Further Development

Following on from my initial designs. I began to consider my favourite elements from each of the roughs and placed them into more refined designs. I took into consideration my favourite elements of:

• Colour
• Composition
• Use of Narrative 
• How the two characters come across to the audience and if this has been used effectively.
• How clear the text of the poem would be alongside the illustrations.

I came to the conclusion that having the text on the page opposite to the illustrations would be a more effective way to display the book, especially if I'm keeping in mind that the book is initially for children, the clear layout will allow the poem to be more accessible and legible for the younger readers.

I like the idea of having a pattern that links to the illustration, almost as if the text page is a part of the 'world' or location that the characters are in, I could explore similar colours and shapes that are used in the main images in order to allow a harmony and flow throughout the book.

I began to think about the orientation of the book, I started to consider whether the designs would work better as a landscape book, i've been a lot of children's book that use this orientation and I always feel that it's an effective way to display the illustrations, especially when a lot of detail is used. However, if I do use this layout I'll need to be considerate of more practical aspects such as:

• Printing costs, the pages will need to be printed on an A2 size paper due to the A4's being alongside each other. If i bought the size down to A5, the details of the illustrations may get lost making it harder for the child or adult to appreciate the craft and details of the drawings.

• The practical aspect of handling the book, will it be easier and more tactile to hold if the book is portrait or landscape? I should do some research on this and see which I personally prefer and translate this into my own work.

I began to play around with different details and patterns with minor characters that I could potentially use within the background and the pattern pages of my book. I really like the idea of having little characters that don't play a role in the story but are something that the child can almost spot and look out for within the pages.

I quite like the pastel colour theme aswell, I will need to play around with it slightly more to really refine it, but I feel that the delicate colours are a great addition to the almost space themed characters.

NEXT STEPS

• Finalise characters and begin to think about practical methods of creating the book, what textures, colours and effects do I want my book to have? I need to experiment with methods such as screen printing to see if this will be an effective way to begin to create my book.
• Create final layouts of the book and then begin to place the pages together.
• Do more research on the orientations of children's books and creative books in general and consider how my book can work alongside these.