DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

I was unsure about using watercolour for this design as I'm not sure that the uneven tone always suits the illustration, and I wanted to gain more experience with using Photoshop for illustration work. I recently found an illustrator called Chris Lee, thebeastisback.com, whose work I admire and he shared a video of his process on his Instagram account which inspired me to use this style myself.

www.vimeo.com/64215263

Having previously seen his work I was amazed at what he had done, but watching the video made me realise that I could attempt the same style as his work started as a line sketch, something that I feel that I can do well, and was added to layer on layer on Photoshop. 

He scans the sketch to Photoshop and drops the opacity before working on it with a selection of brushes in different layers. With his choice of brushes, he is able to give the work an old-style cartoon quality that I find reminds me of Hanna-Barbera. I set about working on the sketch that I had scanned in to see if this would be a viable means of designing for this brief.

Here is work ongoing on one spread. I was concerned that the image would look too computerised and the colours would appear too flat, but I was able to select brushes that gave the appearance of being created my hand and so it retains some of that quality. It also allows the image to be more editable due to layering, and as such I can move characters like the llama around until I am happy with their placement. While creating the background I realised that it was beginning to resemble a scene from Tintin by Herge.

I loved the Tintin comics when I was younger, and so I feel that the similarity to this style is not a bad thing as I feel that they are the ultimate in kids' adventure stories. This is the style that I will be persevering with throughout the project as I feel it has given me an opportunity to try something new and I am excited to see how it will end up looking.

This is a new design for the front cover, giving it more of an adventure edge than a picture book style, which I think would be more exciting for the target age group. The background of the image would resemble that of an old map with an aged paper effect and an old compass. I am not sure whether to use hand-drawn typography which I enjoy doing or a more vintage and traditional type style. The balloon will be brightly coloured, and a blurb on the back cover will be set on a paler box.

PROTOTYPES

I decided when creating the first prototypes to stick quite closely to the final submission criteria of a cover and two inside spreads, in order to provide a good realisation of the finished work. This has also shaped how I will be creating the book as I have decided that each country will have a spread showing information about it, and a spread with activities. For now I am carrying on with the designs for Peru, as it is a country I am interested in and so I feel that I should be able to convey more interest and enthusiasm this way. I began with the front cover.

I painted this in watercolour and then lined it with ink, but I am unsure about it. I like the balloon itself, and especially the typography. However, I do not like drawing people and I feel that they detract from the illustration, and the kite and journey stick do not add much either. I'm also unsure whether I like the effect of the sky and so the cover will need a lot of work to be done. I'm currently toying with the idea of the balloon flying over an old looking map which I think could be a nice effect. The title as it stands is 'Up, Up & Away' which I think will remain at this prototype stage as I haven't thought of anything more appropriate but again that is subject to change.

This is the informative atlas-style page which I am very happy with at the moment although there are areas that I am looking to improve. I think that this landscape style allows me to include a lot of features in a small space, and the explanation boxes could be fold out to provide more room. I like the balloon in the background which would provide continuity, and the style of this page could easily be adapted for other countries. As I said in the last post, I am unsure of how to apply colour, whether to try Photoshop or stick to watercolours, but I scanned this page so I can work on it in both ways and decide which style is the most appropriate.

I love drawing animals and so I had a little think of some of the most famous animals from these countries to include, and whether they could be used as guides in the activity pages.

This is a page where the child is encouraged to paint a traditional Andean pattern. I thought it would be a nice touch to include a section challenging the reader to find paint in the garden, for instance mud for brown and grass for green. This is something that Gyles Morris had us do on his visit and I think it would work well within this book. It also encourages the reader to get outside and get the book messy which would be nice.

This page was specified by Gyles, instructing the reader on how to make a traditional Peruvian headdress, which I also think should be made using materials from the garden. This page needs a lot of work to remain interesting, and maybe it should have its own spread with the Andean patterns as a border. I think I will have to include infographics and research how to actually construct one, and this could also be a point in which to include an interactive web element. However, I want this book to persuade kids away from the computer screen so perhaps not. In the bottom corner is the llama guide, which I think would be a nice touch.

