Final Major Project Sketchbook 2 Stephanie Howe
Style Experimentation
- The more sketchy approach (chair) looks better than the overly blended but still sketchy - Really I need to find a nice medium between these two that have a more stylised appearance. -
More sketchy / realistic approach Quite time consuming Has a less natural graphic feel to it Needs to be more stylised Improvement on colour palette needed
Nan - facial development - Quite difficult to create a likeness in a simplified way as she is so wrinkly - lots of shadows and highlights that give character to the face - A sketchy approach to the highlights and shadows may help this
Nan - facial development - Quite difficult to create a likeness in a simplified way as she is so wrinkly - lots of shadows and highlights that give character to the face - A sketchy approach to the highlights and shadows may help this
Not liking this style as much as before - Very time consuming - Looks quite stiff - Baby almost impossible to make not look creepy
Change of Plan Due to time constraints, I have decided to change the focus of the narrative. While the original plan of 12 short stories would have been very effective, it was not possible to execute to a high standard within the given time-frame. Instead, I have decided to focus the narrative solely on the trips to Spain with my Nan. I’ve decided to not include the first story as a baby, as the character would be too difficult to produce accurately and would be overly time consuming. The remaining 5 stories will be much easier to complete to the desired standard by the deadline and will also give the book a more concise narrative and focus. Story 1 Focusing on apartment location, and playing on the beach to set the scene. Speech bubbles - general conversation relating to the activities, can give more insight into other details of my memories, people etc.
Reference from family album Fist attempt focused in on the signs and building to give location context. Quite sketchy - not sure if i like the texture on the sign
More detail added to panelling on hotel facade Wispy dreamy looking clouds Subtle depth added with colour but most detail and texture added with dark brown.
Zoomed in slightly - quite a complex image and very time consuming to draw each balcony
Possible page layouts For the narrative to work effectively the framing of each illustration is very important and can change the story drastically.
They look like little tables...
These illustrations allow for lots of possible framing, and allow me to place focus on certain parts of each image for longer or shorter periods of time Although they look as I intended, as pages, the imagery feels quite overwhelming, thus distracting from the actual content of the illustrations
Layout Test - Liking the look of this - flows okay but some pages are a little repetitive due to the focussing on different parts of one illustration - Could be worth spacing out the illustrations a bit more with some pages more concentrated with images and some less.
Story 2 Trip to the Crocodile Park Focusing on location & landscape and features of the park, and holding a baby crocodile.
Layout Testing Pages are still very condensed. Colour scheme works well together - gives a warm dust desert atmosphere. Still think I need to space out the pages a bit more.
Pathway Adding in a small pathway illustration as a transitional point for a change in location, so it doesn’t just jump from one place to another. Makes the story flow a bit better and elongates the narrative.
Photo Corner Tests Adding to the concept of the photo album narrative - I’m going to test methods of “securing” the illustrations to the page to give the reader a subtle hint that the stories are actually memories, without giving too much away.
Traditional photo corners - has the desired effect, but a little overpowering on the images as they’re black and the colour schemes are quite soft. Looks a bit too digital for my liking - considering that the point of adding the corners is supposed to make the images look like they are realistically stuck to the page.
Sticky tape - still digital but made translucent by reducing the opacity, allows the rest of the illustration to show through, none of it is hidden. Looks a bit haphazard, more precise placement would improve the overall look.
Tutorial w/ Iro - 4th May - Overall drawing aesthetic, colour scheme and cropping of images is all good. - Black photo corners look too digital, needs to be something that looks a little bit faded and tactile. - Keep the photo corners on the first image of each story only to avoid confusion, otherwise it isn’t clear where the stories start. - Could be possible to add some kind of pause between stories, or leaving hem together to flow the whole way through. Solid pages of illustrations are a bit compact and difficult to take in all at once. - This could be done by separating the first image of each story on a separate page in the long photo format. Always starting a new story on a separate page with a central image, without needing to introduce a blank page. - Could possibly make the background of the first page of each story more reminiscent of a real photo album; dusty, a bit creased, finger marks. Or by adding corners of other images on the page to give the indication of being surrounded by other photographs. - Doesn’t feel particularly old, but I’m okay with that. The final product will be printed on off white natural paper to take away from that clinical white feel. - Cover design: title is “between the pages”, cover could be quite simple but the title can reference the idea of the stuck photographs within the book. Can create a border for the title to be “stuck down” as well, echoing on the inside. - Going straight from the cover to the first image is a bit abrupt. Might be beneficial to have a title page where I set the scene with something like a date or location. What could be useful and create a cohesive link between the cover and the first image, but also doesn’t take away the surprise from the end of the book. - Look at albums, do they have any end papers that I could replicate or adapt? Sometimes people insert loose ephemera into the pages, plane ticket stubs, notes, receipts etc. Traces of ephemera to spark curiosity but not give too much away, and keep the viewer guessing.
