Children's Book
I wrote and illustrated a ten-page children's book (geared for 4-5 year olds) using only three colors. The story is about a little girl learning ceramics who becomes frustrated with her failures. This books is about perseverance and the importance of practice.
ProCreate & Adobe Illustrator - September 2019 - Illustration and Bookmaking
Detail Images & Artist Statement
Design Statement
Learning new skills is difficult sometimes, and it is easy to get frustrated when things do not come easily to us on the first try. The main character in the story is encouraged to continue to try again the next day even though she failed the day before. This is a lesson that has been very meaningful in my own life. I wanted to take a child’s eye view of this important life lesson.
I chose the colors purple, yellow, and orange because they created a kid-friendly and overall appealing look. These colors would also be useful for communicating emotions (anger), describing the scene, lighting, and character design. Desaturated yellow for example served nicely as a background color in many of the spreads. Purple was used to create dramatic or somber tones in other spreads.
I selected noteworthy for the font because it was legible yet had a hand-written feel. This font fits the relaxed and unofficial setting that the story takes place in. I manipulated the scale of the words and sentences to imply the emotion of the speaker in each scene.
I sketched as intuitively as I could and made drawings based on my mockup. It was tricky to get the facial expressions just right. I was constantly questioning what the tone of the scene should be, and how the characters should act. Line and shape were relied heavily upon to create expression in the characters as well as to bring clarity to the setting and objects.
I must admit... this is one of my favorite projects. I love illustration because it involves the manipulation of the elements of design to create emotion, story, character, and a pleasing aesthetic experience. The process is exciting and the completed work is even more so! Illustration is a treat from start to finish!
