Monday, 30 April 2018

Fonts and Sizes

http://childrensbookcreation.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/typography-for-early-readers.html

I wasn't sure how big to make the type and how much of the page it should take up but when searching for 'average font size for children's books' I found this post which shows the best fonts to use for children's books and the best size and line spacing for young readers.

Sunday, 29 April 2018

BOOK TEST

I've got most of the pictures sorted but how should I integrate the type? There are so many different colours in all of the images that black text or white text over the image would just get lost. Maybe white boxes for the type to sit in but would this take away from the images?

Friday, 27 April 2018

Meeting with Stacy Straub

After a week of trying to meet Stacy and our timetables clashing, we finally managed to meet today!
Stacy was working in the stop-motion room of Animation (I didn't know this room existed!) which is a great space dedicated to practical animation so it's very messy and filled with little props.

I got to see what Stacy has been working on for her big extended practice project: a 3-minute stop-motion animation using big felt character puppets she made.
Stacy let me hold them and see how they worked: the arms are removable and are connected by copper tubing.

Connections: Stacy's boyfriend works in metal and construction so he was able to help her to produce door knobs, a curtain rail and some miniature scissors.

Future Projects: Stacy wants to go into the animation industry and said that if I ever need anything animating, even if it's just for fun/post-uni, she would be happy to do that for me. I said that if Stacy ever needs some extra hands or has a project that requires pro

Front Cover?

Look at existing covers and see what works


Chris Sickels - The Garbage Barge - focal image character in centre, sky as a mostly block colour for type to sit on around the character. 
Masthead covers about 1/3 of the page
Sets the scene - we can tell this is set at sea but doesn't need to show the whole area


Other children's picture books: bold, block colour backgrounds (lots of yellow!)
Title usually fills the entire width of the book - red or blue writing, author's name bottom right. Main character central underneath masthead.


Struggling a bit with the front cover. A lot of front covers feature the protagonist on the front and little background, but my story has three protagonists and the real focus is the WORLD I have created. This is what the story is about and the title too so I thought the street itself should be the front cover.




More Smallfilms



I'm on a Smallfilms roll. Try and stop me.
'They told stories and created worlds that would leave an almost magical impression on generations of British children.'

What I find 'magical' about the Smallfilms animations:
The worlds they created - they were believable, they weren't completely obscure or threatening, just little parts of our own worlds that only children would wonder about, e.g. how a plush cat could come to life when left alone (Bagpuss).
The stories are whimsical and dream-like, happy and sweet.

How the image making and aesthetic made the animations charming:
Everything looks handmade, not perfectly finished or smooth, but like something that as a child you might imagine you could make too, or that remind you of your own toys.
They weren't trained as animators, so the animations are very wonky/imperfect. You might see a random hand or something jolt where there was a mistake but this just adds to the handmade aesthetic and nostalgic tone.

Reflecting on 60s/70s Influence

I've had lots of feedback from people seeing Whistle-stop Thistle saying that it reminds them of things they watched as a child, charming and wonky stop-motion animation from the 60s/70s, which I take as a HUGE compliment and reassures me that I have achieved the tone I was aiming for.
Animations like Bagpuss, Trumpton, The Herbs are all considered classics and are each distinct worlds that captivated child audiences at the time.
I was definitely influenced by this era of children's entertainment and that is what I was trying to recreate, but I do hope that my book is also something very different and a world all of its own.

I have been reading Oliver Postgate's biography and I sense a reflection of myself within his words. Both in our similarly anxious minds, desire to please others and our passion for world-building. My favourite quote from his biography is this one:
'Magic or not, something was changed in me that day. Perhaps I had found broad space and clarity. There was no going back on that and if the world didn't suit? Well then, I would make another one.'



'The virtue of our films doesn't lie in what they are, it's what they aren't. They're not made by formula, they're not made at enormous expense, they were made just by Peter Firmin and myself...'
'It was a matter of providing enjoyment.' 'We were so bad at animation that we had to have a very good story.'
'The actual stories were driven by the objects. What I had to do was to scout around and find something... and I would put it down in front of Peter... and we would try and think up what its story was, how it got like that.'
Reusing things
Strange, woolly creatures where you're not quite sure where they are
It's through watching them again that you really see what was important to you
The fact that everyone remembers them, that itself is proof of the alue of the work.


Gordon Murray (Trumpton,Camberwick Green,Chigley)'s intentions are not dissimilar to my own: 'To see it on television' 'for the young people who watched it to remember it with pleasure'



A suggested video after watching this was one which showed how Windy Miller was brought to modern audiences for the Quaker Oats commercials. I found it really admirable how the team at Loose Moose had closely examined such details as camera angles and how the puppets moved (the signature 'plod') in order to recreate the classic character and CHARACTERFUL animation.