FURTHER RESEARCH

At this stage I felt that it was important to research further into the world of picture books and those with environmental concerns at heart. I want my book to combine a few genres in one, to provide the information of a reference title, activities that encourage children outdoors and get messy, and the art style of a picture book. As I want to work in the area of picture books after university, as an author/illustrator or a book designer, I felt it wise to play to my strengths and choose the picture book project, and gain experience along the way.

I feel that this will also help to structure the book, and fit in with the story about a balloon ride around the world. For each different country I could perhaps use two double page spreads, the first showing the landscape and some information about it, and the second include activities for the child, and between the specific country pages there could be picture book style illustrative segways.

ATLAS/REFERENCE BOOK

When I was younger, one of my favourite books was a pop-up atlas, which gave information about certain countries and their languages, clothing and food etc. and I would hope to recreate some elements of that for the final work. Here I will look at some examples of reference style atlases:

My Pop-Up World Atlas - Anita Ganeri and Stephen Waterhouse

I really like this style for a child's atlas, and the front cover is extremely enticing with a variety of bright colours and interesting textures by the illustrator Stephen Waterhouse, with further images here: http://www.stephenwaterhouse.com/portfolio/childrens-books/my-pop-up-world-atlas/

The interior pages show the brilliant use of space within the atlas, with pop-ups and pull tabs revealing the information, which is also useful for trivia and facts. Every page contains a large map of the continent, and so the addition of paper engineering allows more information to be included. I think these elements and particularly the 'lift-the-flap' sections would be very useful when it comes to my design.

Usborne Children's Picture Atlas - Linda Edwards

This book uses a similar style in terms of the volume of illustration which gives the child a lot of interesting characters and colours to look at, but this time using a flat image. The title explains that it is more pictorial than informative, and so the illustrations are given priority.

I like the art style in this one, with Linda Edwards (http://www.lindaedwards.co.uk/) using a more painterly style befitting that of a picture book. I like the way the illustrations take centre stage but I want my book to have some informative elements so that children can come back to it for reference.

DK Children's World Atlas

Dorling Kindersley reference titles are well respected and known to be accurate, and I recall using them for information when I was younger. Looking at the cover here, it doesn't seemed to be aimed at especially young children, but it was always engaging. Photography is used a lot within, as well as photo-realistic illustrations and diagrams, and so is not an art style that I will choose to recreate when I create my own.

This title also includes a CD-ROM for interactive content which obviously is quite outdated now, but additional web content could be a bonus element in the book. This could maybe be useful in the sections where the child has to make something.

Activity Books
For activity books, I still look at the examples I noted down here for inspiration. The DK Doodlepedia book is probably the best that I have seen, and I would have loved that book when I was younger and probably still would now. Allowing space for the child to contribute to the book is a good element to include, and I will definitely incorporate that in some form. I would also add elements from the '100 Things to Make and Do' book and 'This Book is Totally Rubbish' as I want the children to have activities for them to make outside of the book, as well as learning about environmental concerns and sustainability.

PICTURE BOOKS - ART STYLES
For my usual illustration work I use watercolours, but I feel that they can become quite washed out sometimes so I will look at other ways to do this. One style that I have thought of trying recently is line drawings finished on Photoshop, from which I have found a few interesting examples.

Steve Simpson http://stevesimpson.com/ and Christopher Lee http://www.thebeastisback.com/
Steve Simpson is an illustrator and designer who specialises in computer-aided illustrations, and Christopher Lee is an illustrator who creates prints often influenced by toys and pop culture.

Their styles have similarities to me, and both inspire me to use this method myself, as I sometimes get frustrated when adding colour to my work, as I feel that my line work and drawing is quite strong and there is maybe more control when rendering on Photoshop, and definitely more chances to get it right. I will begin with line drawings so that I can experiment with the colours at a later date, though I think that I could also get a good result with watercolour or acrylic paint within strong lines.

LONDON BOOK FAIR

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend the London Book Fair on Monday 15th April, in order to gain experience of the range of publishers in not just this country but worldwide, and conduct research on the current trends in book design. While there, I was set the task of looking for innovations in children's book design.

