Page 9/10

Pages 9 and 10 are where the first night scene takes place. It portrays a scared and lonely Gonzo in the back garden on a cold and rainy night in December.

I began with Gonzo’s kennel, which is a focal point on the spread. I drew over my hand-drawn storyboard to achieve the initial outline. After I completed the outline, I drew Gonzo in the shape I had him drawn on the storyboard also.

I proceeded to add colour and some shading to Gonzo for the illusion of depth in his kennel.

Adding my hand drawn lines was the next step. As I usually do, I removed the pen tool outlines and used my graphic pen to create my own. I then changed the stroke to achieve a more pencil-drawn look. I did this with both Gonzo and the kennel.

The tree was simply added from the previous drawing, where I had to change the colour in order for it to match in with the dark night. I added a moon to also represent the night time. The rain drops were the last addition to the page. I created some large and some small ones to again, give some depth to the page.

Finalised Spread:

Underneath is the finished spread. I am happy with how the kennel turned out, it is exactly what I had imagined in my head and that’s always good when it turns out as hoped!

Page 7/8

The spread of pages 7 and 8 is where the character of Ruby is introduced to the reader. It is a page that I wanted to present Gonzo and Ruby’s relationship in the place where they both live (the garden), on a bright day.

The first step as usual for me was to place my storyboard behind the illustrator file on a locked layer to use as my guideline.

As discussed in my background experiments, I wanted to keep the blue skies in the story very similar to keep the consistency going. I used the same sky in this scene as I did on the front cover page, with a slightly adjusted gradient. It is a bright and vibrant background that I feel is very uplifting and will come across lovely on print.

I wanted to use the grass that I had used for the front of the cover, but I didn’t want Ruby to get lost in it! I again, made some separate layers for the grass and placed Ruby just behind the shortest grains, and Gonzo in front of the longest.

Keeping the same style of the clouds was important for me to keep the consistency. This was also the first page that Rubys tree was made visible to the viewer, where her nest is perched behind the two. I added another similar tree behind Rubys one, to show that there is other trees in the garden and also for the purpose of adding some depth to the page.

On the right hand, is the two sentences. I placed them on a white background where the text is visibly seen. Underneath is the finished spread. I may revisit this page if I have time to before print. However, I am overall satisfied with the finished look.

Finalised Spread:

Page 5/6

I started this process by scanning in the picture of my storyboard. I lowered the opacity and began by drawing over it, using the pen tool initially.

Font

Laying out the font was a process of trial and error, where I laid it out several times in different ways. I came up with this one as my favourite layout as I think because Gonzo is jumping in the air, the words surrounding him really give an extra impact.

Background

The background that I chose was a green block colour. Initial backgrounds consisted of white and different variations of the colour green.

With the use of an effect and glowing edges on Illustrator, I applied this to the blobs that I incorporated on the spread.

The addition of the character of the spider was also made.

Finalised Spread

 

Title Page

The next step was creating my Title Page. This was a very simple process as there isn’t much involved in doing this. From my research into title pages of different books, I was made aware that majority of title pages consist of the name of the book, an image of the main character and who the book was written and illustrated by. It’s basically a condensed version of the cover that usually has a simplistic background.

Back Cover Design

Creating the back cover was easier that the front, as I simply wanted the colour to blend the whole way around. This was done simply by adding the same background on the back page and then adding a white box where the short book description will go.

I really like the idea of having Ruby on the cover of the book in some form, as she is a prominent part of the story. I decided to place her on the back, in a position where she is looking up at the blurb.

Initially, I came up with this. However, it didn’t go right with the colour design on the front cover.

I then changed it to fit better.

Chosen Cover Design:

Front Cover Design

I have been thinking for quite some time how I want the front of the book to look. The cover of any book is very important as it is the initial design that will draw the viewer in.

As majority of the scenes in the book take place in the ‘back garden’ where Gonzo lives, I thought what better to way to represent it than to have the main character in the garden. As a lot of the book is set on a ‘cold and rainy night in December’, where dull and dismal backgrounds are present, I thought it best to have the front cover set on a bright day.

My initial concern was getting the grass correctly drawn and spent some time on this. Using the pen tool to create different grass shapes, I then proceeded to darken the areas that are further back and lighten those at the front.

I resorted to the sky background that I recently created and incorporated this shade with a darker blue on the top and made it dissolve into white at the bottom, just above the grass line.

Applying my book title and name was the next step. I have included some of the progess underneath.

Decision:

This is the cover that I am choosing for the moment. I like the colour scheme and am happy with how the grass turned out. I am thinking about maybe incorporating Ruby into the cover but I am also thinking that having Ruby on the back of the book might be a nice touch. I will come back to this possible idea after I complete the back of the book.

 

 

Storyboarding – Continued

The storyboard process happened over the space of a few days. I wanted to make sure to have everything in the right place, so that the illustration process will be easier to complete. I have attached the next batch of the story underneath.

Storyboarding

The storyboarding process was one I was eager to start for a while, but I wanted to have every other element of my book fully developed before I did so. I completed this process by drawing up each page of the book, in two page style displays. I have attached what I have so far underneath.

Revisiting Typography

Over the last couple of weeks, I browsed various different websites for fonts that I could possibly use in the book. I looked further into the theory behind the selection of fonts for children’s books. I know that the most important factors are a warm and friendly design that has simple letters. I learned that the counters should be rounded and open, not angular or rectangular.

I discovered a font which was primarily designed for children, called Sassoon Primary. It has excellent attributes of all I listed above. I have attached an image below.

I also discovered that typefaces with larger x-heights are generally easier to read than those with short x-heights, and this is especially true for children. I kept this in mind throughout my search.

Rubys Tree and Nest

Rubys Tree

It was important to develop Ruby’s tree and nest, which will be present in around 3 of the pages. I had roughly in m  head, the image of what I wanted to tree to look like for a while now. The branch will come out prominently where the nest will sit.

 

I brought the design into illustrator and used the pen tool to go over the drawing. I then added some detail and experimented with colour. The tree will be of different shades depending on how far away it is on the page.

 

The next step was to create a different outline for the tree and making it appear a lot more hand drawn. Shading was also added.

 

Rubys Nest

The nest will be a very very small detail on the pages in the book, yet I felt I needed to experiment a little before I began the illustration process. I began by sketching some rough designs and then brought one of them into illustrator.

I experimented with different variations of brown and added shading after placing Ruby into her nest.

Colour selection and putting Ruby in her nest: