project report

final presentation boards

final products

Here are my final products that will be submitted:

I'm really happy with how they all turned out, I wasn't too sure if I would get it done in time because of the long process of making the illustrations but it all came together well. I think the aesthetic is very relevant to the story, with a lot of focus on the setting, but it also has the right tone of voice, the front cover could possibly have more of a sinister edge - maybe with a darker background? But I think I got the tone of voice right within the inner illustrations, their cave-man style aesthetic has a darker edge to them, I think the starkness of the monochrome helps with this. If I had more time I would make more illustrations and bookmarks like I intended,  also possibly enlarge a few of the illustrations to be stand alone prints, but I think I would make more products to come with the book because I really enjoyed making the map, so maybe I could include some puzzles/quizzes or a set of badges that make the product more interactive for the younger audience. 

making a box

I wanted to actually make a sort of slipcase for the front cover, just to get an idea of how it would look if on an actual book, here's the net I made:

Making the case turned out to be a lot harder than i thought it would:

I don't have much patience with making stuff like this so the sides were quite uneven, the glue wouldn't hold so I had to use masking tape and I didn't take into account the thickness of the card so the net was slightly too small:

But once it was all glued on it didn't look too bad, just a bit scruffy round the corners. I only did it so I could get an idea of how it would physically look but once I placed it with all the other printed products, they all really came together as a pack, it actually looked pretty professional!

map edits

I decided to make a sea and beach for the map but just with a light watercolour wash:

I think this works a lot better than the previous attempts, it is much more subtle so it doesn't take attention from the map. I also added a boarder to to keep consistent with the rest of the products.

pattern

I wanted to make a back for the map, so made a quick jungle-like pattern out of the plant imagery I already had:

I started by just cutting into the texture, then added darker shapes to add depth. I then accidentally duplicated the layer but it more tangled and jungle-like so I did that a few more times to create a foliage pattern with a bit more of a sinister feel to it. 

I then also used it for the back of the bookmarks so they feel more like a product when I print them out:

mock ups

The context for this project is a new edition of the book being released for it's 60th anniversary so it is appropriate to make promotional posters for the book that can be hung in shop windows, bus stops etc. 

I like the re-use of the front cover design, I think it works well on a landscape poster, but it didn't look that professional or promotional and the background was too dark. My second attempt:

The colours work a lot better and the use of the publishers logo makes it more appropriate. Also having the title of the book in big makes it much clearer as to what the poster is promoting. 

I don't think this worked well, it is a very boring composition and the bright white background makes it look unfinished. 

This is a much better layout, it creates a line of sight going up the page. Also the muted background compliments the deep red of the pig's head, making it bolder. 

I mocked up some pictures of the posters in shop windows:

I think the posters work well, they look like they could feasibly exist in these areas. I also mocked up an example of a vinyl sticker that would be made for a shop window:

I think the clear, bold shapes that I have used for the imagery in this project would work well for this type of promotion as it is not too detailed. 

map

I didn't really know how to start with the map, as everything else I had worked from has been from quotes with little bits of scenery, but fitting in a whole island is a lot more difficult. So I used the same process and cut out lots of shapes to start planning out a composition and this is where I got to:

It ended up being very detailed and busy but I quite like it like that, the inside illustrations have a lot of white space and bold elements, this shows the jungle element of the island. It might be a bit too convoluted in parts as the figures and pig's head don't stand out enough.  

I was unsure whether to add a background, so I tried photoshopping a sky and sea:

But I think it makes it even busier because of the multiple brush strokes, I tried taking out the sky:

This is better but I think the sea takes too much attention away from the map. I think the beach definitely needs more definition as a beach. If I am to add the rest of it, it needs to be a light watercolour wash rather than these dark lines. I'm considering making a pattern to go on the back of the map, but O don't really know what to put on it. 

bookmarks

I'm running a bit out of time so had to quickly design the bookmarks, I originally wanted to make 4 but it's decreased to 2 because I haven't got time. I was a bit stuck with the composition, this was my first try:

I wanted the head to be the main focus and just to have a few plants around the side, but this look too unorganised. I tried it again but with making an actual pattern with the plants an shells:

These work a lot better, the design pattern is simple and in monochrome so to not take focus away from the objects at the top. I think the idea of having the head and shell poke out from the book work well as it draws attention to the main motifs within the book. I was planning to also work with the motifs of the glasses and fire but I didn't have time. 

front cover

I've started on the front cover:

I'm using the same composition from a sketch I did ages ago, but I think it works well and is a good excuse to develop it, and use lots of colour and plant textures.

I chose the publisher to be faber&faber, as that is the publisher of my copy of 'Lord of the Flies'.

I had to play about with different fonts for the title - I wanted it to be handwritten but my handwriting isn't that great so I had some trouble:

I quite like the red paint, but it might be a bit too messy, so I downloaded some fonts:

I think these work better but need to work better with the composition:

I think this works well, the 'lord' should be bigger, but other than that I'm happy with it

This is my final front cover so far:

I've also done a version with a beige/textured background, but I'm not sure about it:

I think it does need some sort of background other than bright white but this might be a bit dark. I could try just scanning in a textured paper, or printing onto off-white stock might work too. 

I think the cover works well when mocked up - it looks a lot more real in context.

edited illustrations

I put the illustrations into grayscale and added a few bits:

I wasn't sure whether I should add the quotes in or not. In some cases, like with the figures running down the page, I think the quote works really well with the composition, but with the others they look a bit out of place. 

After the final crit today we came to the decision that they don't need the quotes, as the illustrations are quite cave-man style so text would look out of place against the style. Also, in a book the illustrations would be next to a big page of text anyway so it isn't essential to have quotes. 

final scans

These are my final handmade compositions, I still need to edit them on photoshop:

I'm really pleased with how these turned out. I feel I have thought a lot about composition, on other modules I would tend to forget about it, but I think it has been so necessary to making these look good while being so simple. I'm planning on making them black and white, as inside illustrations in books are often grayscale, but I think will look good as that - they are quite graphic so they won't get really convoluted like my other designs have done. 

cut outs

I like this process of working with lots of different bits to move around because it allows me to be more playful and imaginative with compositions, you can see bits working in ways you hadn't thought of before, like this:

They were arranged by accident, I wasn't planning on composing this scene like this - I wanted to have the figures dancing around the fire with Simon dead at the side, but this works much better, showing the savages chasing after him instead. 

This turned out to be a really successful composition, it has an interesting line of sight travelling around the page, also the figures look more savage, as if they are dancing as well. 

new compositions

I cut out a load of figures and plants to play around with compositions, my first try:

I like the boldness of the cut outs next to the loose ink painting, but there is no line of sight to this image, it all seems very messy and empty. 

This works a bit better as there is some more composition to it but I'm not sure about the double spread aspect, I think it will look more concise and cleaner on a single page - that is also the format I've been working to for this project so I'm more used to it. 

This happened by accident on the page but I really like it, I want to try and include this abstractness and playfulness to the compositions - this lead me to think of this layout:

I think this is much more interesting, it makes it seem like the pig's head is in control over the figure, it also has a good line of sight leading upwards.