Refers to an illustration inserted into a book, newspaper, magazine, or other publication to accompany the text.
This novel contains many beautiful illustrations.
The newspaper illustration makes the article's content easier to understand.
That fairy tale has beautiful illustrations in it.
A famous artist drew the illustrations for the novel.
We made a picture book with illustrations for children.
挿画 is a slightly more literary synonym for 挿絵, both meaning an illustration inserted into a text, but 挿絵 is the far more common everyday word.
counter for thin, flat objects; sheet; plate; coin · serving of soba; portion of gyōza · sumo rank position; wrestler at a given rank · field; rice paddy plot · palanquin bearer
illustrator
Standard kanji spelling, common in news and publishing.
Mixed kana-kanji spelling, sometimes used for readability.
Variant with okurigana, less common but still seen.
Compound of 挿 (insert) and 絵 (picture), literally 'inserted picture'.