When I first began the brief for the story book I had a couple of ideas but before then I looked at a few story books from authors such as DR. Seuss to a story book called ‘Where is my hat’ by Jon Klassen. I focused on the language and the style of art – whether I’d use simple language and rhyme every couple of lines or use deadpan humour and one-liners. I then began thinking of what I wanted to essentially choose what lesson to teach children in my storybook; I decided upon acceptance, as a times children will face obstacles where they believe others a better, be it through sports, looks etc. I wanted to show that no matter what, accepting yourself and who you are/will become is how you should see and accept yourself.
As for the art, I was actually inspired by an item from NeoPets from my childhood.
The little fire mote to be precise, this led me to think of a story of a star in the universe who couldn’t shine brightly as she couldn’t accept herself. I also used another image from neopets;
This is the light fairy from Neopets which inspired me to create the ‘sun’ as a female figure. I wanted to anthropomorphize as it’s what children’s book typically do as a parallel to real life issues so it’s easier for kids understand. I wanted my art to have block colours and be simple
(Colman, 2013)
I was inspired by the artist above to use simple block colours, this also meant the art would be easier to comprehend for kids:
I felt like the end result of my story book was good, however certain improvements would be to create a spine, touch up on the drawings and maybe add more pages. Althought I’m happy with the art style as it’s sketchy/messy which was a look I slightly aimed for lightly inspired by dr.seuss’ work where you’re able to see the cross-hatching style along with colour. I feel the meaning comes across quite clearly and it’s an easy to read language.
Bibliography:
Neopets (2017). Motes and Light fairy. [image] Available at: http://www.Neopets.com [Accessed 19 Apr. 2017].
Colman, R. (2013). Untitled Self Obsessed painting. [image] Available at: https://www.richardcolmanart.com/paintings/1exvobjg5fvp9mrlufvtz47x25p0bw [Accessed 16 Apr. 2017].