Monday, 2 December 2013

FINAL OUTCOME

http://issuu.com/aislingcrosland/docs/editedfinalmillieandthemonsters

This link is to my final book on Issuu until I have the chance to get a version printed. 

Edits

I couldn't help myself with a little time left before hand in I have ended up adding some things/changing some things to my final outcome. They're only small edits or changes (for example I forgot to put a space between the words 'through' and 'boxes' on page 23) but they're changes I think have added to the work. One thing I am happy I changes was the coat in the dark, it didn't look very scary at all so I redrew it but in a slightly more exaggerated way so that it looked more like an actual monster.










Evaluation

I thought i'd take a minute to look at the work i've done for this unit and evaluate. I also want to give an insight as to how this unit will influence my next as i'm hoping the two will work together well. 

Fist of all I want to point out how please I am with how this unit has gone. Originally I intended to do a full set of roughs for my finished book (http://issuu.com/aislingcrosland/docs/mmroughs1) and then produce 4 final double page spreads but i've actually been able to finish my book over the past 9/10 weeks ! I'm glad that I powered through and made my final book, I have a tendency to be a bit lazy and only do as much as I said I would, i've never really been one for pushing myself further but I did for this unit and am so happy that I did. 


Because my book needed to be 32 pages long (as specified in the brief I was using for the Macmillian Book Prize) I had to loose this page when making the final edit. I was a little disappointed to loose it but out of all the pages it was my lease favourite image and I didn't really need it to add to the final story. 
However I am planning on building upon this book in my next unit to try and make a picture book app, a picture book app will hopefully be really good for the narrative I create because it will tell the same story but I won't be restricted by page counts and so on. So hopefully this image can be improved upon, or taken influence from to create a new image that will maybe make an appearance in my app for FMP.

One thing I would like to work on when I take this to the next unit is some of the scary elements. I think the eyes glowing in the dark have worked really well, but the 'monster' that turns out to be her coat could definitely use some extra work. Character design is probably one of my favourite parts about making children's picture books so i'd maybe like to try and create a monster character using the shapes of a coat. Also since like I said before I could fit more information into an app I could consider making more 'monster' characters taking influence from things that would be in a child's bedroom.

One thing I struggled with over this unit was the world in which I placed my characters. I've always found drawing landscapes boring and i'm not particularly good at it but I do think my rooms have benefited from having details added such as skirting boards and light switches. I'd like to work more with these issues moving my work forward for FMP.

Since this isn't the first children's book i've made throughout my time at university I decided to look back on my first book to see if my work is progressing like I was hoping it would.. http://issuu.com/aislingcrosland/docs/lillygetslostfinalprint This link is to my first children's book 'Lilly Gets Lost'. Although in Lilly Gets Lost I loved drawing characters such as the Yeti (I want to try and create more characters like him) I can definitely see in terms of the main character my images have really come along. When I look at my main character from 'Millie and the Monsters' I personally feel like I can see an improvement in both my character design and drawing technique and i'm hoping this will continue to improve over the final unit. 

I'm also glad that I took what I learnt about adding texture in my 'Convergence/divergence' unit at the end of Level 5 and used it to create my images for this unit. I feel like it makes the images stronger and also with work and trail and error will hopefully make my work stand out from other children's picture books.

Here is the link again to my final outcome for PMP http://issuu.com/aislingcrosland/docs/finalmillieandthemonsters i'm excited to have my book printed nicely and will upload images from my printed outcome as soon as I can. I wish I had factored in printing time so that I could have the final book ready in time for hand in but since originally I only intended to complete 4 final pages I didn't factor printing/delivery time for a printed book into my time plan. 





Final Book Issuu


This link is my final outcome for this unit. Although I am going to have my book printed properly the turn around will take a week or more so I am going to do this in my own time to use in my portfolio. 

Referring back to Learning Agreement

I am now at the final stage of my project and I am very pleased with what I have achieved so far. In my learning agreement I said that I would create 4 final double page spreads and a cover for my outcome, this was because I didn't think I would be able to finish my book in  just 10 weeks. Due to planning my time better (I've learnt from not doing this so well in previous units) I actually have managed to finish my book ! I'm pretty impressed with myself and this gives me hopes for going into the next unit as it will set me up. 

I wanted to use this book, as I stated in my learning agreement, to enter the Macmillan Book Prize and I still intend to do so. However in my learning agreement I said that I would present my four final double pages as printed outcomes, I can still choose 4 to print out and present but because I managed to complete the book I would like to show it all together so I now intend to display my work digitally using Issuu. I am going to send my book to print over the christmas period but because I didn't realise I would be able to finish the book for this unit I didn't factor in the time it takes to have a book printed (since that wasn't the original plan) as I have in previous units. I still want it printed, and I want it printed properly so it can be used in my portfolio.

One thing I don't think I have demonstrated well in this unit is research into children's picture books. The reason for this is that during one of the last units of Level 5 I produced my first children's picture book, because I had never made a picture book before, I dedicated a big portion of my project towards research. It seemed almost a waste of time to reiterate what I had learnt previously again in this unit instead of building upon what I had learnt and using it to make a good start on my new book. I think it is because of this that I was able to finish my book faster than I expected. However I do feel as though I have provided evidence of my knowledge of picture books through my final outcome (which I will upload today) I have shown that I am aware of text, it should be a simple legible font such as arial, in black so that the text can be translated easily into other languages by publishers, text boxes should be used on pages where the image can make the text hard to read and the text box should be a contrast to the text e.g. white text box and black text. I have shown that I am aware of page count, I know that the standard children's book should be 32 pages long and because of this whilst planning my final outcome I have taken into consideration which pages should be kept and if any need to be cut out. I have created a title page, front and back covers also. I have been mindful when creating an image and when adding text of the guttering that will appear of about 5mm each side of where the pages bind together and made sure I haven't put any important information that might get lost into this area. So although it hasn't been written or typed out research I feel as though I have demonstrated understanding throughout my process and my final work itself.

Wednesday, 27 November 2013

Christmas Cards

Taking a break away from the tedious job of sorting out my layouts for an hour or so today and I came up with Christmas card ideas that I though would work well aimed at children.







Monday, 25 November 2013

Issuu

This Issuu link is to my final roughs for my book including the front and back cover. I still need to add the text to the pages and correct a spelling mistake on the back cover.