Character design
layout
And scribble, doodle and god knows what else
I have decided to have guide character in my book and I picked up wolf - well to be more detail Wolfie. Why wolf? Because when I think about it, it is project of University of Worcester and mascot of basketball team of UOW is wolf - Worcester Wolves, and I think to have a cob as a main character is nice connection. Also, if there is any event, University of Worcester can use Wolfie costume from basketball match and children will recognise this character.
So I started doodling and googling how wolf really looks like and then I tried to simplify it as it is at the end of the day children book and not adults.
Then I started to scribble and doodle my own little wolves. My intention was to keep it as simple as necessary and not to include too many details for two reasons. I am not a genious illustrator and secondly I like simplicity and "flat vector" style in which I want to design the ebook.
Then I decided to put it throught the illustrator and see if I will come up with different concept. I have used Wacom Intuos tablet which helped me a lot and Adobe Illustrator software. This is what I have created so far.
This is the first character I have created in Adobe illustrator but it still wasn't what I wanted. I wanted to even more simplify the shape of the wolf - more like using origami outline. Then I came with another one.
These were my initial ideas for a double page spread how to build a shelter.I haven't developed it further as I didn't feel this is the right direction I want to go.
I was also experimenting with a legibility of fonts I have found and been thinking to used. These are the fonts I like the most and I am using in my other designs.
This design is the one I like the most. I like the energy that is coming from it. I also tried to do mock-up for a book and I am very pleased with the result. I also think it is very eye catching- especially for children's mind.I was very struggling with the name for this book. But one day I had one song stuck in my head ( "Baby, It's Cold Outside" written by Frank Loesser in 1944) and I tried to play with the words and modify it to my book. And I like it!
double page spread layout and design
This is my first double page spread that I have finished and it is about how to build a shelter. I was little bit torn when I was designing this for two reasons. How to build a shelter is quite extensive thing to explain to children and I had to make desicion if I want to put all the information into one double page spread or to divide it onto two double page spreads and make it easier for kids to follow - using big illustrations of step by step. I have decided for the second option as I believe it is much better. I didn't want to squeeze all the information into little space and have barely imagery there as my audience are mostly children who do not know how to read heavy tex and looking for images.
At the moment, I am working on my second double page spread about cooking over the fire. I have found various kids recipes that can cook over the fire, but in this double page spread, I want to use the classic - sausage of (vegetarian option) marshmallows and focus on how to build a campfire in a safety way. This is just the early stage, definitely want to improve it.
