Rubric For Final Children's book Project

Your original image should be placed upon 9in by 12in paper. (You may work larger if necessary.)

There should be a 1in border around the image. 

The image should reflect all the design principles as defined by your syllabus and gone over in class. 

( A particular focus will be on value since it was the major theme this unit.)

You will be graded on how you used reference.

Your final image must be reflective of the book that you’re presenting for.

The final is due April 13th.

Children's Book

It's that time to wrap up our final children's book images. Again what we are looking for is a reinterpretation of what was created before. What this means is that you read the text, and create a new image based upon what the book makes you think and feel. 

There are a lot of ways of looking at the same thing. Maurice Sendack's Where the Wild Things Are is a wonderful story, but has more than one way it can be looked at. 

Visually it has been explored by film and children's books and will continue to be so. 

However, many people have personalized this book because it had a special meaning. As culture and time pass so does meaning and interpretation. It is important the newer work reflect this. This is why you see older stories reinterpreted all the time. Here are some examples of reinterpretations of Where the Wild Things Are.

All of these have a much more modern feel so how are you transforming your story to reflect you? How does your interpretation reflect your audience?

Tight Sketches

The question of what is a tight sketch is often asked by young artists. The tight sketch is exact blueprint you will base your final image on. 

YOU DON’T WANT YOUR HOME BUILT WITHOUT A BLUEPRINT!!!

In the design process, we usually begin with mind maps and thought trees to get our ideas. Once we have finished our mental exploration, it is important to visually explore our ideas. The initial visual explorations are called thumbnails or thumbnail drawings.

Thumbnail drawings are quick gestural sketches that are meant to get our ideas on paper. These usually are imperfect, hastily drawn images taking no longer than 5 minutes that allow the artists to quickly see how their ideas are forming. Thumbnails sketches also inform the artist on what exactly they need to research for their final product.

The difference between a tight sketch and a thumbnail is that tight sketches can take up to an hour or even longer. At this point, the artist should have amazing reference that they are testing out. The composition of the piece should have been already decided based upon the thumbnail work. 

After a tight sketch you can explore colors.

So, all the elements of design are pretty much decided, what is important is to see what the components are going to look like together. Even more important, the artist is going to test the value. Without testing the light sources the final blueprint for the final image will be for nothing. No amount of color will save bad value. The tight sketch is the key to a successful final image.

Flight Check List!

 Flying is one of the safest modes of transportation. So as artists we can learn from the success of the airline industry of how we can take our product from where it starts to how it gets to its destination. 

Review the checklist below to make more successful art!

Introduction to Value...Frank Miller

Frank Miller revolutionized the comic book industry by actually saving it from economic collapse. Entertainment powerhouses like Marvel and DC were on the brink of bankruptcy. 

One of the major comics in his career that he did before saving the entire industry was the revolutionary 300. It was a blend of historical fact mixed with comic book flair and artistic license to create a dramatic account of the Battle of Thermopyle.

The graphic style and dramatic storytelling would eventually capture the attention of Hollywood, and debut the famous movie director, Zach Snyder.

What he is most famous for is evolving one the most important comic book characters of all time,..Batman.

Batman was originally closer in design to a literal bat. 

Some of the early Batman depictions look like hooded pajamas with a cape and safety belt. 

As a result of designs that didn't represent a darker and more complex world comic book sales began to decline. So Frank Miller said, he wanted to write and draw a more realistic and brutal Batman story that would reflect the effect of years of crime fighting.

The result was the Dark Knight Returns. Frank's sharp value style added intensity and edge that resembled the grittiness of the movies and news at the time. 

The elevated drawing style was a departure from typical cartoony comic books and encouraged fine artists and other famous illustrators to try their hands at comic books too.

Artist's inspired by Miller's work...

Don't forget to draw your two value Batman!

Exam!

Don't Forget to bring your Gig Poster!!!

User Experience

One of the most important things to think about is how are people going to interact with your poster. These people are called "users" and you need to think about what experience your poster will evoke with them. 

Your poster should have a focus. We call this a target. You are trying to grab a specific audience so you aren't wasting your time, money and energy. Marketing for products are often carefully designed to meet the needs based upon the demographics. 

Creating work for specific groups works, and evidence is the billions spent each day on getting people to purchase the next thing. What works for toddlers will not necessarily work for teenagers, or the elderly. So it is critical that there is a design awareness for what the product is for and whom it is intended to use it. 

Culture isn't only based upon factors such as religious backgrounds or different nationalities. Culture could also be an example of what is trending and what isn't. For example words used just three years ago may not be used today. It is important to have the design awareness to know what to use so you don't offend your audience, or turn them off by being lame. 

Below are examples of posters for very different demographics. Therefore the intended UX is varied.