illustrators -- and publishers are expected to provide more opportunities for illustrators to fill their publications.

The organizer also is planning to hold an exhibition on July 28 at Galeri Nasional to enable illustrators to directly meet and negotiate over their works with publishers.

"Don't forget that publishers also have a responsibility toward our children's future. So, please, don't only think of profits," Sri said.

Sudarta said that illustrators faced the same situation as cartoonists in finding publishers for their works.

"We have good cartoonists, who studied abroad to learn the skills. But it's difficult for them to look for publishers who are willing to publish their works," he said.

Most publishers, he said, wanted do things the "simplest" way by reprinting imported ones here to reduce costs.

To cope with the situation, he urged local illustrators to become book designers as well, like their counterparts abroad.

"In other countries, children's books are specially and artistically designed, which makes them good to look at."

He admitted that most children's books, especially those produced by the government for schoolchildren, were lacking in terms of quality of paper, illustrations and language.

"There's a story of a little kid who killed a Dutch soldier with a sharpened bamboo. It's intended to improve one's heroism, but it does not make any sense ..." Sudarta said.