Jamie Hammond

As the landscape was developing I began to add more elements to the double page spread to make it more energetic and exciting for the demographic as well as developing the profession outlook of the page and the setting. The monster which was denoted on the previous double page spread has now been shattered apart by the fish who has come to rescue Nessie. The distinguishable yellow one of her friend makes her stand out, just as Nessie does. I have also transferred this colour into the text and narrative as this physically shows that she is a big influence in overcoming the fears and has a large impact on the narrative.

Progressing onto the colour palette and design which I am incorporating into this design, I changed the colours and style of the layers to see how I could add more of a perspective as well as making it obvious that it is underwater without it being too overpowering. Though, on this page I went back to the original background to see how it would work when the foreground illustrations are in a different tone. I don’t think that this worked for the illustration, but by having the texture on the sea worked extremely well; thus, I was trying to overcome the problem that allowed the design to flow and suit the aesthetic of the book.

The previous design with multiple layers wasn’t working, so by refining it to overlap and harness the movement of the sea with multiple shades of blue to juxtapose the layers worked really well. The sea is definitely a lot darker, but for this double page spread it works because of the night time setting as well as the previous dark visuals in order for it to subtly graduate into a different tone. I am happy with how this page has turned out because it is obvious on how the narrative progresses and I like how it physically represents the friend ‘chasing’ the monsters away to connote the moral and themes of the narrative. The design is also consistent and works well with the pages at either side of it; including the final page.

The final adjustment that I have made to this page is the refinement of the colour contrast against layers and adding in the type that I decided upon on the previous double page spread that I produced. I loved how this looked on this illustration because of the distinct juxtaposition against the background and now with the development of the shards breaking up the opposing page it controls the sharp-edged monster and background making Nessie look even more innocent and scared. With the typography gripping the narrative and pushing the progression of the illustration to flow between both pages, I think that it works well as a double page spread and captures the mood that I was going for. Adamantly, the vibrance of the blue break up the previous visuals and continues to make it aesthetically interesting.

As with the previous design on the monster on the right hand side, I didn’t think that it was working and suitable for the double page spread. Because of the nature of the children’s book, I decided to go with something with a hint of colour that will juxtapose against the blue while following the colour palette and distinguishing the danger that Nessie has put herself in. I illustrated the shipwreck because it represents the abandonment of the surroundings, and also the solitude of Nessie’s life. As with the previous direction of silhouettes, this decision worked well with Nessie as a silhouette too; including the slight fade within the background layers to separate them and make the stand out against the variation of layers.

I continued to work on this and develop it so that the spread would look as professional as possible. The ultimate decision to move the monster and the style of this has impacted the page greatly. By having this on the right hand side it now looks like the monster is chasing Nessie into the shadows/red background- which represents the danger. Along with this new composition, the left hand side is more simplistic and it isn’t overpowered in layers. I like how the shards and Nessie’s reaction is now the focus of the page, and the other page is juxtaposed by having her almost-anonymous to connote the loneliness in her life and her disconnection to the people and themes that I am representing throughout the narrative.

The original design had the blue background that was featured on the majority of the pages. Because of the nature of the book, and similar aesthetic throughout I decided that by changing the tone of the background this could make it slightly more interesting- and on this page especially, the red/orange tone represents the danger of loneliness and emphasises the black silhouettes of the design.

By having this colour it separates the page from several of the other pages within the series, and I think that it also tones down the amount of black because of the large surface area that is visible on the design. This also doesn’t make the page random in it’s colour tone. As with the development of my design wherein additional double page spreads add hints of red to connote the danger into the scene. This, overall, creates a consistent colour palette and I am happy that the page is exciting and has a perspective that would be interesting to the demographic.