Toolbox - Pretend & Play
I felt that this was an interesting idea when designing such a book for a young age group, to make the book the shape of the subject matter, in this case a toolbox. I feel this is particularly effective as a toddler wouldn't necessarily understand the notion of a toolbox without seeing the shape, and this allows the child to act as if they are an adult with a real one, and copy whoever they have seen using one. As well as the toolbox shape, the middle pages pop up as a birdhouse.

My Dinosaurs Sticker Activity Book - Picthall & Gunzi
This book reminds me of books that I enjoyed when I was younger, that use stickers to reinforce the message and allow you to finish the illustrations yourself. However, once the book has been read once, it is never as fun and creative again as the main activity has been completed.

Hello, I'm... - AZ Books
This book series by publishing house AZ Books features cuddly toy animals that peer through the hole in the cover of the book. I think this is an interesting idea and would appeal especially to young girls who enjoy collecting stuffed toys, as well as babies as it provides something touchable in the book with an interesting texture.

Cedic
I found some interesting examples of innovation at the stand for Cedic, a French language publisher, for example books that feature a watercolour paint palette on the side and a paintbrush, allowing the reader to finish illustrating the story themselves. This is the sort of book that I would have really enjoyed growing up, one that actually let you paint on it! I feel that this is definitely the sort of twist that I will be looking to include in my work for Naturesbase.

Frog and Me - Angela Muss - Child's Play
Look at Me, I'm a Clown! - Sebastien Brown - Child's Play
Child's Play is a publisher that I am aware of due to my Independent Study, and I decided to look them up at the fair as I know that they publish books with hand-drawn type which is a modern innovation in itself. I found a few fantastic examples of book design, including the two above. The first is called 'Frog and Me', and features a sock puppet that the parent can use to tell the story to the young reader in a fun and interesting way. The second book opens out into a mask, with different face designs on every page. I feel that this book would be most enjoyed in a group scenario as the child holding the book up to their face does not get the same experience as those watching, and vice versa. I therefore think this would be a great book for sharing, or reading in a nursery or school setting.

Colours - North Parade Publishing
However, the innovation that most caught my eye at the book fair was this series from NPP, which features waterproof books that can be read at the beach or in the bath without damage. I think that this is a fantastic idea, as one of the main limitations of traditional books is their vulnerability to the elements, and also allows the child to continue to learn while in the bath and make having a bath enjoyable. As well as being waterproof, the inflatable base allows the book to float, making it the perfect bath-time accompaniment.

In terms of the Naturesbase brief, this was a fantastic experience to see how publishers are thinking outside of the box and some of the answers that they have come up with. I love the inflatable book but I do not feel that it's a relevant approach to take in my project, but I will definitely take on board some of the elements of the books where the reader is able to finish them, whether that is with paints or stickers. Due to Naturesbase being all about encouraging children into nature and promoting sustainability I think that finishing the illustrations with materials from the garden would be a good direction to take, as well as making their own paints from leaves, mud and berries.

IDEAS

I decided to expand on my ideas and the notes from Gyles Morris to gain a higher understanding of the topics of the book, based on my sketch of a possible page layout. For the spread that I drew out for the page about Peru, I had some little information sections which focused on several areas of interest of the country, which I have here sought to apply to the other countries in the project. These are landmarks, animals, colours and cultures.

I have also thought about potential titles for the book. As this project clearly draws from the story 'Around the World in 80 Days', I thought about substituting in the name of the organisation to make 'Around the World With Naturesbase', but I am unsure about this. Another potential title is 'Up, Up and Away' which I feel is better suited to a picture book, and perhaps draws on the success of the film 'Up'. There is not a title set in stone as yet, so these are subject to change.

