Research – Page 2 – Jamie Hammond

March 1, 2016Jamie Hammond No Comments

Narrative Idea

As we have to look into a contentious subject for this brief I have been thinking about a couple of ideas that I think that I could explore. Initially, I thought of depression or anxiety because these haven’t been looked into much for a children’s format; and it is also a personal issue that I think I could portray well throughout the illustration. After deliberating around these I focused on Depression as the main theme, linking it into loneliness and the hardship of making friends because of the relatable topic to the young audience so that it can be a less complex issue.

I was going to make the book surrounding a human boy exploring a the forest and monsters following him everywhere, but I thought that this was too typical of a children’s story and wouldn’t capture their imagination. Thus, I came up with the idea of Nessie the Loch Ness Monster. As most people know, she is a myth that lives in Loch Ness in Scotland. Some people believe in her and some people don’t, as well as some people being scared of her while some want to eagerly discover her. With this in mind, I thought that she would be a great character to base the narrative around.

The narrative could explore how she is a monster who also have monsters chasing her. I think that this is a greta way to display the notion of depression to a young audience because it is simple, and although it could seem quite dark, I am going to have Nessie discovering a friend who helps her overcome her monsters. This simplified version of my narrative shows the key events that I want to happen and the theme that I want to connote to the audience, but while I have been writing and thinking about this audience I have realised that the book could be about a lot more than Depression.

With underlying themes of disability and sexism it is very appealing in a society where these issues are key to most debates. Nessie, because of her characteristics that she is going to have, will be less able than most of the other sea creatures; but I am going to show how this doesn’t stop her and how she is determined to make friends and go on adventures. Also, because she is female AND a monster, these could be the main reasons that she isn’t accepted. Notably, this theme could be subtle and is less obvious, but I think that it is still important to address this across the book to inspire young generations, whether boy or girl, to accept each other.

The friend that helps her overcome her demons/monsters will also be slightly different than all of the others throughout the book. This displays that everybody is different, whether personality wise or physical looks, and could also have subtle connotations of disability within the narrative. Though, with further research and progression of the narrative I will finalise this, but as a starting point I think that it is a strong foundation to build upon and I am excited to start illustrating the book and experiment with the themes and styles which I have already discovered.

March 1, 2016Jamie Hammond No Comments

Jon Klassen

Jon Klassen, famously known for the illustrated children’s book “I want my hat back”, is another illustrator that has a distinctive style. But the children’s book that he illustrated that I’m inspired by is one that was written by Lemony Snicket called ‘The Dark”. When I was researching into children’s books that had a style that I think I could reproduce or have a similar approach to this one jumped out at me straight away. I first saw the front cover, which is just as distinctive as the illustrations inside, because of the darkness of it which is unlike the stereotypical children’s style (obviously to reflect the narrative).

A simple approach to this makes it interesting and, just as I am, makes the audience intrigued into what the dark is about. Black is the key colour used in this illustration, whether used as the background colour or the outlines of the character, is runs throughout the whole book. I would have thought that this is overpowering and wouldn’t work, however, it proved me wrong because it has a continuity to the design and represents the narrative perfectly. Also, because of the roughness of the illustrations it makes the black less dense and the reader wants to focus on the lighter areas to see what is happening anyway.

The composition emphasises the emptiness and mystery surrounding the narrative, and by purposefully not having text on a page (like the one above) it draws you into the boy and where he is going. It is also very simple yet powerful, and in my book where I am tackling a contentious subject like depression, this could work extremely well to represent the ‘dark’ side of the mental illness (that wasn’t a planned sly Star Wars reference, I promise).

One element that I like about the illustrations in this book is how the black almost always surrounds the page, making it easier to make the narrative flow through the images. This can link pages easily, especially if the arrangement of pages needed to be changed, but it works for this book because of the style. In my book I think that I will take this technique to represent the topic of depression. But I will also incorporate elements of Klocek and Haughton because I love how they represent detail in a simplistic way without the usage of textures (although, textures in ‘The Dark’ juxtapose against the flat, dense black background so it is purposeful and well thought out).

