Evaluation
This evaluation is an attempt to reflect and recap on I have done.
Basically, the evaluation explores the journey including challenges encountered
while executing this project, the Children’s book. The principal aim of this
evaluation is to look over the work that has been achieved thus far, as a means
of summarising and detecting potential issues to make future improvements.
Developing an idea and a general
overview –
The project kick-started with a session to brainstorm ideas for a
children’s book between the target audience of 0-5, because of this, the
language and illustrations used would have to be simple. During the project I
went further into this, I went over the use of language in existing children’s
books, how children’s books have to not imply anything racially offensive nor
depict one gender as worse off to the other as well as go over words which
don’t show this. For example, the word ‘Firemen’ in a children’s book is
unacceptable to use because even though the character might be male, it
portrays as if a woman could not fill that role, the correct way to address the
character would be ‘Firefighter’. My own children’s book follows these rules
and features equal number of female characters to male in addition to avoiding
such language given as an example above.
In the process of creating and gathering an idea together, I also
looked through and personally went out and asked children (my nephew and his
friends) in my own time to see what they like and what they enjoy on top of
doing different things in sessions like finger painting. The point in finger
painting and collaging as well as other different techniques is to explore
further into the formal elements in art. By doing things like finger painting
and collaging, children reading the book are able to explore different patterns
and texture like how one page might have a piece of fluff or fur embedded onto
the page in which the child can feel and have a more interactive experience
with. In my own children’s book I employed the use of multiple different
techniques such as clashing digital drawing with photographic backgrounds as
well as artistic creations of backgrounds using ink over wax drawings and
sponge with paint.
My idea’s throughout the project started to develop with sessions on
practicing and creating our own drawings of certain things, this is seen
through the creation of various different animals created using ovals, 5
different super hero profiles as well as a drawn creation, and the creation of
20 different aliens suitable for children’s books. These didn’t really stand
out to me that much though, I liked the idea’s of basing my children’s book
around animals but I didn’t like the idea of creating them out of ovals. From
researching and finding out what children like, I decided to take forward the
idea of my story to be based around animals, I did this because it’s what I
thought was right and best fit to do with the research I gathered.
With the idea of creating a book around animals in mind, my mind
instantly went to the book ‘Dinosaur Roar!’ as even as a child, I had been read
and looked at the book myself. The book is based around a number of different
illustrations of dinosaurs all with different personalities or characteristics
about them, the book also features simple concepts explained in the
illustrations like being below something or above something. I wanted to create
my own version of this but with my own idea’s and animals and so I went forward
with the idea and started to plan out each individual page with a script.
Using the research of what language is acceptable and what is not, as
well as looking through the book ‘Dinosaur Roar!’ and the language used in
that, I wanted to limit the words used per page to how it’s done in the
‘Dinosaur Roar!’ book. My main reason for this is to keep the book simple, in
pages of the ‘Dinosaur Roar!’ book, single sentences are provided along with an
illustration that covers the rest of the page. In my own children’s book I did
the same, I provided a single sentence in which the child or parent can read
accompanied by a large illustration taking most of the page and being the
centre piece. On top of this, I decided to add the name of the animal and name
of the character. My example for this would be “Frank the funny
frog” coupled with “This animal makes the others laugh”. The words flow and
alliterate together which make it easier and simple for children to understand.
My children’s book doesn’t only
stand as a purpose for children to learn about different animals though, much
like the ‘Dinosaur Roar!’ book, it features the same moral message. The moral
message used in both my book and ‘Dinosaur Roar!’ is that everyone is different
but that’s what makes each individual special and worth something in their own
way. It also serves as a purpose to help children learn and develop an open
mind to how some people can feel, what other people may like and how they look.
Of course with the message that this is all okay and it’s fine if you’re taller
than someone else and someone may be smaller etc.
Reflecting
on my Children’s book –
Overall, I think I did well on this
unit of work. Drawing and digital creation is a strong point of mine which I
feel as if I displayed and showed off to the best of my ability. With this in
mind, I felt confident and definitely enjoyed the work planned and set out. It
also allowed for me spend a lot more time and to pace myself, creating and
drawing something I would be proud about. What I mean by this is that with
other units of work in the Print Based Media course, often I would have
finished early and have too much time doing absolutely nothing for a better
lack of words. This unit was different because this didn’t occur because I
could take my time and make something I really like, in turn I think this has
turned out to be one my favourite units to complete.
Without diverting from the actual
purpose of this section, I’d like to draw attention back to the Children’s book
I created and my thoughts. As I addressed earlier, photoshop and drawing is a
strong point which I feel cam out extremely helpful in the creation of my
children’s book. In each page I feature a digital drawing which was first planned
out on paper using a pencil in a rough sketch. It was suggested to me that I
should create all my characters digitally and then employ the use of
backgrounds doing different techniques learnt in class as well as photographs
in which I took this approach.
In retrospect, I still feel like
this was a good idea but leaned more towards the side of using photographs and
editing the photographs differently each time as to differentiate and show off
different photoshop techniques. The photographs used in the children’s books
were picked and selected only on the basis that they were fit for purpose and
in some cases, required me to add on and create my own little props to make a
suitable background.
Font was a tricky subject as I kept
changing my mind throughout the creation of the book, luckily, font isn’t such
a big deal and only involved a 2 second process. At first I started with a font
called Rabbid Highway sign II but
moved onto using Helvetica, still a
sans-serif font just less bold and readable. As for the colour of the font, it
wasn’t changed from the default black and to be honest never crossed my mind
that anything else may be suitable on a white background.
Concluding
and my final thoughts –
To conclude, I think the
pre-production and creation of my children’s book taught me a lot about the
minds of younger people and everything that authors of children’s books like
Michael Rosen for example have to take into account when creating a book for
children. This ranges from racial discrimination and gender as well as words
which may offend people or be in bad tastes when looked at from a child’s
perspective.
I also learnt a lot about the
different artistic techniques featured in children’s books and shows on
television. This includes stuff such as how in the books and television show of
“Charlie and Lola” multiple different layers of patterns and collaging are used
amongst the pencil drawn and coloured characters. In addition to this, I also
learnt how doing this and creating the book this way appeals to children a more
engaging and friendly manner than just plain drawings.
New insight into the creation of
book was also found too. It was a lot similar to the unit of work where we
created a magazine under a topic of our choice but designed and created under a
completely different sized document with a completely different purpose (A4
Magazine creation in comparison to 140mm x 140mm). If I was to change
something, I would have probably experimented with doing an A5 portrait book as
it’s a more familiar format to me but felt up to a challenge of sorts.
Other than this, there isn’t really
anymore to say or list. If I was doing a book a little more complex than my 0-5
age range, I may have fleshed out the story and moral message behind the book
but I was really aiming for a 0-3 age range with only the most basic of English
used.
My drawings I felt were also on
point apart from some proportional issues but I’m not a professional artist and
these can be dismissed for a college student creating his first children’s
book.
Overall, great unit of work and I
enjoyed it thoroughly and learnt a thing or two along the way.
