Tuesday 30 December 2014

COP3: 'Frozen' Magazine interaction


I saw this magazine in Aldi and decided to buy it because it covered quite a lot of different activities that are most often found within children's magazines all in one book. Plus it was Frozen so it was highly relevant to what I was currently writing about. Below I've provided pictures of examples of the activities within the book. 

Although the magazine is particularly terrible, it does provide a good overview of what you can find in most children's magazines.


Cut out


Sticker page


Comics


Follow the path


Colour in


Cut outs


Sticker Page


Stencil page


Stickers



Snakes and Ladders


Dot to Dot


Cut out

Monday 29 December 2014

COP3: Cindy Ella concept

I was really inspired by this book I found on Behance, the use of markers to draw in your own details into the book inspired me to think of ways in which you could interact with a book other than pop-up and flaps. The only problem with this, however is that I wanted something that would look professional no matter. Having a child's drawings being my work, I don't think would reflect well.



This led me to think of other ways, stickers was my initial idea, so I created the cover to just see what I could come up with to be relevant to this approach. I created the below, Cindy Ella, a retelling of Cinderella, where you can create the character and everything else through stickers.

















The only problem with creating a sticker story is that it wouldn't really add anything to the story, and there would need to be lots of stickers. Lots. It seems like it'd be sacrificing the story for the sake of just having stickers in it. Which doesn't seem very beneficial. I need a different approach. - 

Plus the cover ended up looking way to typical for a fairy tale. 

Saturday 27 December 2014

COP3: Lydia Gibson and illustrations

I found these illustrations by Lydia Gibson, although hard to find, I came across them while searching for fairy tales made for the working class. The style of Lydia's illustrations really got my eye because of the use of colour and the simplicity of the drawings them selves. For instance the teacup whale really gets a lot across in such a nice simple drawing. I really appreciate this type of work. The only problem is her work is rather hard to come by, but I've included a few samples below to take inspiration from.

It's a style of drawing which I think would be really useful for illustrating with because of the simplicity of it, which would allow me to produce my book quickly while at the same time keeping a professional appearance and looking contemporary.






Lydia also worked for the 'Masses' magazine in the early 1900's, the below illustrations aren't hers, however I really like the front cover designs for the magazines, the use of black accompanying a primary colour works really well. The use of silhouetting is really effective here too.






I was looking for some inspiration in regards to actual children's books and Nosy Crow offers you the ability to look through their books easily on their only PDF viewer which was really helpful for just getting a glimpse at some of the books they produced.

The below books been some examples, which I picked for just referencing. however I don't really see them being relevant due to the style.










Thursday 18 December 2014

COP3: Hungarian Cartoons (Primary)

While I was in Hungary, Budapest on a tour, at the end I asked the tour guides what they cartoons and books they remembered from their childhood, they wrote down the following on a map I was carrying with me.

I transcribed the names below along with an image for my favourite ones. - Although these are rather irrelevant now, the aesthetic is completely different to that of cartoons in the western world and I find them all the more charming due to their crude design.


Kockásfülű Nyúl


Doctor Bubo


Futrinka Utca


Magyar Nepesek - Surprisingly, a fairy tale cartoon of sorts. The aesthetic is that of a east european 70's Disney cartoon. However the use of colour is what is most eye catching.



Frakk, macskák réme - I absolutely adore this cartoon, you don't really need to know what the characters are saying, it's rather simple and easy to follow. it's a paper craft animation about a Hungarian visalia and the drawings of the characters are really charming. Especially the face of the dog. - I would really love to get this much happiness from a dogs face in illustrating my book.





Tortenetek Leninrol
Gazdalkoda Okosan