'Illustration' which derived from the word 'lustrare' meaning illumination in Latin and whose meaning in Turkish is 'drawing' can be defined as the visual description and embodying of the verbal and abstract expression beared by a text, idea or concept. Although the concept of illustration first appeared through book drawings employed to make the texts more comprehensive, some researchers show paintings and mosaics that expressed religious subjects and cave paintings as the examples of first illustration practices. It can be said that the illustration, which has been more related with the fields such as painting and graphics since the time it has emerged, has an interdisciplinary interaction with other branches of art and has artistic qualities in itself. In fact, considering the history of art, it is seen that the artists from many different fields created their works with an illustrative language of expression. Considering the subject from the point of view of the ceramic art, it is known that decorations on traditional ceramics have been used in many different parts of the world that tell stories visually since prehistoric times. It can be said that Contemporary Ceramic Art has a strong presence among countless branches of art that adopt an illustrative form of expression. This research, which deals with how the concept of illustration is handled in Contemporary Ceramic Art, includes the definition and brief history of the concept in general. It aims to make traditional examples that address ceramics in an illustrative way and in fact to inform by focusing especially on contemporary ceramic artists.

Keywords: contemporary, ceramic, art, illustrative, expression, illustration