Dream

This included the list of test and websites that were used and cited in this unit. The pictures of different artist that I added to the research linked to the artist website and properly credited on the entre but I will also add to this list. If I missed an artist or a picture is not properly credited please let me know and I will correct the mistake as soon as possible. 

A

Anderson, L & Neale, D. (2005). Creative Writing. New York: The Open University.

B

Ballart lilja, V. (2017). If you are bored with watercolour read this book. England: Ilex.

Bbc . (2014). BBC Homes. Retrieved 9 July, 2017, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/design/period_1950s.shtml

Besher, K. (2017). Yoshitomo Nara. Retrieved 16 July, 2017, from http://www.assemblylanguage.com/reviews/Nara.html

Birch, H. (1996). Just add watercolour. London: Frances Lincoln.

Brace, E. (2018). Five Stages of Reading Development. Retrieved 13 July, 2018, from https://www.theliteracybug.com/stages/

Brazell, D., & Davies, J. (2014). Understanding Illustration. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

C

Calvert, S. (2008). Children as Consumers: Advertising and Marketing. Future of Children, 8(1), 205-234.

E

Edwards, B. (2013). Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: A Course in Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence. (4th Edition ed.). England: Souvenir Press.

G

Geraghty, M. (2006). The Five-Minute Writer: Exercise and inspiration in creative writing in five minutes a day. (2009 ed.). United Kingdom: How to Books, ltd.

H

Higgins Bedford. (2009). Edward Bawden 2009. Retrieved21 April, 2017, from http://www.thehigginsbedford.org.uk/exhibitions/past_exhibitions/edward_bawden_2009.aspx

R

Railton, F. (2017). The art of Walter Hood Fitch. Retrieved 9 August, 2017, from https://www.kew.org/blogs/library-art-and-archives/art-walter-hood-fitch

Retroplanet.com. (2010). 1950s Decorating Style. Retrieved 9 July, 2017, from http://blog.retroplanet.com/1950s-decorating-style/

Rowse, D. (2011). How to Create Environmental Portraits. Retrieved 23 July, 2017, from https://digital-photography-school.com/environmental-portraits/

Rudarakanchana, N. (2013). Here’s Who Eats Natural And Organic Foods, And Why: Market Research. Retrieved 16 June, 2017, from http://www.ibtimes.com/heres-who-eats-natural-organic-foods-why-market-research-1437858

S

Soan, H. (1996). The Encyclopedia of watercolour Landscape Techniques. England: Search press.

Swan, A. (1 Apr 2009). Botanical Painting: with Colour Pencils. England: Collins.

T

Thomas Ott. (2018, July 31). Retrieved August 1, 2018, from https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Ott   

V

Valmore. A, (2010). Zapata y la caricatura. Anuario GRHIAL. Universidad de Los Andes. ISSN 1856-9927. Mérida. Enero-Diciembre, Nº 4, 2010. Zapata y la caricatura, pp. 43-62

W

Weddell, J. (2013). Edward Bawden – master of linocut. Retrieved 21 April, 2017, from http://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/tales-archives/edward-bawden-master-linocut

Williams, G. (1996). Plastic, Pop and Mass-produced Design in the V&A's Collections. Retrieved9 July, 2017, from Plastic, Pop and Mass-produced Design in the V&A's Collections

Wikipediaorg. (2018). Advertising to children. Retrieved 5 January, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising_to_children

wikipediaorg. (2017). Botanical illustration. Retrieved 6 August, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botanical_illustration

Wikipediaorg. (2017). Yoshitomo Nara. Retrieved 16 July, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshitomo_Nara

Online resources

Skillshare:

This is a chronological list of the exercises and the assignments, please follow it because I added new information and re-do some exercises, so it is important to see the progression. 

Note: there are also independent learning notes, exhibitions and other complementary learning experience that contribute to my understanding of art and my own work. These are listed separately but there in between exercises or assignment post. 

Assignment 1

Post 1: Research 1.1: Javier Sáez Castán (Part I)

Post 2: Research 1.1:  Edward Bawden  (Part II)

Post 3: Personal development & Research: Kinetic art and colour.

