I was given a brief for an illustrated children's book. Within the brief, I was given 3 choices of children's stories to choose from, these being Peter Pan, Little Red Riding Hood and Alice In Wonderland.
At first, I decided to go with Alice In Wonderland. After coming up with a couple cover pictures and thinking of what graphics I could use, I felt like it wasn't the one I will excel in the most, so I changed to Little Red Riding Hood.
I found it very difficult to start off. I printed off the story and stuck it in my sketchbook. I then decided to research a couple different art and font styles that I could use for my work. This inspired me slightly to start on creating some cover pictures.
As I'm not the best at drawing, I tried to use the shapes within illustrator to my advantage and using the direct selection tool to shape them to fit what I wanted. After a few attempts, I managed to achieve what I was wanting.
I started by making the cover which included Little Red Riding Hood and the background.
I only planned to have one tree in the corner, but after copying the half trunk and making it into one, creating a forest looking background, I decided it looked a lot better. I added a gradient within the trees to add more of an effect to the image, as well as adding it to the grass as well.
When it came to Little Red Riding Hood, I wasn't sure where to start. I started by creating the face, followed by the hear and just adding a rounded rectangle for the body.
I decided to try and create a hood and dress using the shapes, and after some time, I managed to make it look better.
I followed this process with the other characters I created within the story.
The trees in the background did change so it wasn't so continuous.
I copied that LRRH and gave her a scared/worried impression to change the mood of her throughout the story when she sees the wolf.
I also gave the wolf 2 impressions, angry and a cute somewhat happy one, as well as making a bed and placing him in there.
As the grandma is only seen at the end, I only had to make one of her with a happy emotion and the wood cutter has a stern look.
I added gradients to the shirts as it gave an effect, as well as on the bed cover to give it more of a 3D look.
Below is the book that I created. (Also can use this link)
After I created the illustrations, I opened InDesign and created the pages. laying out how I wanted the book to look, I then uploaded it to ISSUU.
I am happy with the way this came out, especially considering I can't draw or I'm not good with illustration.
Making narrative illustrations isn't what I want to do, however being able to do a project on it and experience it was fun.
I did struggle at the start, but as I got into the swing of things, I managed to come up with the finished product.
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