In terms of the subject matter included for each country, the following points are included:

INDIA
Landmarks: Taj Mahal, River Ganges
Animals: tiger, elephant
Colours: pastel - paint festival
Culture: spices, religions - Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism

CHINA
Landmarks: Great Wall of China, Tianaman Square, Tibet
Animals: panda
Colours: red, gold
Culture: Buddhism, dragons

PERU
Landmarks: Macchu Pichu
Animals: llama
Colours: Andean patterns
Culture: Inca, pan pipes

AUSTRALIA
Landmarks: Ayers Rock, Sydney Opera House
Animals: kangaroo, koala, platypus, emu
Colours: earthy
Culture: Aboriginal, boomerang

NORWAY
Landmarks: Fjords, pine trees
Animals: seal, fish, elk
Colours: blue (sea), white (snow)
Culture

UK
Landmarks: Big Ben, white cliffs of Dover
Animals: cow, fox, badger
Colours: green
Culture

These points were just off the top of my head, and with further research I will be able to add far more. I think I will focus just on one country to display with my prototypes, showing an information page and a creative task that the reader can complete. For now I think I will create the pages for Peru as I personally find that culture very interesting and feel that I can create something interesting for that topic.

GYLES MORRIS TALK

During this week's lecture we received a visit from Gyles Morris, the man behind Naturesbase, to give us further information about the task and explain a little more about himself and his project. He started by talking about his background and how he came to work on outdoor childrens' projects, from designing school grounds and making them more inspiring and places to want to learn.

His policy for teaching children is that play should be less sanitised, and that there should be no yes or no, just encouragement. He feels that society doesn't allow free play due to fears such as stranger danger, which has led to nature deficit disorder, and the fact that more children can recognise a dalek than an owl.

Exposing children to stimulating outdoor experiences at a young age allows development of cognitive skills, better concentration, better communication, improved listening, development of accessing risk, self confidence and self esteem, teamwork, motivation, pride and understanding the environment.

Gyles then asked us a few questions to quiz us on how well we understand our environment, such as where our food actually comes from and the shape of the moon the previous night. It showed how out of touch we can be with features of the environment which we should never lose contact with.

He also took us out into the grounds where he showcased some of the activities that he leads with children, such as using natural materials for colours and creating pictures from grass and sticks. It was very enjoyable and made me more excited about the project, and I agreed with a lot of what he was saying. I have begun to have more concrete ideas of what I would like to create for the brief, and I am definitely gravitating towards the picture book.

INITIAL CONCEPTS

Following initial research, I formulated the idea of a tongue-in-cheek 'survival guide' for adventurous kids who think they are the next Bear Grylls. Following the client notes, I found that this idea could work as a version of 'the Great Naturesbase Detective', and thought of bringing in an added investigative element. It was also the same age group that I planned to target, the 7 to 11 years age bracket.

I have designed a couple of possible front covers, with both mainly typographical. The one on the far left was created on Illustrator, while the other uses hand created typography that resembles intertwining branches, and influenced by illustrators such as Steve Simpson. I would progress this design by creating a full page typographic illustration, that also weaves in the word Naturesbase and any other necessary information. I will also need to consider the colour scheme - here I chose dark green and gold for an old-fashioned style book cover. I see this book being A4 at this stage.

This is an example spread from the book, featuring a lift-the-flap element. This brings an element of the Naturesbase detective angle to the book too, as you have to identify the source of the noise. This concept just features a couple of points but the actual thing would have a large 21 questions style infographic to identify the animals. The book would also feature things such as the reader drawing their own map of the garden and learning how to build a fort and fire.

However, I haven't ruled out designing something along the lines of the hot air balloon ride for a slightly  younger age group as I feel that this would sit well with my passion for picture book design. I will have to broaden my ideas and then decide which route to take.

NB
During the talk, and playing in the garden, I became more enthused about the project, and I began to develop the hot air balloon idea in my head, and scribbled down a rough sketch of a possible scene in the book which I think will be the direction I take with the project.

INITIAL DESIGN

I have had a brief attempt at designing a cover for the potential book idea, using a more Graphic Design approach than an illustrative one.

I have gone with quite a simple but striking design for this first attempt. I feel I am equally strong with design and illustration, but perhaps bringing illustration in will give it more of a personal touch and set my work aside from the typical graphical style.

