Final BA Project week 9 and 10

These past two weeks, after coming back from Bologna, I was working on my BA project non-stop. I played with my rough compositions and tried to integrate the text as a character. I'm using InDesign again for this project as I did in my previous collaborative book.

During the ninth week I was in a bit of a standstill and unsure what to do with the text in my book. I simply made it static and monotonic only to see that it wouldn't work for my story. This explains why I didn't show any progress last week - there was hardly any at all! Luckily, I regained my confidence after getting some good critique and advice last week. I realized once again that the text had to play an important role and interact with other characters. How else can the author express his emotions if he's not visible anywhere in the book? This is not an ordinary book after all!

I chose a sans serif typeface as I liked its solid contrast compared with my painterly characters. It's going to be black against the plain white background throughout all the book. I think this solution follows my main goal of simplicity quite well. However, it's easier said than done and so hard to achieve good results. The best examples of such books I found are either Asian or created by designers using simple colours and shapes.

This week I'll keep working on my story as it needs further development. I'll also print some original size sample spreads and choose the paper I like. By next week my project should be 75% finished and my story well developed and convincing. I still don't have a decent ending to my story so I'm ready for something unpredictable. That's how it works with the creative process. Embrace uncertainty and improvise! It's one of a kind project for me, where the story is driven by random characters and thoughts instead of an obvious main character and a clear plot. I'm glad I took this challenge, but now I have to make it a proper book with the beginning, the middle and the end!

Here are the first five spreads from my book. You'll see more next week!

    

Bologna Children's Book Fair 2013

Last week I spent four days in Bologna Children's Book Fair, which was celebrating its 50th anniversary. This was my first visit and it really was a one of a kind experience with thousands of children's books from different countries and a whole spectrum of publishers. Some of them had very long queues of young illustrators waiting to show their portfolios. Others, such as Topipittori and Corraini, were always crowded, so it was quite hard to look through their books. I really enjoyed the Illustrators exhibition with 385 beautiful illustrations. The guest of honour this year was Sweden and there were lots of Swedish books and contemporary illustrations on display. Below you can find my small selection of photos from this huge international fair.

Display of the best publishers of the year

 

Illustrators exhibition



 

 

Contemporary Swedish illustration

 

A glimpse at the events the fair offered this year

 

A long wall for ads and self-promotion



 

 

Final BA Project week 6

Week after a week I'm getting closer to my goal and facing more and more challenges along the way. There are so many things to keep in mind when making your own picture book. It's not a quick process, indeed, but at least it's enjoyable.

I'm halfway through with my BA project and for now I have established a basic storyline and made a small dummy book. The text will be integrated in my illustrations and will be an important part of design. The spreads you see below are quite experimental and although I want them to be playful, I'll have to work on the overall feel of my book. Even a total chaos should have some harmony in it.

 

I think it's a perfect time to step back from this project and take a short break. Next week I'll be visiting Bologna Children's Book Fair together with my sister. I'm really excited because we've never been there before and this year the fair is celebrating its 50th anniversary. We'll get a closer look at the publishing industry and the vast variety of children's books from all over the world.

No post next week, but expect lots of photos once I come back. See you in April!

Final BA Project week 5

Yesterday I had a critique of my project. Looks like I've been stuck for a while with the design of my book. As much as I enjoy drawing random characters, it's about time to focus on the hardest part of book making - putting it all together.

I was advised to use a sketchbook format for my book. This would make sense as it's such an important part of the creative process! I was focused too much on a clean and simple presentation of my characters so it started to look dull and repetitive. Hey, where's your playfulness?

I'm still working on my storyboard, which is taking way too long. My creative process is more intuitive and spontaneous than thought-out. Not very time-efficient, but as long as I enjoy the process, that's all that matters. About ten weeks left to finish this project!

Next week we'll have a midterm review, so it would be good to have a rough dummy book printed out by then. Lots to work on this week, but at least, now I do know what I want, although it took me more than a month to figure it out. I need to make the process of creating as FUN as I can. That's the key to a successful picture book. Of course, you have to believe in your project as well. Even if it takes a lot of failures since that's part of the process too...

A great designer and illustrator Riila Alexander gave an inspiring talk about her creative process, which I found very relevant to my BA project. She explains how "Her Idea" came to life and how strongly it was influenced by her own creative struggles. At the end of the talk, you can hear her reading this wonderful book, which could be appreciated both by children and adults. So down-to-earth and sincere, please enjoy!

 

 

 

Snow, Sun and Trees

Here are some photos I took last week in the park. The days were sunny, except for a couple of snowstorms during the first days of March. It even got warm at some point, but not for too long, it's Lithuania after all.

This park is so peaceful, just like a forest. We're happy to have such a nice and quite place within a walking distance from our home. I really enjoy looking up at those tall trees against the clear sky or the beautiful light coming out through dark trees. Found some funny snowmen too.