Post 4: Research 1.1 Sketches & Inspiration base on Javier Sáez Castán and Edward Bawden.  (Part III)

Post 5: Research 1.1 Illustration base on Javier Sáez Castán.  (Part IV)

Post 6:  Getting the gist 1.2: Political Illustration. Research. (Part I)

Post 7:  Getting the gist 1.2.  Political editorial research  (Part II)

Post 8:  Getting the gist 1.2. Sketches & ideas research  (Part III)

Post 9: Getting the gist 1.2. Back to research also personal research  (Part IV)

Post 10: Getting the gist 1.2. Final work  (Part IV).

Post 11: Assignment 1. Greeting card 1. Fail one. (Part I)

Post 12:  Personal development & Research. Tutorial: Low Poly Portrait in Photoshop

Post 13: Assignment 1. Greeting card 1. Second fail (Part II)

Post 14: Assignment 1: Back to research. (Part III)

Part 15: Assignment 1: Saying Hello (part IV)

Assignment 2

Post 2.0: Self-assessment for assessment 1 and comment on the tutor assessment.

Post 2.1:  Exercise 2.1: Ryo Takemasa

Post 2.2: Exercise 2.2 Spider diagrams

Post 2.3: Exercise 2.3: Turning words into pictures.Part 1

Post 2.4: Exercise 2.3: Turning words into pictures Part 2

Post 2.5: Exercise 2.4: Making a Moodboard

Post 2.6: Exercise 2.5: Using Reference. Part I Research

Post 2.7: Exercise 2.5: Using reference. Part II: Sketches and initial drawings.

Post 2.8: Exercise 2.5: Using reference Part III: Thought about composition and final artwork.

Post 2.9: Exercise 2.6: Exploring drawing and painting

Post 2.10:  Exercise 2.7: An Objective Drawing 

Post 2.11: Exercise 2.8: A subjective drawing Part I: the visual research

Post 2.12:  Exercise 2.8: A subjective drawing Part II: final ideas and drawing

Post 2.13: Exercise 2.9: Using Black and White 

Post 2.14: Exercise 2.10: Choosing content Part I

Post 2.15: Exercise 2.10: Choosing content. Part II

Post 2.16: Exercise 2.11: Visual Metaphor Part I

Post 2.17: Exercise 2.11: visual metaphors Part II

Post 2.18: Assignment 2: Inspiration and research. Part I Looking for inspiration

Post 2.19: Assignment 2: research Par II. The research for the final piece.

Post 2.20: Assignment 2: Botanical Drawing Part III. Examples and exercises for botanical drawings.

Post 2.21: Assignment 2: Sketchbook. Part IV. looking into different uses of the markets and colour pencils. 

Post 2.22: Assignment 2: Botanical Drawing Part V. These are the hand drawing before the post-processing

Post 2.23: Assignment 2: Final (updated) Part VI.

Post 2.24: Assignment 2: Final final Part VII 

Post 2.25:  Tutor report: Assignment two

Re-do exercises

Post 2.26: Re-doing exercises 2.8 

Independent learning

Post 2.27: Personal development & Research: Film camp 14 total control zone animation

Post 2.28: Personal Learning: One Point Perspective: Additional learning

Post 2.29:  Personal Learning: Drawing: Additional learning

Post 2.30:  Personal Learning: Research: Yoshitomo Nara

Post 2.31:  Personal development & Research: Anime Architecture: Backgrounds of Japan

Post 2.32: Research:  Menno Aden

Assignment 3

Post 3.1: Exercise 3.1: Illustrating Visual Space. The size of the element and the white space

Post 3.2: Exercise 3.1: Illustrating Visual Space. Working with other elements like negative space (No all the pictures could be added to the other post).

Post 3.3: Exercise 3.2: Reading an Image

Post 3.4: Exercise 3.3: Image development Part I: The research and analysis. 

Post 3.5: Exercise 3.3: Image development Part II. From the association of words to the final ideas. 

Post 3.6: Exercise 3.3: Image development Part III. Final work and analysis of the final resource.

Post 3.7: Exercise 3.3: Image development Part IV. fixing some of the problems that have the original artwork.  

