Category: Uncategorized

After thinking about the narrative, I wanted to sketch what I want the front cover to look like and what I want the bear to be as a character. These are just very drafted sketches to understand what I want the front cover to look like and think about the character of the bear. 

These are two different ideas about the character of the bear and what I want the theme of the book to be. The expressions on his face are different and I wanted to see which one would work with the narrative of the story. I think that the cheerful expression on the front cover works as this will be for when he enters the party and I want there to be a difference from when he is happy and when the other animals make fun of him. 

I want to digitally create the book and use photoshop to edit the characters and the background to work with the story. I also want to look at using textures for the book as this is a fun and interesting way to interest the children in the narrative and the design. 

When I first looked at how to create the bear digitally, I wanted to explore the abstract style and see if this would work with this genre and age range. 

 

I created this on Photoshop with the paint tool and wanted to create a very hand painted look to the bear. This was intended to look abstract and minimalist, however, I dont think this works as a character and is not interesting enough as the main character of the book. 

I want to see how I could make the character more interesting with effects on photoshop to create an interesting character. 

After looking at the inspirations of a few other books, I have decided to do a book about self esteem and teaching children about the different skills everyone has and the ability to be proud of them. For this book, I want to use animals as the characters as I think this is a feature in a lot of children’s books and relates to anyone. 

The moral of the story will be to accept your own skills and be proud of who you are. 

I decided to write the story first and then create the design of the book after. 

 

Ronald the Bear lived alone in his burrow, with no friends or family to cuddle.

He longed for company and a jolly good laugh.

So much that it broke his big bear heart in half.

All he had to eat was the leaves on the trees

MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH

Was how he ate his lunch.

One day, Ronald heard the strangest sound… Was it a bird or was it a hound?

He thought as he listened at the door.

As he peaked through the hole, he couldn’t believe what he saw.

A PARTY!

With other animals, music and joy,

He hadn’t seen a party like this since he was a little boy!

Ronald looked at their happy faces and the joyful siniging, and longed to be where they where.

But all he could think of is his knotty looking furr.

BRUSH BRUSH BRUSH

He had to get ready in a rush!

Out the door he bound with a wide smile on his jaw,

And the animals couldn’t believe what they saw.

‘AHHHHH Look at his teeth!’ Screamed Millie the Mouse,

‘You will ruin the party, get out of our house!’ Said Felicity the Fox.

All the little animals started to laugh and point and stare,

‘He can’t even eat the cake, he’s a big scary bear!’

 

For the pages that I will create, this is the narrative and story which will work with the designs on the pages. I decided to use rhyming to tell the story as I think this makes the narrative more interesting and children are able to relate to the rhythm of the words. 

I think this story is fun and allows for there to be a creative design to go with them, I decided to use a bear as this is physically different to the smaller woodland creatures in the forest and children will be able to understand this. 

Similar to the style of Eric Carl, the art work in this book is very simple, but very eye catching with the bold colours on a plain background and the amusing characters create a fun and creative design. I like this style and I want to explore how I could incorporate this into my book with the colour and design.

 

The Tiger who came to Tea –  

The simple typography on the plain background makes the images on the page bold and the main feature of the story,  which is the interesting and funny narrative. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqifY7ium4Q

I also looked into the context of the story and the BBC published this article about it – 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25027090

In this, Judith Kerr talks about thinking whether the Tiger should have clothes and the approaches to design, and is interesting how she thinks about the design of the characters and the tiger. 

I really like the design style of Judith Kerr and the plain, yet bold colour in ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’ and I would like to include a similar style in my book. 

After looking at some inspiration for the design of the book, I wanted to look at the narrative and the ideas the books teach the Children. 

I looked at some books and the lessons they teach to get an idea about the morals which Children’s books use.

Elmer by David Mckee 

 

Elmer is the multi-colored elephant, while all the other elephants are grey. He’s different and not so sure he likes that. It takes some time for Elmer to accept who he is, but, when he does, he couldn’t be happier.

The moral of the story: Self Acceptance takes time, but comes with a big reward. 

Good People Everywhere by Lynea Gillen

 

This colorful picture book contains endearing examples and vibrant illustrations of people doing good to inspire children to be grateful, caring, and kind. Be it the people that build houses, deliver babies, or take care of others, the message is that people are good.

The moral of the story: Kindness is always appreciated

Tacky the Penguin by Lynn Munsinger

 

Tacky is an odd bird and his friends make fun of him for it all the time. But when hunters come, his odd behavior saves the day.

The moral of the story: Being different has its perks. 

These books each teach children valuable skills or lessons which are shown in a creative and fun way. I want to teach something which will help children accept themselves more and learn that everyone has different skills but everyone is special in different ways. Similar to the Elmo book, the design and narrative will explore this and see how each reader will accept themselves and their skills differently. 

I like the way authors use their designs to show the moral they want to teach through the book. 

When looking at the children’s books, I liked the work of Eric Carle with the bold colour and the creative design style which is used to show the caterpillar. The textures and the design he uses are very interesting and the simplicity of the artwork is creative and the plain background works to show the drawings in a colourful way.

I listened to this read allowed and the drawings, which is read by Eric Carle.

I like the textures which are used on the drawings and the style is different and is eye catching to the reader, along with the interactive features of the book. 

 

 

I really like the simple, but very creative style of Eric Carle and the colours he uses with the plain background are interesting and bold to look at. I want to create my book with a similar style.