'In these old animation series they kept things really simple. So stuff like the fact that they don't have a mouth and they don't actually speak when you hear voices... it's a convention that has been established.'
Retro 'style' campaign stands out against everything else that you see as a viewer. It's different and striking in modern Television to see something as handmade as this.

Mixed Group Crit 27/4/18

Present: Ben Farr, Megan Naylor-Wardle, James Moore, Dana Davis, Jay Stelling

What I can take away from others:
James recently worked in television production with a team in Ireland (work experience placement) which he really enjoyed and offered me some advice for when I go to the BBC - be friendly, make them remember you, get involved, take lots of photos if you can.
Consider your portfolio and what you will include.

Feedback on my work:
Strong narrative. Relation of text-image works well.
Not much time left but you have been really organised and know exactly what you need to do to finish on time.
You don't NEED to print the full book for submission! Maybe just have a few finished pages? Print for the exhibition.
Eyes have been digitally enhanced - tone down on some of the darker images where they look a bit too bright/out of place.


Thursday, 26 April 2018

Test Book

A vague layout for the book... I've been working towards this book as a 32 page children's book with the idea of submitting it to MacMillan children's book prize, but as the deadline got closer I realised I didn't need that extra pressure of submitting to this. I just want to make a book, I don't need to submit it to a competition to validate that.

I could self-publish through BLURB which I have used before. The quality of production there is really great and the books I have had printed have been really beautiful but they are expensive. An alternative could be AMAZON which is really cheap but I have never used them before and the quality I'm sure will be lacking in comparison.
Should I be printing myself? I don't really have the time and my intention for this brief was to illustrate a story not prove my bookbinding skills...
I am making a book because I want to TELL THIS STORY and MAKE THESE PICTURES! Getting it printed/published is just a finishing/distribution consideration. My focus has been on the CONTENT and the WORLD.


Wednesday, 25 April 2018

LOOPDELOOP COLLABORATION WITH STACY STRAUB

This photo belongs to Stacy Straub and was used to demonstrate how I could make stronger wire armatures.

Collaborating with Stacy from animation because we share an interest in stop-motion animation. As Stacy studies animation, she knows a lot more about armatures, industry standards and the animation process than I do so I think it will be really valuable to observe how Stacy works and learn how to work with her.
I will be making the puppet and Stacy will be animating it.

What can I offer Stacy?
Experience of working with another creative.
Animating models made by someone else.

This photo belongs to Stacy Straub and was used to demonstrate how I could make stronger wire armatures.

WST: BOOK PROGRESS!


It's coming together! I have hand-drawn sketches of each page/composition and I've been using these to inform how I compose the scenes and arrange the characters for each page but it does take a little while to get the characters to stand just right for the camera to focus on all of the elements/the lighting to make the most of the image.

I'm using InDesign to put the book together and working towards an 8x10 book format with a 3mm bleed. I'm finding it a bit difficult to establish whether these pages do look right together - they do to me but I am not a very minimalist/design person so they might be a bit cluttered together and too busy. I need to get some feedback from peers on this.

Also not started to put the text on yet... will it even fit? Will it clash with the images? Need to start looking at this!

Self Portrait Final


New self-portrait! I had a few issues with the previous one in that the Jay Bird wasn't flying and the lighting was shadowed in one side of the image.
This new one has solved these issues and I also added a crown (actually a pendant) to the doll to communicate my persona as Queen of Jayland.
It's still not PERFECT - the bird's legs look a bit weird, should be more tucked under when flying, and the wings should be stretched out more to fly.
BUT again I think this image reflects my quirky personality and the type of image-making I do.

Tuesday, 24 April 2018

More Photos


I've taken so many photos but starting to sort through them and choose the best angles and focus etc. Every photo needs a bit of touching up (if I was working in true Smallfilms style, perhaps I should leave all the imperfections?) just to boost the colours, clean up parts where the clothes have ripped and to change the direction of the pupils on the eyes. I could also do this manually by having blank white eyes and just sticking the pupils on in the right position for each scene.


I think this is one of my favourite photos so far because the colours work so well together. It looks really considered and synchronised and has a completely different tone to that of the Bakery pages where the palette switches to warm pinks and oranges. This looks like a really fresh Spring morning, which is just what I wanted!

Monday, 23 April 2018

Final Touches


I bought a big box of artificial flowers from the car boot this weekend for £1.50! I saw the yellow ball-flower bud things (which mum informed me are called Mimosa) and thought they could look great to add more dimension to the card leaves behind the buildings.