Post 3.8: Exercise 3.4: Abstract Illustration Part I

Post 3.9: Exercise 3.4: Abstract Illustration Part II

Post 3.10: Exercise 2.5: Using reference Part I

Post 3.11: Exercise 3.5: Giving Instructions Part I

Post 3.12: Exercise 3.5: Giving Instructions part II

Post 3.13: Exercise 3.5: Giving Instructions part III

Post 3.14: Exercise 3.6 Viewpoint

Post 3.15: Exercise 3.7: Client Visuals.

Post 3.16: Exercise 3.7: Making a Mock-up Part I

Post: 3.17: Exercise 3.7: Making a Mock-up Part II

Post 3.18: Assignment 3: Poster Jazz concert Part I

Post 3.19: Assignment 3: Poster Jazz concert Part II

Post 3.20: Assignment 3: Poster Jazz concert Part III

Independent learning

Post 3.21: Art Exhibition:  Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017 - Jerwood Visual Arts

Post 3.22: Reading/Viewing. This is the analysis of the suggested reading material from the tutor. 

Post 3.23:  Personal Learning: Drawing Exercise:  How to Draw Fashion Figures

Post 3.24:  Personal Learning: Haiba Yuri: Use of colour

Post 3.25: Learning Log: Research

Assignment 4

Post 4.0:  Assignment 3 Review

Post 4.1:  Exercise 4.1 identifying tools & materials. Part I. Research in watercolour.

Post 4.2:  Exercise 4.1 identifying tools & materials. Part II.  Research in watercolour.

Post 4.3:  Exercise 4.1 identifying tools & materials. Part III.  Research in watercolour.

Post 4.4:  Exercise 4.1 identifying tools & materials. Part IV. Research in watercolour.

Post 4.5: Exercise 4.1 identifying tools & materials. Part V. This is a practical study on watercolour, how to use them and experimenting base on the research. 

Post 4.6: Exercise 4.1 identifying tools & materials. Part VI. Final studies and final work. 

Post 4.7:  Exercise 4.2: Part I. Research on children advertasement. 

Post 4.8: Exercise 4.2: Part II. From the original idea to the sketches. 

Post 4.9: Exercise 4.2: Part III. Final artwork and analysis. 

Post 4.10: Exercise 4.3: Animals around the world.

Post 4.11: Exercise 4.4: A Menu card

Post 4.12: Exercise 4.5: Mother Tattoo Part I (Research)

Post 4.13: Exercise 4.5: Mother Tattoo Part II. Sketches and first ideas.

Post 4.14: Exercise 4.5: Mother Tattoo Part III. Final artwork and technique used. 

Post 4.15: Exercise 4.6: Visual Distortion

Post 4.16:  Exercise 4.7: Character development Part I. Moodbard for each type of characters. 

Post 4.17: Exercise 4.7: Character development technical part II. Study colour skin on Photoshop. 

Post 4.18: Exercise 4.7: Character development part III. Getting into the character personality. 

Post 4.19: Exercise 4.7: Character development part IV. Final Work

Post 4.20: Assignment 4: Disaster part I. Developing ideas

Post 4.21: Assignment 4: Disaster part II (online Sketchbook)

Post 4.22: Assignment 4: Disaster part III (sketches digital & traditionally)

Post 4.23: Assignment 4: Disaster part IV (Sketches and drawing)

Post 4.24:  Assignment 4: Disaster Part V (final work)

Independent learning

Post 4.20: Additional learning: Use and experimentation with ink and texture.

Post 4.21: Exhibitions: Tove Jansson (1914-2001) in Dulwich Gallery

Post 4.22: Additional Learning: Book reviews. Part of the tutor suggestions for reading. 

Post 4.23: Learning log: Why These all-white paintings are in the museum?

Post 4.24: Learning Log: Illustration in journalism. 

Post 4.25: Learning log:  Suppliers of coloured pencils. Getting to know your tools.

