Wednesday, 25 April 2018

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?