They do! It was a bit of a fiddle to get these all in and stay in place but I think it adds a lot more vibrancy, dimension and interest to the scene. I should have made these all by hand to demonstrate more prop-making BUT I think being a maker is a lot to do with making use of scraps too! 


All of Whistle-Stop Thistle is made from bits and bobs I've found/repurposed/crafted into something else (lids made table tops, pencils made table legs, bottle caps made pie dishes, jewellery made door knockers etc) and this adds to my tiny world-within our world- theme.


Wednesday, 18 April 2018

WST: FULL STORY TEXT

One little Magpie soaring through the sky in a rush.
Over the nettles, past the trees and behind a bramble bush.

He lands amongst the berries and calls out with a whistle.
For he has just arrived in Whistle-Stop Thistle.

The tiny town is filled with colourful buildings; lilac, magenta and aquamarine
When the Thistle-folk hear the tuneful whistle, they know the friendly Magpie has been.

Each morning the magpie visits and brings the Thistle-folk a thing.
An object he's found and carries it under his wing.

The youngest and most curious Thistle-folk run to inspect the treasure he's brought.
Benji, Brenna and Malcolm gather around, scratching their heads in thought.

"Mr Magpie, thank you!" said Benji, "What have you found?"
"Something shiny" noted Brenna
and Malcolm said "The thing is very round."

As swiftly as the Magpie arrived, he flapped his wings and went,
leaving the Thistle-folk to work out for themselves what the thing was he'd sent.

"Maybe it's the Moon, or a drum to hit with a spoon." suggested Malcolm
"Maybe it's something to wear like a hat, or for hitting a ball like a cricket bat." wondered Brenna.

The children took the thing to show Mrs Martha Maple at the toy shop
in the hope she might know of its use in Whistle-stop.

They walked into the shop and made the bells on the door ring
then Mrs Martha took the object and looked closely at the thing.

"If I rounded these edges, I could make a toy safe enough for play.
But I'm sure it could have better uses, go see what the others say."

The children tried the cafe, perhaps Mr Cedar knw
if the thing could be used to help him serve his brew.

"Oh it's definitely useful; it could fit our teacups in
but our trays are wooden and this one's made of tin."

The children tried the bakery next
where there's mouth-watering smells
to greet every guest.

"It's deep and round." Said Betty Bramble the baker
as she looked up from her little bread maker.

"I suppose it could be filled to the brim
with hot steaming fruit and a thick pastry trim."

"This was once a bottle cap for humans to close a bottle of pop or beer
It'll need a wash of course, but we can make use of it here."

"Leave it with me. I'll give it a good scrub.
Come back in the morning and I'll show you the grub."

The Thistle-folk slept in excited dreams
whilst Betty Bramble, as usual, prepared delicious cakes and creams.

Benji, Brenna and Malcolm raced to the bakery when they woke.
How would the thing help the baker feed Thistle-folk?

Betty opened the door, a large dish in her hand.
"Children, the bottle cap you brought made the BEST PIE DISH in the land!"

The fresh pie was cut into pieces and shared around for all.
And one little piece was left in the field for the kind Magpie's next call.

(500 words)

Tuesday, 17 April 2018

WST: Full Scene Photo


Really happy with the lighting in this. The scene looks happy, sunny and bright!
Might add some more foliage and bring the leaves up even higher behind to make it look like the town is more hidden. Currently doesn't look like it's hidden behind a bush.


The full scene photo is made up of SEVEN INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS stitched together digitally. This was a long process and took a while to get them all lined up perfectly but this was the best way to capture all of the details of each building.

Saturday, 14 April 2018

WST: Layout


Working towards a landscape children's book format: 25cmx20cm - not sure if this is the best size, I need to look at some existing examples of children's books and see what I like best! I think I'd prefer really oversized since the photos will be so detailed. But landscape suits the content

The surface I have for the set isn't big enough to fit all of the buildings on spaced out in this way, so I have been arranging them in two sets (these four buildings and then clearing them off and setting up the next three). This isn't practical as I'm having to change the set every time, things then fall off or are placed slightly differently to how I had them the first time.

This landscape photo of the first four buildings is too long anyway. I wouldn't be able to show the whole street in one double page spread, only four and then three... to solve this problem I think I will reduce the spacing between buildings (pushing closer together) and bring the 'bushes' (greenery) higher so they actually look like they are hiding the town from human view.

The brambles look randomly placed or even plonked so I will change that to make them look as if they're actually growing from plants, dangling from leaves etc.