- Speech bubbles and thoughts - is it too confusing? Does it read okay? Speech bubbles work well. The thoughts need to be more centred to the page, not lop sided and irregular. Feels a bit strange in terms of layout. - Serena Kaat - Sunday’s Child. Two voices (Text) identified with different colours and fonts. However quite different in terms of layout; a lot of empty space when she was talking/thinking, and the rest worked more like a traditional graphic novel layout. - Might be better for the thoughts to be placed on their own on an adjacent blank page to the corresponding illustrations. Would help to slow the pace and create pauses, and taking the viewer out of the narrative momentarily. - Speech bubbles need to be visibly coming from outside of the image frame to show that its an external voice. Bubbles need to be coming from an appropriate location relating to the characters position. Needs to be consistent throughout. Very important for how the audience will interpret the narrative. - Might be useful to skip forward and sketch out the ending to see how it works. Middle has been established and I know what I’m doing, but I need more advice on the beginning and the end of the narrative. - Concern about individual story length: there is no obligation to have each story the same length. How do I want to pace the book and give them their own rhythm. Some memories we have might be very fun and fast and others might be slow ans stressful. These emotions need to be reflected through the structure of the stories. - If I feel that the workload is too much, be concise and cut out things that aren’t needed. - Should keep with 5 stories as a good baseline as the passage of time needs to be shown to pass.
Possible “Title Card� To change the pace of the narrative and give an indicator of the start of each story, it could work quite well to place the first illustration of each story on a separate page with the tape to show that it is stuck down. This is to represent that the stories shown after are a memories triggered by the photographs.
Could possibly add the corners of other illustrations that are also stuck down to further the idea of the photo album and give more context to the main photograph. I like the idea of this but not sure if the execution really works with the rest of the layout. In terms of production, I am not planning on having any full bleed images, however this concept would require the images to be printed full bleed and may make the file set up and production more complicated. Also, I do find that the extra elements are distracting the eye away from the main illustration and therefore taking the viewers focus off of the main narrative .
Layout Development
Colour palette re-evaluation After taking time away from working on the first story, I felt as if the colour palette for the illustrations didn’t match the feeling and aesthetic which I intended. I felt that the colours were far too bright and cool toned, creating a very present and realistic feeling. As my intent for this project was to evoke a sense of memories and nostalgia, I thought that a much warmer range of colours may give the desired effect to further the narrative.
Original
New
Much more effective - has a more tranquil atmosphere and softer appearance. I will apply this to the rest of the illustrations for the first story and continue with a similar colour scheme throughout the rest of the book.
Stylistic Changes Looking back, I didn’t like the way I had drawn the texture and details of the sand. It had the desired effect of displaying the shadows and varying colours along the surface, but the appearance was far too busy and graphic looking. Instead I decided to cut back on all the different elements and instead use a gradient base colour to give perspective, and using light shadows and texture to show small details. The overall look of this is much more stylised and in-keeping with the aesthetic I am after.
New colour sceme applied to remaining images for story 1
Adding Thoughts The addition of scattered text is designed to replicate the internal recollection of memories that occur when a person is looking through old pictures.
Placement is a bit awkward - helpful if the text is next to the correlating image, but does make the page a bit overcrowded. Could also clash with the speech bubbles - do they need different fonts? how can I show the difference between voices.
Story 3 Focussing on the local fishermen
Story 4
Story 5 Simple - on the beach, fishermen, boats.
Cover Development Too basic, very lacking visually and uninspiring. Wouldn’t make me want to pick it up.
Using a sky pattern from inside the book as a cover spread. Very visually interesting and tranquil feeling. Makes for an easy colour scheme for other key elements. Same aestheric is echoed inside and out. Cohesive.
