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.
Monday, 2 December 2013
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.
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.
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.
Saturday, 23 November 2013
1st Double Page
As I mentioned earlier in my 'reflections' I was really unhappy with how my first double page spread looked. I was just going to leave it and not count it as one of my final outcomes but it was really bothering me so I went back to change it and here is what i've come up with for the new pages...
This was the first attempt to change it, I made the colours less 'in your face' and added a path to the image but it still didn't look right. I did like the characters in the scene though so I decided to keep them but just work on the background.
I drew a car and added colour and texture (from my ink dipping) to it, it made sense to have the car somewhere in the image even if it was only in the background since what the characters are meant to do doing is packing the car up with moving boxes to go to their new home.
The next thing I wanted to work on was the texture added, the textures in the earlier images just hadn't worked at all in my mind. But remembering how well the textures I made with ink worked when added subtly I decided to try making my own drawn grass texture to add. (above)
This ended up being the new outcome. I think it still needs some work before it becomes a final outcome but it's much better than what I had before !
Editing Pages
I said in my reflection that I wanted to try and make the nighttime pages a bit darker, this is what I have come up with so far..
The picture above is the one I edited, it isn't really much different i've just made is look a bit darker and grimier but I already think it's starting to look better than the original image below.
The below image is the original, it was clearly too bright and cheery for a scary nighttime scene. The image above is how it looks now i've started to edit it, it's already looking MUCH better but it still needs work doing to it to make it scarier.
Reflection
Sat 23rd Nov -
Since I have about a week left of this project I thought now would be a good time to reflect and identify any issue i've had and things that need to be changed. I'm at the stage now where I have finished all my roughs for my book and am about to move forward onto the final outcome. One thing I need to work on is obvious, and that is the cover. So far I haven't done anything on the cover besides a few quick idea sketches, this is the main thing I will focus on for this final week of the project.
Issue number one for me, if you look at my coloured roughs (http://issuu.com/aislingcrosland/docs/mmcolourroughs) is the first double page spread ! I'm not exactly sure why but I know that I really don't like it. I'd like to spend some time to re work it, but since from the beginning of this project I agreed to produce 4 final outcomes and the cover this page isn't my top priority. (Just something I will look into if I have the time)
I'd also like to go back and play with the darkness and shadows on the pages where the little girl is meant to be scared, I feel like the images aren't quite scary enough. I don't want them to be really scary since this is a book that would be read to or with a child before bed but at the moment the images don't feel dark enough to me.
Another thing I need to look at is layout, I've noticed by turning my images into a book using issue that some of the images meant to be on one page are too big and have crossed over the guttering. This won't be too difficult to rectify but it needs to be done none the less.
Finally I want to add the correct text to my images, rather than an indication of where text will go. This will help me work out exactly how much text is needed on each page, if pages need to be cut out and make me more aware to the relationship between text and image.
I am slightly worried that the book itself is 30 pages long so far. A standard children's book is 32 pages including the title and end pages, because of this I might need to shorten/take out a double page spread (but then I guess that could solve my issue of not liking the first page?)
Since I have about a week left of this project I thought now would be a good time to reflect and identify any issue i've had and things that need to be changed. I'm at the stage now where I have finished all my roughs for my book and am about to move forward onto the final outcome. One thing I need to work on is obvious, and that is the cover. So far I haven't done anything on the cover besides a few quick idea sketches, this is the main thing I will focus on for this final week of the project.
Issue number one for me, if you look at my coloured roughs (http://issuu.com/aislingcrosland/docs/mmcolourroughs) is the first double page spread ! I'm not exactly sure why but I know that I really don't like it. I'd like to spend some time to re work it, but since from the beginning of this project I agreed to produce 4 final outcomes and the cover this page isn't my top priority. (Just something I will look into if I have the time)
I'd also like to go back and play with the darkness and shadows on the pages where the little girl is meant to be scared, I feel like the images aren't quite scary enough. I don't want them to be really scary since this is a book that would be read to or with a child before bed but at the moment the images don't feel dark enough to me.
Another thing I need to look at is layout, I've noticed by turning my images into a book using issue that some of the images meant to be on one page are too big and have crossed over the guttering. This won't be too difficult to rectify but it needs to be done none the less.
Finally I want to add the correct text to my images, rather than an indication of where text will go. This will help me work out exactly how much text is needed on each page, if pages need to be cut out and make me more aware to the relationship between text and image.
I am slightly worried that the book itself is 30 pages long so far. A standard children's book is 32 pages including the title and end pages, because of this I might need to shorten/take out a double page spread (but then I guess that could solve my issue of not liking the first page?)
Friday, 22 November 2013
Issuu
This is the roughs for my next children's book "Millie and the Monsters"
It helps to lay the roughs out in the way to make sure i'm not loosing any important details from my images in the guttering.
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
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