Monday, February 07, 2011

Finding Illustrations

I posted this to my Illustrations and Preaching blogs:

I've only heard from one user of this blog, and I would love to hear from others. What do you find helpful? Where do you find illustrations?

It has been my experience that sometimes illustrations find you. For example, the illustration below this one was on NPR one morning as I was driving to the church that I serve. Other times finding the right illustration can be a time-consuming and sometimes frustrating pursuit. Here are some places that I have found to be helpful:

1. Homiletics. Homiletics is a bi-monthly magazine that is superb in the art of illustration. Sometimes (often?) their direction for a particular sermon is not quite what I'm looking for, but combing through what is now an online resource (homileticsonline) can be very rewarding. Homiletics is pricey, but it is worth it. These folks have been called the "metaphor guys" and rightly so.

2. sermoncentral.com I am a contributor and I find that most contributors whose work I look at are not good illustrators. However, if I'm stuck for one it is worth the time to look through the sermons there.

3. books, movies, television, radio, general culture - These can be the ideal source for illustrations, but sometimes they aren't as timely as you would like.

4. Your life - for some this is the best place. I personally try to keep a balance on this and I also make sure that I'm not the hero of all my stories.

That's my list, what's yours?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

My philosophy is that the illustration need not encapsulate the entire posting. It need only:

1. lightly brighten the theme (a mountain to illustrate a challenge).

2. Address a phrase or thought within the posting. Remember that your graphic needn't be a the head of your post. It can be placed within the body.

Sometimes, you'll accidentally come upon a stunning illustration. I download it and save it in a folder to use when the appropriate theme comes along.

If my post is "Juvenile Delinquency", I'll Google the phrase and then hit the Images button (upper left). What you find is an amazing collection of graphics and photos (most of which are inappropriate), but a few minutes scrolling will usually lead you to a small, tasteful non-copyrighted gem. The thrill is in the hunt.

I hope this helps. Good luck and good hunting.