I need to purchase some more lighting if I want all of the buildings to be lit at the same time! Different levels/qualities of light?

Thursday, 12 April 2018

WST: Sky and Path


I've been working on the path for a few days, cutting lots of tiny 'cobbles' from cardboard and glueing them on individually to a long length of cardboard. Very simple and didn't require much skill but I achieved the cobbled look I wanted and made a street long enough to run through the scene. The buildings now look more in place, like they're actually in a street not a bare field.

I needed material big enough to cover the whole width of the scene to make the sky and I couldn't find paper big enough for this but I did find some wallpaper and cut this to the right length. I added clouds by dabbing white on with some scrap toy stuffing I'd saved from work. A lot of what I do is just collecting scraps and finding ways to use them.

I wanted the town to look like it was hidden inside a bramble bush so I have made all these leaves from cardboard and coloured paper, but I think I need to make them a bit taller in order to show the miniature scale of the town and how the buildings would be hidden inside this hedge.

Monday, 9 April 2018

Self Portrait 2


Second Self Portrait was created with the intention of demonstrating my interest in model-making, my love of character/charming children's illustration, world building/set design and to hint towards my name visually (Jay bird).

The first self portrait was a small, clay model of my face as a witch. The task asked us to do something a little different and try to push ourselves, so I used a material I wasn't as familiar with. I made the hair and clothes from plasticine. Although the self portrait was relevant at the time of production to my work (I was busy with COP making lots of magic-themed work), I don't think that this witch-like identity is suitable for all of my work. I prefer 
I don't usually work with plasticine and although it did work for that image, it's not a process that I would choose.

What works:
I think it's successful in communicating my tone of voice - it looks happy, sweet, charming, fun, like the characters are about to set off on an adventure.
It tells a story, it's relevant to me as an artist and a person so it is suitable for use as my visual icon. I think it's obvious that this is my work; although there are a few other illustrators who work in puppet illustration/3D storytelling, I do think that this is distinctly my 'style' and my content so it would be recognisable, especially to people who know me.
The costume on the Jay doll is very basic, no extra props which I could have added, but I think it's striking in its colour and it reads well as a character even in a small icon like on Instagram. Smaller props could have got lost in translation.

Things to improve:
The lighting isn't great. There is a lot of shadow on the right of the image and the colours would look a lot better (less murky) with stronger lighting.
The grass is too green, would look more natural with some yellows and different green tones brushed through.
The sky has some random flecks of white which look out of place - needs repainting/airbrushing out.
Could add more texture to the bird to make it more realistic/bird-like but I think it suits the way I make models and my visual signature, it looks like my work and the creatures that live in my world.
More props and little details! A crown on Jay? Clouds? Flowers?
Perhaps a white background would allow the icon to be easily applied as an overlay, to print or as more of a logo/emblem. The bird could be made to look more like a typographic letter 'J' and used on letter heads, invoices etc. It would be more versatile as a symbol like this rather than a square image, and it would probably look more professional as a graphic element.

look at first and second side by side



Sunday, 8 April 2018

WST: Stop-Motion Baking


Works well:
Charming, sweet, short, good practice
Gathering more interest online than photos - something a bit different on Instagram!

Needs work:
Tack down the props so they don't wiggle or move about (e.g. tack down cake so it doesn't get knocked when Betty touches it).

Saturday, 7 April 2018

WST: Stop-Motion Betty


Works well:
Quite a smooth animation, not much camera wobble!
Bright and colourful

Needs work:
Not really much to this... she's not doing anything significant! It doesn't tell much of a story. It's just a movement. Do a bit more, maybe try some slightly longer animations, perhaps even with narration?

Friday, 6 April 2018

WST: Stop-Motion Coffee


Works well:
More practice... yet again a very raw and unfinished 'Smallfilms' aesthetic.

Needs work:
TABLE IS VERY UNSTABLE AND WAY TOO WOBBLY IN ANIMATION.
Bad framing - composition isn't well-considered... should be either a close up of drinking or focus on the food and table, too much boring building behind him.
Lighting isn't great, his face looks shiny.

WST: Stop-Motion Books


Works well:
Very sweet. I'm really in love with this little animation and can't stop watching it over and over. Simple but cute! The blink was added digitally but adds a bit of magic/life to the stop-motion.

Thursday, 5 April 2018

WST: Stop-Motion to the Bakery


I'm so pleased with how this stop-motion animation test has come out! I think it really sets the tone for Whistle-stop Thistle: a quaint, charming town populated by little blueberry-shaped people. Bright, cheerful and sweet.