March 1, 2016Jamie Hammond No Comments

Noah Klocek

An amazing illustrator who I am inspired by is Noah Klocek. His illustrations capture vast landscapes through different techniques (both hand-drawn and digital) and the skill that is involved make them stand out and work for the genre. One of my favourite styles is how he creates depth within the illustrations that emphasise the landscape, and most importantly, capture the audiences imagination.

Although not as simplistic as Haughton, Klocek still uses a few number of colours to make them bold and stand out; which he does by composition and surroundings. As the image above displays, the main feature is the sky, but the events are happening below that, meaning that the reader has to look all around the page and take in everything; and, thus, is allowed to explore the narrative world further and engage with the story. I love this because even though the style is more realistic than Haughton, the physical style which he has produced these have a nice texture and effect on the illustrations, which I feel makes the audience like them even more. It might want them to use pencils and pastels to make their own drawings to learn or simply to just have fun.

His varies throughout the books that he has produced and the adventures that the characters go on, but they are always similar in the style and approach. As displayed, some of the pages are darker and don’t have as much of a vibrance about them; though they are still appealing and it makes you want to explore them to see what you can discover amongst the detail. Therefore, they are appropriate for children and have a further ‘adult’ feel, while continuiting to be creative and imaginative.

For my book I think that I am going to research into the contentious topic of depression and lonilness, as this isn’t discussed amongst children that often and I think it is okay to tell them that sometimes people get sad. With the style of Klocek I could combine it with a Haughton-style too so that it reflects the ‘darkness’ that is associated with depression. I love how, in the picture above, the visuals are so subtle and different because of how the narrative is creating suspense and mystery but it grips you and makes you want to look into it even more.

One key thing that I have discovered by researching into these illustrators is that they use the characters as the key ingredient of the narrative and design to influence how it is going to look. The aesthetic, fundamentally, is one of the most important elements of a children’s book so I think that by looking into this aspect first myself will, hopefully, set me on a direction will make a professional outcome that is appropriate for the duality of audiences and ages which it could appeal to, while tackling a contentious subject that is hard to portray.

March 1, 2016Jamie Hammond No Comments

Chris Haughton

Chris Haughton, the author of children’s books such as ‘SHH! We have a plan!’ and ‘A bit lost’ has a very distinct style within his books. The vibrant colours that only slightly differ work extremely well for the world that he creates, while appealing to the young demographic and adult who read it to them because of the beautiful designs.

When researching him I was looking for inspiration that could influence my approach to my book, such as narrative, composition and style, which has been very helpful because I can see components in his work which I could take into mine. The way that he uses simplistic shapes and a juxtaposition of shades within one colour vibrantly contrasts each layer and adds depth to the page. As well as this, it works well for the book in terms of prints and could allow for some experimental approaches like screen-printing.

The bold primary colour used as a background colour sets up the foreground elements to add detail into the story. I love how this is explored through double page spreads in his book, instead of individually making each page and hoping they flow. The colour choice is very important in this instance because, as displayed, the bird in the image above is jumping out from the page because of the difference in colour. This physically portrays the story creatively and makes the children see why they want to catch the bird- because the four little people are also the same colour as the surroundings.

By using a vector based graphic with simple lines and minimalist graphics (while still being detailed and interesting) makes the book visually interesting and memorable. If I was a child reading this I would want to come back to it because I remember the colours and characters because of the simplicity of the narrative.

Moreover, one component that I have noticed is the lack of text within his books. This doesn’t affect the story, however, because he describes the narrative through his illustrations; as we all know that they are going on an adventure to catch the bird. The simple visuals make the audience focus on the characters and, ultimately, follow them through the book to the resolution. I love this style of illustration because I think that it is achievable as well as recognisable and beautifully displayed for the story.

