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
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.
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.
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