Post 4.26: Additional Learning: Study Day in London

Rework or updates from assessment 4

Post 5.0: Exercise 4.7: Character development part IV

Assignment 5

Post 5.1:  Assignment 4 Review

Post 5.2: Exercise 5.1: Your own work

Post 5.3: Exercise 5.2: Editorial Illustration: The Telegraph newspaper Illustration. Part I

Post 5.4: Exercise 5.2: Editorial Illustration  Part II

Post 5.5: Exercise 5.3: Travel guides part I (research)

Post 5.6: Exercise 5.3: Travel guides part II (raw artwork)

Post 5.7: Exercise 5.3: Travel guides part III (Final Work)

Post 5.8: Exercise 5.4: Text and image (handwriting & Software alteration) Part I

Post 5.9: Exercise 5.4: Text and image (Mood boards for each of the pair words) Part II

Post 5.10: Exercise 5.4: Text and image (Final artwork) Part III

Post 5.11: Exercise 5.5: Packaging Part I

Post 5.12: Exercise 5.5: Packaging Part II

Post 5.13:  Exercise 5.6: Stages of Reading Development. Part I.

Post 5.14: Exercise 5.6: Stages of Reading Development. Part II

Post 5.15: Exercise 5.6: Stages of Reading Development. Part III (First illustration & development).

Post 5.16: Exercise 5.6: Stages of Reading Development. Part IV (Second illustration & development)

Post 5.17: Exercise 5.7: Educational Strip.  (Development of ideas)

Post 5.18:  Assignment 5: Part 1 (Initial ideas and plot)

Post 5.19: Assignment 5: Part 2 (Research).

Post 5.20: Assignment 5: Part  III (Mood board and period research)

Post 5.21: Assignment 5: Part  IV (Artistic desitions)

Post 5.22: Assignment 5: Part  V

Post 5.23: Assignment 5: Part  VI (Learning process)

Independent learning

Assignment 5: Part  VI

Learning process

Movement

It was very difficult to draw someone falling from a window or a balcony like in this case, for the most simple pose I used pictures as a reference like the one below...

but I also used pictures as a reference for the cloth and similar things. I watched a few videos of how people fall on the balcony but all of them from a different perspective and some seems very “Hollywood” so I was not sure how the clothing move when falling of the hair.

Another problem, that I did think to work out well, was the shadows in the movement, but I treated like I will do any other object.

Lines

Illustrators normally add lines when drawing movement, I tried then I thought that was to going to damage the move of the pice, perhaps I haven't read enough comic or graphic novels to really appreciate how this type of lines works.

Mood

Assignment 5: Part  V

Final Work

Artwork

The size change but mostly A4. Black Ink and colour inks and watercolour.

There are some post processing with photoshop for the highlights and other details. 

InDesign for putting the whole piece together. 

Story

The story is pretty simple, it is more a charter od something that final work. It was a learning process. I did more drawings that I should have but I did not plan well how there were going to fit so it seems a bit messy at the beginning. The end it is more powerful because I had a clear idea of what I wanted and how I wanted it. 

The poems: I am not sure if they work but I love these poems and I thought that will create the atmosphere but unfortunately the translation is bad. 

Black and white

I create a story with three character and seven moments, each is represented by an emotion that leads to a tragic event. The black and white are the in between the colour watercolour painting.

They were made with ink and white acrylic paint. 

Colour paintings and main work.

This seven monochrome artwork symbolised different strong feeling that leads to the ending. I think the last one should have to be the centre in its own right but the rest was black and white so it did not contrast 

Presentation

I worked with InDesign before but I am new to it so the layout is pretty simple. Perpahs should have been better a gif or a movie but at the end, I thought this will be more representative of what type of work was originally created. 

Overall

Assignment 5: Part  IV (Artistic desitions)

Background

This has been difficult for me. I am not sure which one it is better or no bother at all. I like the feeling of the drawing but I am not so sure I like how is the general look

Text

This is also a problem. I am confused if I need to add more text or not, I did a rough idea but it seems more complicated to understand for people outside, so I added more drawings.

==========================================================

I knew the initial idea of each one of days. I have a problem creating a sequence. I think it is going to be difficult to understand without words.

Sketches

I have been working mostly on the Wacom for the drawing. I can create layers and build my drawing, I am terrified fo drawing on paper. This is has been an impediment for this course.

