For my FMP I'm going to be illustrating a children's picture book about a blue pig :D
I've finally written the first draft of the story but won't be showing it on here until it's closer to being finished...
The main character of the story is a piglet so I've been looking at lots and lots and LOTS of examples of pigs. Photographs, videos and illustrations... Here are some of my findings including some more images from the MMU special collections library!
From looking at these images and from looking at the way real pigs behave I was able to start working on a design for my main character...
In the past my most successful character illustrations are the ones that focus on simple basic shapes. I wanted to keep up with this style for this book... Here are a few pig character sketches...
On Monday the 23rd of January we had a class visit to the Special Collections Library in Manchester Metropolitan University.
I bolted straight to the children's book collection and began sponging up inspiration for my own children's book. I had been struggling with the writing of my book up until the visit but have since been able to write it to an acceptable standard.
I looked through all kinds of children's books from new to very old and noticed lots of similarities such as the incorporation of text with image and also the use of white space rather than full bleed images. During the Uganda Children's book project I was focused on producing the most colourful and full images I could and hardly considered the idea of white space. I think this was my greatest downfall.
The point of my FMP is to write and illustrate my own children's book but more importantly to avoid the mistakes made in the Uganda book and to utilise everything I've learnt through doing my critical journal.
Looking through the special collections has really helped to inspire me and help me understand what makes a successful children's book. Here are a few photos of the books and pages that really stuck out for me...
On Friday the 27th of January we had a visit from a well known illustrator called Nicola Slater. I really love the style of her recent work and found the talk to be greatly helpful.
She talked to us about how she had progressed from graduate to children's book illustrator and the difficulties she faced on the way. She also explained exactly how illustrating a children's book work and goes from the idea to the finished thing.
She also showed us some examples of unsuccessful children's books she has illustrated. I didn't understand how they could have been so unsuccessful because the illustrations were so well produced and far superior to the work I have been producing for my children's book.
The talk made me feel much better about my own work because I saw how much progress Nicola had made since graduation. I know that I shouldn't rush to be at the same professional level and should focus on getting my ideas out of my head and onto paper.
She also discussed her regret that she hadn't acted on her ideas more. She said she had wanted to draw little characters and photograph them interacting with objects in city locations. I really liked this idea and had considered something similar myself a while ago.
Another thing we discussed was the Macmillan Children's book competition and how I had been reluctant to enter due to a lack of confidence in my own work. She explained that the judges are looking for something that stands out as an original idea that could work as a book and not a finished piece that could be printed up there and then. I have confidence in my own ideas, just not my ability to produce professional images. The talk has definitely given me the confidence to enter the Macmillan competition this year.
