OUIL505 Project Report
Molly Fairhurst
OUIL505 For OUIL505 I decided to embark on a children’s illustration project because it was something that I had been considering in my own practice but was not sure of, and this point seemed like the prime time to try it and see. I began the project by looking vaguely into educational illustration, thinking that for this module it would be best to base the work on an existing text or fact, but my heart wasn’t really in it, so I changed my mind and wanted to do something fictional.
Laura Carlin
I didn’t know what I wanted to create but I knew what sort of tone of voice I wanted. I had been looking at practitioners such as Laura Carlin and Jon Klassen and admired how they could make children’s narratives and books with subtlety and nuance. I started to consider vague themes such as fears, growth and connections. Jon Klassen
I spent a lot of time working in my sketchbook, mostly just playing visually as I waited for an idea to come to mind. It didn’t really help the book theme ideas, but I found such creative playfulness greatly beneficial. It has helped me in the process of finding what I enjoy and am good at, which is largely non-digital processes. I spent too much time on that. I did decide on the idea of fears after thinking about my own childhood and how I was / am a classic scaredy-cat. But I carried on spending too much time on the visual side. Without the written/ solid sequence idea the visual side couldn’t properly get underway.
I started to think about whether character and words would really be relevant. Could I create something engaging without a solid narrative? I spent even more time on visual experimentation but finally got round to storyboarding some ideas.
There was a narrative based idea that I think could have been good but I didn’t trust myself to work it into something worthwhile in the amount of time I had. I took the other challenge of a non-narrative book. The book would follow a simple formulae of “Is the X too Y? (explanation). I hoped it would act as a formula that a child could then to try and rationalise their own experiences. It tested me a little to write it, but for the purpose of this project I didn’t spend too long worrying about it in favour of the illustration.
Do the trees grow too high? They are home. Does the tiger smile too wide? He is happy. Is the snake’s hiss too sharp? He is afraid of you! Are the owl’s eyes too large? She uses them to see in the dark. Does the frog leap too fast? He is late for work. Is the ocean too vast? Room for the whale and all his friends. Is the night time too dark? Take a torch.
I changed my mind multiple times about the format of the book. I eventually settled for a page of text and a full bleed image on the other of each spread, for printing reasons but also to give the images space. I had chosen to paint the images with gouache after much visual play in my sketchbook. When I went to make the images I didn’t like them at first, they felt too flat so I proceeded to paint them all without a sketch underneath.
When going to put the text on I realised, last minute, that just a small amount of writing on a big page wasn’t going to cut it. Inspired by Paul Rand I tried to create movement and fun with the text. I felt quite proud of it, but my eye is not trained like a graphic designer, so I do wonder what it *really* looks like.
I only realised towards the end of the project that the module required a range of applications, more than the book! I didn’t want to just take the images I had made for the book and plaster them on to anything so came up with a small concise range of products that I personally feel engaged with the main title.
Book Stickers and bookmark design
Activity / notebook
Print and wall clock
OUIL505 End of Module Summative Evaluation I really enjoyed being given the opportunity to write my own project but with it came a few hinderances. Mostly it seemed like a prime time to test what I’m interested in as a practitioner- not yet sending portfolios around but needing to establish what I want to do so I can get on to that soon. I struggled with time management and planning, which isn’t usually something that gets me. I found it hard to come up with a solid idea so distracted myself by playing around stylistically and visually. This was valuable, but more time spent on the concept was really needed. The book was my main focus throughout the module and I don’t think that was necessarily a bad thing, or unlike how real publishing works. I am quite fond of what I have made, but to say I had spent so long playing around visually I’m disappointed with the illustrations as a collection. I was keen to go full colour and textural after the limitations of 504 but it made it hard to keep them consistent. I also wish I had made them looser, more energetic. I feel that many of them lack depth and detail, all things that I think would make more exciting images. That said, this project along with some of 503 has sparked a
slight change of direction for me, and even though I’m not fully happy with these illustrations they are definitely getting closer to what I do want to achieve. The text in Too Much is the most complex I’ve ever tried typographically. I also did it in a short space of time, so it’s not the most considered, but it’s made me think about thinking more about lettering/ type. I may not need the skill, maybe it would be given to someone else to do. But it’s a good skill to have, whether it’s to give input on a graphic designer’s work or to do it myself. I feel like because I didn’t manage my time so well, because I prioritised other modules despite caring about this one on a personal level more, that the final book was quite a rushed job. I am interested in it as a concept, and would really like to remake it and refine it, with the intention of sending it to publishers, if not to have it as a portfolio piece / my own enjoyment. The writing is a little odd, and I think the pacing could be smoother. The idea is there and it’s something I care about, so would like to work on more.
I think it would be really interesting to see what an actual child would make of this! I don’t know / have access to any children so haven’t been able to get their much valued feedback. I have been keen throughout to target it at children and not just the illustrated goods market, but at the same time taking heed from other illustrators keen to not be overcome by the idea of ‘child friendliness’ in picture books. I’m pleased with the tone of voice I got across in the book, I think it is subtle but hopefully also exciting, but really I won’t know what a child would think unless I asked them. Making a range of illustrated products was quite a new concept for me and at times it felt like it could be quite over-commercialising. I don’t care if someone does plaster a character on any kind of merchandise, but it didn’t feel quite right for this project. I also wonder how much input the illustrator/ writer of a picture book has on the design of merchandise. Admittedly the range did come as quite an afterthought, mostly because I had literally forgotten about it due to my poor planning. I think I did well in creating a range of products that accompany the main title in a thoughtful way. I’m pleased with the idea of the note book but am not sure if I got the idea across in the right way. All in all I am feeling encouraged by this project
and what I’ve seen from other practitioners that children’s illustration can be sophisticated and valuable to my own work. I’ve learnt about my own practice in terms of visual style, tone of voice and what contexts I would like to work in. I know what I would do if I reworked the book and do plan on refining it. This module has been the project that has felt most relevant to my own practice and I can see it having context outside of the university bounding.