This trial works the best. - Edge block colour wrapping around the front, spine and back cover gives a professional feel and highlights the perfect binding. - There are no issues with trying to execute an accurately aligned a full wrap around cover. - Design is atmospheric and gives a good impression of the contents of the book. - Design is cohesive and all elements well put together. - Looks inciting, would catch peoples eyes on a book shelf or display.
Ending Plan
After talking through the ending plan with Iro, I decided to remove the ending dialogue from the narrative as it didn’t feel necessary and wouldn’t have necessarily added anything to the story. Instead, using “that was the last time I visited her there” as the final statement, followed by four silent pages to end the book. This then leaves the ending open to interpretation by the viewer and makes the narrative more relate-able.
Tutorial w/ Iro - 5th May - Cover development, chosen one works well, it is a happy compromise between having something that looks a lot like an album cover but also not in an obvious way. Would continue as a full wrap around cover with an orange spine. - First cover test would work well as the title page inside the book. Could need extra things on the page to take up some of the empty space. - Changed the black photo corners to sticky tape. - Whereas the title page needs to feel a bit “scrapbooky”, the first image of the story needs to feel a lot more precise with the tape placed carefully to stick it down. - Test of different font for thoughts. Seeing as now they are on a separate page, a different font isn’t really needed as there is no direct confusion with the speech bubbles. - Align the text to the centre of the pages so that there aren’t any strange gaps left on the page. - First image of story pages with ephemera a round the edges works well, however, I feel that the image by itself works better and is less distracting. - Ending test; end dialogue between two people doesn’t really work, we haven’t met that other person before so it adds a layer of confusion. Leaving it at “that was the last time I visited her there.” Still follows the format of the thoughts that are featured throughout the book. Keep that on a separate page as before. - The zooming out from the album works well & is a nice touch. Might be nice to have images on the layout that we haven’t seen before - but this will be dependent on time. - Could make the last page a full bleed as a more dramatic ending - quite immerse. Need to test it out.
Ending Slight change decided to cut down the amount of illustrations for the 5th story and ending as I was running a bit short of time according to my plan, and in reality I didn’t need all of them for the narrative successful. This resulted in me changing around the order of illustrations for the final story, which consequently altered what Illustrations are featured in the end album sequence.
Ending Layout
“Title page” On the first page I decided to add a “sticky label”, like you would find on a photo album giving details of what pictures are inside. At first I wanted to include a date or time span to provide more context. However, as I progressed through the project I decided that the location “Torremolinos” was enough information. Having the dates there felt a bit too personal or factual, when I want the viewer to focus on the actual memories and stories, rather than the time in which it’s set. This allows the narrative to be more relatable as they could have happened at any time.
Adding thoughts, To slow the pace of the book, I have decided to move the “thoughts” onto a separate page next to the corresponding image. This will hopefully make the reader take more time to focus on each of the elements within each spread, rather than rushing through an over-crowded page and missing key details.
Page layout alterations & final page order The addition of these extra pages has meant that the layout of illustrations is incorrect in some places, meaning that I have had to re-evaluate the framing of the illustrations and altering the page order and narrative to flow nicely. After feedback in a tutorial I have moved the placement of the thoughts on separate pages to the centre, rather than being aligned to the adjacent images. Story 1 Final
Story 2 Final
Story 3 Final
Story 4 Final
Story 4 Final
FInal cover front & back.
Between the Pages Stephanie Howe
www.stephaniehowe.co.uk Š Stephanie Howe 2020
Rough Mock-up Before sending off the book to print, I made a small dummy copy of the book to check the pagination and ensure that everything worked as I intended.
Production After extensive research, I had previously chosen to get the book printed with the company MIXAM. While developing the book, I had originally intended the final product to be 210x210 mm square. However when producing physical page mock-ups I discovered that the pages were a lot larger than I had originally thought. Subsequently, I opted to reduce the page size to 148x148 mm. This reduced size will mean that the overall feel of the book is much more dainty and compact, like a small pocket book of memories that we carry around with us. I opted for 160gsm Natural paper for the inner pages as it has a soft off white appearance, giving the book a more natural and handmade feel, and 350gsm Silk paper with soft touch laminate finish for the cover to give it a sturdy yet professional feeling. I opted for a perfect binding to further the professional appearance and feeling, while also echoing the binding of a traditional photo album.
Product Photographs