In my book I will take this technique and approach into my style. The bold, intensity of the colours can work extremely well when they are juxtaposed against simple tones of the same colour, and this will also draw focus upon the characters as displayed in all of the pages which I have attached above. The usage of silhouettes for the visuals keep the simplstic continuity, but by doing this he can also add detail into it and reflect the mood of the page/narrative while still appealing to the child audience as well as the parents.

March 1, 2016Jamie Hammond No Comments

The Children’s book

Children’s books have been around for a long while, all trying to capture the imagination of children that let them explore new worlds and sometimes themes that are difficult to explain in other terms. In order for authors around the globe to do this they must make the appeal to the child (as well as parent; as they are just as important), and this is achieved through the narrative and characters.

The story will revolve around who it involves; whether is it a Gruffalo trying to find friends or discover new things, or a Cat in a hat. So my starting point in creating a story is looking at existing popular children’s books and analysing the elements that make them successful.

One of the first books that came to mind, personally that I remember, is the very hungry caterpillar. This story is iconic across many generations, and it is still in print today, which speaks volumes when it comes to the multigenerational appeal and elements that they look for in a story. I think that the design and style of this illustration is why it has been successful. The collage techniques, which were a new and bold style at the time in 1969 when it was first published, captures the vibrancy of the book and story and keeps the simplistic approach (both narratively and design wise) so that it appeals to the young demographic.

In conjunction with this, the usage of simple and minimalist text draws in the focus to the illustrations, while they each reflect each other to be both educational and fun for the reader. I really love the techniques of this book because they are bold and eye-catching, as well as being distinctive of any other style within this genre of picture book, so I think that it could be a good idea to work with physical techniques to produce textures and further imagery that could be featured in my own book.

Another book that is memorable for many people and also has a great narrative is Where the wild things are. The illustrations are completely different to the very hungry caterpillar but it is just as successful in its approach. The story only consists of 338 words, focusing on little sentences and highly visual representations of the story within the book to display a world that is creative and imaginative.

Where the wild things are explores the theme of anger, which many people this is one of the reasons why it has been so successful amongst the young audience. They want to read something that is interesting and relatable to them, so by having the main character as a normal boy who goes on an adventure and, ultimately, discovers his imagination and ‘wild’ side the narrative is more compelling for the demographic and makes it easier to read.

The visuals, unlike the very hungry caterpillar, aren’t as bright and bold and instead use normal colours that make the illustrations almost look realistic. This style is still eye-catching in a different way by being detailed and exciting to look at, as well as it physically showing the narrative in its visuals.

This is similar to the Gruffalo, however, this uses a wider variation of colours within the palette because of the surroundings and world that he resides in. I like how so far they have all used painting and drawing techniques which work strongly for this style. A digital painting could work well in this style too but that I think that by having it like this it makes it more personal and stylised, equally more imaginative for the child while reading it. The narrative of the Gruffalo uses similar themes and conventions of other children’s books that I have looked at and i think that it is just as popular with the ‘modern’ audience today because of the design and ideology surrounding it.

Traditionally, one of the main influential illustrators of children’s books is Dr. Seuss. The way that the illustrations are vibrant and simplistic capture the imagination of the children, while having a fun and exciting narrative that explores the world it’s set in as well as it appealing to the adult/parent demographic too. I think that I will take this onto my book idea because by using bold, primary colours it could juxtapose what I am trying to convey while also making the narrative enjoyable for the readers.

From these few books that I have researched into I have discovered that a key part of the book is having a relatable character for the children. This progresses the narrative with the audience, both for the child and parent demographic. Another element that I think is extremely important because of the young audience is having an exciting and imaginative world/narrative. This allows the young demographic to imagine themselves in the world, and even make them want to come back to it because of the creativity and excitement involved with it. With these elements in mind, I think that if I take these into consideration when writing and illustrating my book it will appeal to the target audience and, hopefully, be enjoyable for the audience to read.