I am not so sure I am also using sketching right because I started to draw and I mean to do this or that there were not reflected on the page. This is a bit concerning. I think this is the reason for working in Photoshop is better. I easily build a scene and draw the details on top.

Story

I wanted to make the seven days inside the story.  The first day is vanity with a purple colour symbolise by the singer looking at the morrow. 

The second day is lust: that has been symbolised by red (pinkish red) and the singer on the bed. 

The third day is jealousy symbolized by the wife thinking about them together. The fourth and the fifth are a bit more complex than the previous one. I thought about greed this symbolised by jewellery and gifts to the singer and the fifth being sadness, more like desperation, this on indigo blue. 

The worst is the last two. I thought to close with anger with red but I thought about it and be kill and left behind like you are nothing and the two (husband and wife) walk into the night like you are a small incident they will cover up sound like it deserves a scene of its own. 

I thought ochre and brown can be the more interesting idea.

Changing the story

I have been working the story while I have been working (drawing ) it. This is an interesting part that blocks me. I said interesting because have an idea in your mind and seem it grow is very fulfilling but also it is very debilitating. I wonder constantly about who is going to see it, to read it, to understanding...

Assignment 5: Part  III (Mood board and period research)

Character research

I have a clear idea of the two characters, the general and the wife, I guess because they are “real life” character but the girl was a bit of work. I looked into different cloth for her and for the wife and the different uniforms that the general used to wear. 

The location. 

This is another thing that I did not need to research because it is a well know location and also were the tragic supposedly happen. I tried to add detail to make more fun.

Mood

Assignment 5: Part 2 (Research)

General idea

I thought about the style I want for the drawings (If I can manage because sometimes I think I have better ideas than execution) I will like to play with the colours of frames to communicate the emotions without writing anything. I did a research on different illustrator that used one or two of the characteristic I am looking for.

Thomas Ott

I have never seemed his work before but I am in love with his work. This is what I was looking into, a story base on drawing and no words. the way he creates every frame to tell part of the story is compelling. I love it.  Also, his technique is very interesting, in the begging I thought it was ink but it is  Scratchboard, that I have never known before. I think gives his work richness and texture to bring the emotions of the story out. 

“His favorite technique is the Scratchboard . He draws in black and white, but the use of this particular technique, as opposed to Chinese ink for example, makes it natural to let the black dominate the drawing, and constitute the bottom of the image. Black is the default color here. This suits the pessimistic and sometimes stifling stories and atmosphere that Ott creates. In addition, there are very cinematographic framing, with boxes that often extend from one edge to the other of the page, while remaining narrow.

The comics of Thomas Ott are essentially silent, the text being present only as element of the drawing (placards, panels and labels).” Wikipedia 

The Scratchboard technique uses a clay that it is cover with ink and pill out by an instrument. By doing the technique I realise that can be combined with colour pencil (I love that version) It can be done with pastel and pastel on top (instead of the ink) or used a pre-coated board. I added some of the videos I saw for the research, unfortunately, I do not want to try a new technique for this last assignment but I will love to experiment with it in a later day. 

Francesco Chiacchio

I looked into some of his work because of the use of colour, the small splash of colour is a very interesting way to catch the attention of the viewer. In his website, he has only a few pages so it is difficult to understand the comic but the way he uses a tiny bit of colour is very attention graving. 

Patrick Atkins

This is another type of illustrated story without a word. A difference of Chiacchio, the use of colour is more intense, it gives a more dynamic approach and less melancholic but in other work, he uses more mulled colours so the scenes feel with sadness. I also like the granulated texture. It is very interesting. 

AudreyBenjaminsen

Her work is a middle ground of melancholic and dynamic. The colour amber is added post-processing (This is my guess) THis is another example of a story where there is not words and only a few colours. The drawings were created with 

Summary

Choosing the best media for this project. I am sure I am not going to use  Scratchboard, I love it but it means that I need to lean and do testing but perhaps charcoal and post-processing. I am not sure about that. Perhaps it is a good idea to do some texting and choose the best result. 

Next step

Do some texting with colour and black and white inks.

Started drawing the scenes and see if they make sense.