Next I will be designing a cover by hand and seeing which style best suits the content and best displays my skills.

BOOK IDEAS

Having had some time to reflect on the requirements of the brief and research around the topic, I had come up with a few initial ideas and angles for the book.

I was thinking of creating a slightly tongue-in-cheek 'survival guide' as I know TV programmes such as those Bear Grylls fronts are very popular at the moment, and children have always wanted to explore the outdoors and believe they're born survivalists (I know I did!). For this reason I had a concept in mind of a book called 'How to Live... in your Garden'. Originally I had thought of 'How to Live in the Woods' but I wasn't sure about it, as although it ties into the Naturesbase experience nicely, not every child has ready access to woods unless they're on an adventure holiday and I didn't want to encourage kids actually living in the woods.

Although I haven't currently mocked up any pages, I have envisioned using paper engineering techniques in the book, with pop-ups, lift the flaps and pull tabs. Some of the content that I have thought of using are identification guides to identify animal prints or poo, finish-your-own maps, and little activites. I want to take a light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek view to the book as I wouldn't have liked the feeling of being preached to at that age, and would rather the book laughed along with me. However, there would have to be enough to the book to ensure that there were actual activities and that it fulfilled its use and didn't make too much fun of itself.

While I was thinking of ways to develop this, I received an email with an attachment from the client, Gyles Morris, who had a clearer idea of what he wanted than I was expecting. He had stipulations for each age group, and definite ideas of the content:

Early Years (0-5)

Concept:
The importance of creative play in nature for child development when we are young.
Guidance for parents and carers with ideas to support children's creative learning.

Key words:
Very active, doing, looking, touching, pointing, brain development, creativity, nature deficit disorder, visual spatial learning, child development, feeling

Size and type:
A4, development to digital format

Type of learner:
Adults across the ability and experience spectrum, needs to be accessible and applicable to Early Years workers

Example Page:
How we find our way in life and develop language through seeing, hearing and remembering.
Development of visual literacy, visual spacial thinking
Needs good visuals and diagrams to support.

Other notes:
What we can do when taking children to the park, the supermarket etc

Thoughts
This really doesn't sound like the route that I want to take with the book, and sounds more like they want a book for adults that the child is going to have very minimal involvement with. I took this module as I would love to work in children's book publishing, and so I would rather find an angle that appeals more to the child reader.

5-7 Year Olds

Concept:
For children and adults to use and read together
Takes children around the world on a journey in a balloon to six different countries
Shows different games they play and their environments

Key words:
Countries; India, China, Peru, Australia, Norway and UK

Size and type:
A4, Interactive

Type of learner:
Should support younger children who learn through visual styles
Supporting pages for parents

Example page:
Colourful diverse landscapes
Not too stereotypical
Activities to make, such as journey stick, head dress, kite, dragon sculpture

Other notes:
Interactive, with environmental concerns

Thoughts
This is an idea that I could definitely consider, and am already thinking of art styles that could work with washed watercolours and Illustrator work giving contrasting options. This sounds quite similar to a book I'm working on at the moment for my Independent Study and could definitely provide options to express myself.

7-11 Year Olds

Concept:
Encourage children to investigate their environment
No adult help

Key words:
Adventure, explore, collect, clues, evidence, excite, search, create, solve mystery

Size and type:
A4, interactive

Type of learner:
Visually active

Example page:
Trail and tracks
Maps and journeys
'Did you know?'

Thoughts
I feel that this is actually very similar to the style that I had envisioned, and I hope that my idea can fit in with this to create an amalgamation that appeals to the client. My book idea has a detective vibe to it, and I was thinking of including a dog character as the child's 'Watson', which fits in with the idea of the child exploring the environment with their friend. This is the age group and essentially the idea that I had in mind so I think this is the one to start visualising.

I enjoy both illustration and graphic design and feel I am developing a certain style with each. I am writing and illustrating a picture book at the moment which is entirely hand-created, including lettering, while my design work tends to be almost entirely Illustrator-based, using infographics for inspiration. I am not sure at this point which art style will lend itself more to this project.