Illustrating a Children’s Story, Part 4
Here is the latest work behind the Three Little Pigs project. Sketches are close to done, and I’m starting to think about how the book is going to be put together.
Here are the previous posts for this project: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Final(?) Sketches
I reworked the sketches a tiny bit and added some value. I am just about ready to go into the final paintings. Click on the image to see it larger.
I also created a rough sketch for the cover. Here’s what I’m thinking for the front and back of the booklet.
Printing!
I physically assembled the booklet to get a general feel for what the final product is going to be like. I decided on a size of 5″x7″ so that it will fit on a normal size sheet of paper and will be easy to mail.
First, I printed out the spreads. For the eight pages, I used two sheets of paper, printed front and back. The front and back cover was printed together on another sheet. The pages are in a weird order because the booklet it going to be “saddle-stitched” together, meaning I am folding the pieces of paper in half and stapling them together in the middle. It can be a pain to figure out, but I like how clean and professional the result looks – much better than just putting staples along the side.
Here is the final product, stapled and cut.
Again, if you have feedback, I would love to hear it. I am about to go into final color and painting, so now would be the time to make any major changes. Are the values working or do you see some areas where it could be pushed further, or is not clear? Do you like the simple cover concept or would you prefer something more bold? Do you have any preliminary thoughts about the color direction?
Thanks for all the feedback I’ve received so far! I’m really pleased with the progress this project has made. Now, I’m off to paint… Yeah!
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7 responses to Illustrating a Children’s Story, Part 4
Hey Dani you’re on track like Talladega Nights! However I think the wold could be a bit more animated in the some of the panels you have, because it looks like he’s in a similar pose in a couple of the panels. I think that the simple look may not be best for the cover though. Because of the fact that this is a book for kids you may want to make the cover a bit more lively. I can’t wait to see more of your progress as things get on stream.
I love the design for the front and back covers, myself! This is going to look great when it’s done. I see what destinycreature is saying about the wolf being similar in those two panels, but it didn’t pop out at me until she said it. In fact, the whole thing looks great to me.
Hi Dani,
First off, I stumbled upon your site a few months ago and have been frequently visiting it ever since, you’ve got some great stuff here and are a wonderful artist! :)
I like how the booklet is coming together, but one thing that sticks out in an uncomfortable way is how many of the layouts feel a bit cramped, by which I mean you’re not giving the illustrations enough room to breathe along the edges. Take page 1 and 7 for instance: the tail of the wolf is just about touching the edge of the paper. And on page 6 both his nose and the back of his head do the same, tightly and only barely fitting the paper. On page four, the house on the left of the page consists of exactly one plank, effectively creating a tangent with the edge of the paper. That feels rather uncormfortable, layout-wise.
As for the cover, I like the simple concept, though somehow I feel that the piggies, expecially the ‘brick house’ piggy, feel far less likeable than your earlier sketches. The two at the back look and feel angry instead of lazy and the one in the front is more of a know-it-all than a hard worker, and I think it’s really this contrast that this fable underlines: ‘hard work pays off’. Not: ’smart asses win in the end’ ;)
Not too sure about the expression on the wolf’s face on the back cover either, I think you could push that one further. It looks a bit too much like a portrait to me now, a bit stiff and posed. Looking back at page 7 now and thinking you could go further there too. He should be completely blowing his lungs out at the brick house, leaning way more more to the front and sticking his neck out, exhausted and frustrated at the same time.
I’m just a budding illustrator of no name and am really putting on my critical bugger hat here but perhaps these two cents of mine are worth something.
Cheers,
Jolle – The Netherlands
Hello!
First time commenting, although I’ve read most of your posts after discovering your site.
Everything looks really good to me. But I think the front cover is a little too simple. I’d like to see an edge to edge illustration where you can really go nuts on the colors. Something where all the characters or in motion or doing some kind of an action. I think it’d definitely draw in more readers. I think the front and back cover you have now would be perfect for in the inside of the front cover or on one of the pages that appear before the story begins. That’s my two cents :]
Looks AMAZING, Dani. Wow, I am so impressed. What a big project to take on. I think you’ll get a LOT of mileage out of the pieces that come from this, and a lot of NEW WORK, too!! Inspiring.
Ok, now to feedback — I agree with Brian about the cover and back cover. While I love the sparse, simple composition, I think this style might be more useful to break up all of the great, wonderful ACTION and MOVEMENT you have going on in some of the spreads. I feel that the cover should reflect this dynamic action and show some nice, strong expressions on the characters.
I look forward to seeing what direction you take this in! It’s very exciting, and it is beautiful work. Congratulations!!
Kathy
Congratulations, i love it keep workin like that your fan pepepistolas
Hi Dani, let me strat by saying that I always visit your blog. I just love your work and your blog is such an inspiration and a wonderful place to learn!
I really think you’ve done an amazing job on this dummy! For me the cover is fantastic, made me smile when I saw it :o)
It’s different and that’s why I like it. All the covers I’ve seen illustrated on this story are usually very detailed, a whole scene happening, the three pigs walking with maybe the wolf hiding… etc… but your approach is awesome. To me it is concentrating on the pigs, specially the one with the brick house. He is the last in the story but is the one on the first plane in the cover. He is the true heroe and it is showing. I love that they have personalities and attitudes and is such a simple cover that is very eye catching. The type works really well too. I wouldn’t change a thing!
I really love the inside spreads too, particularly the hay blowing one.. is amazing! And that leads me to my only comment where I think maybe you should change something. That spread is so great and important that makes the brick house spread seem a bit uninteresting. That one should be the climatic one. That one deserves a spread and not 2 single illustrations facing one another. So maybe you could work the same idea your have now of 2 things happening in 2 facing pages but with a big illustration working as a spread showing the wolf flying in the air making such an effort trying to blow off the house and show the house with the piggy on the window, and a little spot one on the top left corner showing what you have on your left page but small and maybe as a pan view, where wolf is standing facing piggy’s house and piggy is looking out the window (just like you have it there). That way you still have the 2 narrative scenes you already worked on but make the blowing one a big huge fat statement of a spread :o)
The rest are wonderful and I really like the back cover too.
You are so talented… Thanks for sharing this with us :o)