Exercise 5.6: Stages of Reading Development. Part IV (Second illustration & development)

Bears discovering a new frontier

Drawing

A3 Gouache

I used gouache again and similar colours to give some sense of consistency between the two drawings. 

I used pictures of divers to create these illustrations. The first drawing was a man and I realise that the animals were a supporting character at best so I decided to make an animal the explorer. 

Inspiration

While I was researching for the other illustration I came across with an illustration if a diver so I like it, and the see is the ultimate earth frontier of discovery so.

Illustration

Coming with ideas

After a few hours of thinking about ideas, the seven days = seven sins started to form a shape. I knew that is a cliche so I tried to shape in a new for but I got stuck.

I started to make a list of seven days and I found (seven-day trip) that would have been nice to work on architectural landscape illustration but it is a bit lame.

I went back to the idea of seven days= seven sins. I remember the “urban legend” in my country and I like it (It was one of those campfire horror stories) It a lot of sins and a ghost... So I started working on the idea. I have a lot of problems... first I have never written anything with meaning and this “urban legend” has a FEW wholes so I am not sure I can fix that but I will try.

Characters: The pretty girl (The easy pretty and sweet girl who has an affair with a powerful married man)

The powerful married man (A dictator in 1930)

The wife (a crazy woman) 

Story

This is the usual linear story so... I am not sure I can fix that or I am confident enough to fix that. The story is pretty simple, it is the goth in a famous and luxurious hotel. The ghost of a woman that hunt men (I see that is a bit cliche but perhaps it started there :) ) A dictator has an affair with an aspiring actress, they decided to go to a hotel that is in a landmark to have a getaway together, the dine and have fun. A few days later the first lady and a jealous wife find out that her husband was having an affair for more than one night. the general and dictator were having sex with the mistress when the wife knocks on the door and the mistress was hiding in the balcony. He wanted to stop (order) his wife to stop but she entre the room and started a fight with the mistress and accidentally push her out of the balcony. 

They cover up the crime and when back to their lives, living the mystery of the disappearing of the actress to never being resolve and her death never to be punished. 

It starts in a hotel. follow by dining and wining. I rumour started. the crazy wife finds out. 

Day one

The first encounter between the actress and the dictator. (I would like to work on vanity here) Perhaps using purple as the main colour. 

Second day 

The travel to the hotel and the sadness of the abandonment by the husband. Blue as the main colour

Third Day

Dining and winning. I think I will add green in this day avarice and the colour is yellow. 

Fourth day

This the is lust day. Red, of course, it is the most appropriate colour for this. 

Fifth day

This is the day the first lady to find out that her husband is cheating on her. Jealousy is the emotion and it is going to be green. 

Sixth day

This is the rage, the hate moment this is going to be red but also. The fight and the final moment of her

Seventh-day

At the down, the wife and the general looking at the body. to close with them walking away... I have not idea what colour yet.

Exercise 5.7: Educational Strip.  (Development of ideas)

What is happening to my body? It’s all go mad!

I wanted to do some research on the critical areas of teen development and I decided to create a strip of emotions. Emotions have representations in our body and teens have problems understanding them. 

Social Anxiety, body dysmorphia, been overwhelmed by thoughts.

The second part

Things teens can do to take control of the emotions and feelings. a. eat healthily, do exercise, do things that you are good at it, talk to someone about your feelings.

Analysis

Exercise 5.6: Stages of Reading Development. Part II

Illustration and reading development

Looking for illustrations for a sample on reading age is very complicated. There is no clear patters of the different on age, number of words and complexity. I tried to find studies but there aren't studies that connect images and reading abilities.

So I made the groups based on an intuitive idea of how the images should be for each group but this is very circular. You cannot look for common variables in a group that were created by you so I think I will be looking more into the differences for each group if I want to work with children.

Background: A simpler background help to understand what the main character is doing... so I think the younger the child the clean and simple should be the background. In other hands, a more complex story requires a more subtle and complex background to push the storyline forward.

Character: I am not sure about the type of character but I think that the number of character increase with the reading ability, this is part of making the story simpler or more complex to much the child reading ability.

