The Cover
I thumbnailed covers taking inspiration from the manuscript above as seen in the sketchbook page below. Displaying characters from the book around the title of the book. However I thought this would look too biblical and with all the illustrations that are in the book I felt that having an illustration on the front as well would be more effective.
Instead I took inspiration from the manuscripts to the right for the title, fancy curves and plants. I was also inspired by the medieval postcard below which I had hung up above my desk. |
|
|
|
|
Artist Influence
For my cover and back cover I was looking at the covers below, Sara Ogilvie's Dave the lonely monster, Jill Calder's Robert the Bruce king of Scots and the Picture Atlas. Dave the lonely monster and Robert the Bruce King of Scots use scenes from the book as the covers where as the Picture Atlas uses assets from throughout the book to create a new illustration. I was inspired by the Picture Atlas to use the wee wee from one of the pages to have at the back of the book. However I wanted to create a totally different illustration to sell the book, one that captures the mood of the ballads and the area it was inspired by. Thus I created a cover that features British animals and Hadrian's wall, a wall between Scotland and England.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Above are the thumbnails I created for the front and back cover, originally a deer's antlers were to frame my name, which was an interesting idea I liked but the outcome wasn't so successful.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The above outcome was the first iteration of the front cover. I liked the composition of the back cover but the front cover had lost something from the thumbnail. I had become frustrated drawing the deer, unhappy with each deer I drew, ultimately I decided that although I liked the idea, having a cover was much more important and so I pivoted for the final cover to instead include a fox in this space. The wall also didn't go off into the distance as it should have and so I redrew that aspect. The texture in the background was also not successful and so I drew the sky on my iPad instead, which is much better.
By adding the fox I had solved the problem of the empty space but I had created another empty space in the right side.
This fox had actually been created as to be apart of the contents page to match Jill Calder's populated contents page. However as the contents page instead became just one illustration the fox could be reused for the front cover.
To fix the empty space I stuck in these two buildings created for Glasgow Peggie. I'm happy with this outcome because it better suggests people instead of just animals and people are an important aspect of the ballads.
Title Page
Sara Ogilvie's book to the right illustrates a character with the title above, in a fairly empty setting. I wanted to replicate this for my title page. Thus I drew the thumbnail's below featuring just the pig with some thistles and the illustrated title.
|
I'd seen this image of a pig playing the bagpipes and I'd been sad that it hadn't fit anywhere in the book, however when I was thinking of ideas for the title page I'd come across it. I thought by adding this musical pig it would incapsulate was the illustrate child ballads was about.
-The ballads, musical stories. -Scottish, many of the ballads have Scottish roots -Playful, how I illustrate tends to be light hearted and funny so a pig playing the bagpipes seemed perfect. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Contents Page
|
|
Although this Aesop's fables book was influential in my love of short moral stories, the contents page is exceptionally boring. Definitely showed me what I didn't want for my book.
|
|
|
|
My original ideas for the contents page were more populated illustrations, with a lot more elements. However I felt that the contents page could be less stimulating, like a calm before the intensity of my colourful illustrations. So I moved away from these thumbnails and instead looked for something simpler.
|
|
Jill Calder's contents page for her illustrated Atlas inspired my contents page.
I liked that her double page left space for the type and created a dynamic point across the spread. |
|
|
|
Having just line art to fill a spread is inspired by spreads like this from Roald Dahl's Songs and Verses' book.
|
Glossary Page
|
For Jill Calder's Atlas book glossary she has illustration along the top of the page and a mild texture throughout. I wanted to replicate this for my glossary but along the bottom.
|
