ABSTRACT
This chapter utilizes the terms 'collage' and 'montage' to denote a broad aesthetic principle of combination and synthesis. This principle includes a variety of practices ranging from textual and visual collage to photomontage and digital montage. The term 'collage,' from the French coller, refers to the process of assembling fragments of different material to create a composite image. The introduction of new digital illustration techniques and the development of digital imaging software such as Adobe Photoshop have effected a series of fundamental transformations in graphic design and picturebook aesthetics. A wide range of collage techniques and methods are utilized within the picturebook medium, and an increasing number of illustrators and artists experiment with combinations of materials and techniques. The use of collage or montage techniques also allows for a form of spatiotemporal fluidity, whereby older images and styles are recycled and recovered.
