Night Sky Background

The night sky be the background used in the majority of the book where the setting is a ‘cold and rainy night in December’. I researched various different night time skies that are used in tv shows and books and a lot of them consist of a purple hugh like the colour below.

I felt that this shade did not suit the idea of the night being cold and in the month of December. It felt like more of a summer sky. I experimented initially with blues, before deciding that grey could work the best. The blue completely took over the book and was far to heavy and dark.

  

Sky Backgrounds

The sky is a part of my book that will be used on the second, third, fourth, seventh and eight page of my book as well as possibly on the front and back cover. This means I must experiment on getting the perfect sky for these pages.

I began my experimentation initially by scanning and browsing through various different ‘sky blue’ shades online. I placed Gonzo in front of some of these shades that I found to be most appealing.

I came across a lovely sky image on google that I tried to recreate in illustrator using the gradient tool.

Developing the correct gradient for the back of the book was the next step for me. After experimenting with some different shades of blues, I stumbled across one that really caught my eye. I created a gradient swatch where I incorporated this shade with a darker blue on the top and made it dissolve into white at the bottom, just above the grass line.

I created a gradient swatch where I incorparated this shade with a darker blue on the top and made it dissolve into white at the bottom, where I plan on putting grass in. This can of course then be altered according to the different pages as I see fit throughout the illustration process.

Finished Sky:

 

 

East Print

East print, known as www.booksandcatalogues.com, is the next best place that I found and got in touch with after book baby. The man that I got in touch with was called Łukasz Szymański. From their website, I found that he is the head of the company and is responsible for production management and logistics.

Łukasz was very helpful. However, there was a slight language barrier via emails, as his englist was not 100%. The company seem to deal mostly across European cities.

Łukasz sent me a quote via email.

Book Baby

I became fairly disheartened after being told no by so many companies but I continued to search.

I came across a website called bookbaby.com and I loved the website from the moment I stumbled across it. It is highly professional and focuses primarily in the printing and binding of children’s books. I sent them an email in which they asking some details, as the company is American and I could not ring them. They proceeded to tell me that there is a process on the website that you can follow which gives you and exact quote to match the specifics. I followed this process and was happy to see that they offer a size very similar to mine which is 10 x 10 inches. The process to follow was very simple. I have attached details below.

I was very happy with this process and will most likely use them for printing. The only difficulty I face is that they can only offer 1 copy or else 25 + copies and no in-between. The price different for this is substantial. I got in touch with the company via email regarding a few concerns.

This settled some of my concerns about paper weight, minimum orders and production times. I will definitely be considering going with this company for print.

Continuing my search for printers

I continued in my search for a printer, after only getting some sort of positive feedback from one company. After my supervisor meeting with Siobhan, she gave me a few other suggestions of places to get in touch with which include Duffys book binding, Fire – high-end printing and Azura Books (Italy).

I got in touch with each of these places. Duffys informed me that they are not suitable for print and suggested I ring Aungier prints, who told me they were not suitable for the project either. Fire print also informed me they would not be able to do what I was asking.

I also tried several others, who told me similar statements.

Printing/Binding Sources

I began by simply searching ‘Printing in Dublin’ and ‘Printing a childrens book Ireland’. I scanned websites seeing if they met my needs, and compiled a list of places to ring, including, Self-publishing books, Specialty printing, Smart imaging, Turners printing, Gemini International printing, Hacketts printing, Reids printing. I have attached them below.

I faced several difficulties today while ringing these places. Several places said straight away that they are not suitable for printing a children’s book. Others said that I would need my book to be a minimum or 70 pages, whereas mine is 34 at the moment. Others said that the dimensions were not suitable either, and the alternatives they offered me where not anywhere near what I want.

I did eventually get in touch with a group called ‘Carrowmore publishing consultancy’, who offer a range of different options for authors. I was on the phone to a lovely employee for almost 40 minutes discussing the various different attributes of the book with regards to printing. He told me that I would have to get the book printed and bound separately and to design my inside pages and cover pages as separate documents for binding purposes. He informed me that as my book as a small number of pages, that several binding options wouldn’t be suitable. He then continued to say that 240 grams per page weight would give the book a nice heavy feel, which is what I wanted. He then said that I would need to give printing around 2.5 – 3.5 weeks, which I was a little shocked by. I hadn’t planned on setting aside over 3 weeks for printing alone. However, if it must be done, it must be done. He took down all of these details on my book to get in touch with a printer for me, as their company is just a consultancy and require external printers. He said he would be in touch.

Deciding on Details

I’ve had an overall idea of the size I wanted my book to be for several months now. This week I need to plan out exactly the dimensions, paper weight, binding preferences, cover styles etc… in order to begin ringing around different printing companies to get a general idea of time and other factors.

I had originally planned on getting a board-book, which is a book made up of cardboard on each page, not only the cover. I changed my mind after my supervisor meeting, where Siobhan pointed out that board-book are usually designed for a target audience a lot lower than mine. This led to me doing some research into different styles of printed books for my age group.

I discovered that ‘picture-books’ are what are suited for my age group. They are designed for the age-group of 4-8 years and are generally in and around 300-800 words on average. They have one main character that embodies the child’s emotions, concerns and viewpoints.

Book details to date:

• Approx. 36 pages at the moment (including the cover pages)
• Dimensions: 265mm (height) x 259mm (width)
• 5 mm bounding
• 135 lb weight text
• Picture Book
• Glossy finish

With a clearer vision for the books appearance in mind, I plan on researching and contacting different printers.

(I have attached some of my rough notes below on this subject)

 

Revised Project Definition Statement

 

“ I am writing and illustrating a children’s short storybook. It will be an uplifting story narrated by a boy and girl, which will instill an aspect of self-confidence in the child. “

Storyline Feedback 1

I decided to start my user testing process now. My sister is a primary school teacher in a school in Swords. She is a resource teacher and has a range of students with varied reading abilities from ages 6-7.

There was generally good feedback from the class. There were some parts however, that they found confusing. The line ‘overcome with grief’ was thought of as strange. This was an expression they had never heard of before.

There were parts of the story that my sister informed me the class could relate to. After reading the line ‘If he spots a spider, he runs a fast mile’, a couple of students then discussed large spiders that had frightened them before. This was good to see the students relating the story to real life events.

Overall, I am happy with the feecback. This was only tested on a group of 8 students, so I asked could she discuss the next draft with another group.