Mood: It seems that happiness is more related to small children’s stories. Even stories with a more darker tone seem to be clear up or added some good mood

Exercise 5.6: Stages of Reading Development. Part III (First illustration & development)

Scary and the animal is a shark.

Drawing

A3 Gouache

I have been using Gouache for a few drawings and I love it but I am not sure how it behaves, so I have a lot of problems trying to create layers and shadows. 

I love the colour and the way the gouache pop up in the page but I am not sure I know exactly how to work with it properly yet. 

Inspiration

I came up with the idea of a sark for the scary concept (see pic above) and I think it works well. I wanted to be related with a more older child, around pre-schooler or early reader) 

I also decided on a page with different scenes building up to the bite to really communicate the concept and I develop the first part of the page. 

Illustration

I think it works well and the combination of colour is great. I am really happy about this but unfortunately, I think I need more skills using gouache. I also realise that I did not know how the water behaves and I might have drawn a low deep part of the sea rather than the deep ocean. I took a different illustration of water and I settle for this but I later realise that does not represent the deep sea. 

Age

Research and personal learning

Theory

There are different theories about the stages but I was interested in how illustration can help with the association of words and meaning. I work with children with disabilities and I struggle finding good books for them, so I did more extensive reading about reading development. 

Stage 1: The Emergent Pre-reader (typically between 6 months to 6 years old)

On the guide, this is divided into two different groups pre-reader (between 6 months and 3 years) and pre-school (3 to 5 years). 

“samples and learns from a full range of multiple sounds, words, concepts, images, stories, exposure to print, literacy materials, and just plain talk during the first five years of life” but  "t we conclude from this research is that the many efforts to teach a child to read before four or five years of age are biologically precipitate and potentially counterproductive for many children.” (Wolf, 2008, p 94 - 96)

This is very interesting and I am pretty sure a long list of other studies that shows a different result but it seems obvious that between three and 6 are the most appropriate age to teach children to read. At the end of this stage, the children pretend to read and can understand hundreds of words but only can read a few of them. The child will need the assistant of an adult.  (Wolf, 2008) This lead to an interesting point that a children book is also for the adult who read it. 

“Any instruction (phonics, vocabulary) should be linked to the book reading, and such books should include rhyme, alliteration, and repetitive phrases. In one’s environment, adults should verbally label objects with which children are involved and encourage children to ask questions and elaborate on observations (Westberg, et al., 2006) “

At this point, it is important to connect the words with the pictures so children can associate. Also, it is important to create certain names big so they can associate the sound with a picture.

Stage 2: The Novice Reader (typically between 6 to 7 years old)

At this stage, children can read high-frequency words and can sound out words that are less frequent.  

“A useful method for helping novice readers with phoneme awareness and blending involves ‘phonological recording.’ This may seem to be just a pretentious term for reading aloud, but ‘reading aloud’ would be too simple a term for what is really a two-part dynamic process. Reading aloud underscores for children the relationship between their oral language and their written one. It provides novice readers with their own form of self teaching.” (Wolf, pp 118)

Illustrative books can help parents with this process because drawings can catch the attention of the child in a concept, and help the parent and direct the attention to the letters and the sound of the word. 

This shows that in stage 2, children can learn as much concentrated that unconsecrated in a basic or intermediate reading material.  So, it is important to help the child to focus on the book but it can learn even when he is interested in another aspect of the book. 

“orthographic development for novice readers requires multiple exposures to print” (Wolf, pp 120 - 121) This is also interesting because in different reading books for this stage I have found that the print is too small or sentences that have too many words (at least with the children that I work this type of reading material does not work best)

Stage 3: The Decoding Reader (typically between 7 - 9 years old)

“ In this stage, the child is reading simple, familiar stories and selections with increasing fluency. This is done by consolidating the basic decoding elements, sight vocabulary, and meaning in the reading of familiar stories and selections.” (Brace, 2018)

This definition can help to build the association with more complex meaning, like scenes in a story, 

Exercise 5.5: Packaging Part II

I wanted a minimalist approach to the boxes to get away for the normal box of cereal and cookies out there but I think I look a bit “immature” or “horsiest” the illustration. 

Choco-chip cookies

I like the drawing and I think it is more fan than other dino drawings, more into Jurassic Park, the movie but someone points out that will only work for older kids and not for small kids.

Ginger cookies

Exercise 5.4: Text and image (Final artwork) Part III

Big & Small

Big & Small (Watercolour paper & Guoache) 

This is nice artwork, I love the way they look. I think they are fun and happy illustrations. I do not think Big can be used as a font, unless they are created as a word with the idea so you can make small changes to move it more readable but I still think small can be created as a font in black and white.

Fat & Thin

Fat (marker on A4 heavy cardboard)

Thin (wacom and printer on A4 printer paper)

I like both of the fonts, I am not crazy about them but they are fine and I think they can be used to create words. I think Fat need more work with pencil but create a more 3D shape. Thin was done on Photoshop with brush and I like the effect.

Fast & slow

Fast (copic marker on A4 cardboard paper)

Slow (Copic marker and colour pencil on A4 cardboard paper)

I wanted to capture the idea of movement on liquids but the truth is that I did not like the final result of fast, I think there is a better representation of that idea. Slow was OK. As a font, I think both of them are easy to create as individual letters but I think that work better as calligraphy.

Calm & Mad

Calm & Mad watercolour on watercolour paper

I love the decoration, the texture of these two fonts.. I think they are great for a title, a decoration. I love them. I work with different colours for the different context base on the sea. I think red for mad is a bit cliche so I chose the other idea.

Boring& Fun

Boring & Fun on wacom on photoshop sofware

Exercise 5.5: Packaging Part I

Inspiration

A different dinosaur for flour. Ginger (orange) Rasin (purple) Choco-chip (brown). In the two pictures above, you can see different products with illustrations on them, most of them look for smaller children. The colours are bright. I thought that I could make them for a bit older children. 

The last picture shows a group of drawing as how the box it is going to look like. I wanted the inside to seem through the box, so I think I am going for a close up to the animal in question. 

Development

At the begging I was looking into a more landscape drawing (orientation) rather than a close up, I draw a few dinos with a background (page 1), I started to draw a more rounded face so it looks more childish (page 2 & 3) but I realize that I did not like that but I like the close up and combine with the boxes with cookies inside I thought on an open mouth, Dino.

I did a few thumbnails drawing to see who they will look like and I like it. Brown, Purple and Orange for the three flavours. I wanted the animal's mouths to open the boxes but I do not know how to create a box like that (next time)

Giving up the idea of using the mouth to articulate the box give me the opportunity to create a profile drawing if necessary.

Next

Exercise 5.3: Travel guides part III (Final Work)

Book Size

Unfortunately, I did the drawings without thinking much about the dimensions of the books, I worked it so I did not need to do this again but there is a problem of proportion and composition on the three covers. Next time I will work the perspective and composition first.

Helsinki

The original cover was done in watercolour paper hot press A3. I chose a less well-known site on Helsinki. with a water reflection at night. I love it but I think it needs more work. 

Cover

This is a different cover than the rest in small details, the border is translucent, allowing the rest of the drawing to be seen. That was not needed in the other drawings because they did not have a background.

This was the first cover. I wanted the letters to be at the border but those present several problems (see picture below).

In general, I think it was very successful but perhaps it is a bit boring. 

Milan

The original drawing was done with watercolour (see the previous post) in an A3 hot press watercolour paper. I chose a classic building in Milan, that is very different from Helsinki.

Cover

This was a very simple, I used the same colour for the cover that was on the drawing so I did not add more colour. This is visually pleasing but I think a bit boring. I asked someone and it was described as sophisticated, I am not so sure if that is a sign that I needed more colour, perhaps I should have used a more dynamic building to draw. 

Istanbul 

The original drawing was done with watercolour (see the previous post) in an A3 hot press watercolour paper. The inspiration was a well-known mosque. I love the building and I thought that was a good challenge. The final drawing was not as beautiful as the original and I was too afraid to add a background or more colour...

Cover

This is my favourite cover, The colour is the one thing I love. The borders and the letters are perfect. It is true that the general aesthetics is a bit flat, I like the final result.

Final thoughts