Bound

So as you can see below, I've finished a hard cover bound prototype. This isn't finished because there were a few things I needed to alter.

Spreads

Dec.6

I've got a lot done this week but haven't found the time to post anything. After getting feedback from Don the week before last, I decided to add space at the top and bottom for the type. That fixed the problems I had with readability and consistency, when I had the type on the illustrations. Each page was different, so it was difficult.

I made an appointment at the Digital Output Centre and spent three hours preparing the files for printing. The problem was that I had images from Illustrator in my inDesign files. They were making my files really big and Carlos said that they might not even print. So we flattened the files and it worked. I chose to print the cover in an enhanced matte paper, which was very smooth and lovely. I printed my spreads in the least glossy paper they had, but they were still coated. I just wanted to try it out and see how it looked. Unfortunately, my search for an uncoated (and maybe slightly textured) paper hasn't worked out very well.

I talked to Don again on Thursday and there were a few things I needed to change. I decided to still bind my book with what I had (coated paper and all). So that's what I did today.

I'm binding it with a hard cover. First I stitched my pages together. I taught myself how to do this online. I just went to Wikipedia and found a link at the bottom that said "How to make a simple hard cover book." Then I took Book Media over the summer, so I've had enough practice that I felt comfortable doing this myself. This is the fun part! I'm not going to let someone else bind my book.

I created the cover. I wanted to use a soft, velvety grey paper that I found at Opus a few months ago. I already owned some dark grey fabric for book covers, so I used that on the spine, then covered it with the fuzzy paper. The book jacket is going over top of it, though.

Map

So this is the map. It reminds me of Winnie the Pooh a little.

Spreads

Type I

cover concept

I was thinking about the cover this week. And the type. I thought the type should be expressive. More expressive than the average kid's book. I'm expecting the parent to read this, not the child, so readability is not quite as important. I'd rather readers looked at my book and enjoyed it because it was different and fun to read even if it was a bit more challenging. The story itself isn't hard to understand. And the illustrations are straight-forward. So it could use something interesting.

I like the quirkiness of Cochin. I mixed it with a script and a bold font (Rosewood Fill).

After I get some feedback on the type, etc. I'm going to work on the cover more; write a description for the back cover, a blurb for the flaps, and add all the little touches it'll need.

new inspiration explanation

Below is some work by Nessim Higson, a designer working in New Orleans who is found under www.iamalwayshungry.com. What I found inspiratoional is the way he layers photocopies and illustrations.

I've been doing some visual exploration. I'll post it above.

New Inspiration

Today's illustration

This could be one spread, without the text and embellishments.

watercolour sketches

These are rough sketches only, for me to plan out spreads and colour. This is not how I am illustrating the mushrooms, for instance. There will be text over top of these illustrations, too.

The bottom image is a copy of Arthur Rackham's Alice in Wonderland.

Sketches

I only uploaded some of the sketches from my sketch book. Although the sketches aren't very good, they were very helpful to me because they let me figure out how to position my characters in my scenes. I caught myself when I started to draw Leon smaller than Rudge (a vole isn't smaller than a mushroom), I redrew the hawk until its swooping attack looked more accurate, and I started to picture all of the spreads in my head. 

I also sketched with watercolour, to figure out my colours and how it would look. I'll upload the photos above.

Sketches

My story

This is a story about Burns Bog and
Leon the vole.
He was a very lonely creature,
living in a hole.


One day, Leon woke to find
his house filled with garbage!
Humans had covered his home with their trash.
Poor Leon had to find a new place to live.
On his journey, a hawk caught sight of him.
Running for his life, Leon entered Burns Bog,
which was the only safe cover in sight.

---

Running into the bog,
Chased by a hawk,
Leon looked for a place to hide.
He saw a group of mushrooms that looked safe.


Running into the mushrooms,
chased by the hawk,
Leon bashed right into a little mushroom named Rudge.
All the mushrooms abruptly woke up
and yelled, “Hey! Get outta here!”
“Oh I’m sorry,” said Leon, who began to leave.
“No wait! Can’t you see he’s in danger?
Let him stay,” said Rudge, the forgiving mushroom.
“Thank you,” said Leon, the relieved vole.

---

“Ignore them.” Rudge said.
“They’re grumpy
because if they could just
get to the centre of the bog,
they could meet the Great Sandhill Crane
but we’re stuck in the ground
and can’t go anywhere.”
“Why would they want to do that?” Leon said.
“I can’t tell you.
The other mushrooms would be angry.” Rudge whispered.
My name is Rudge by the way.”
“CAW!”
“I’m Leon. It’s nice to meet you.”

---

“Leon, don’t move.”
“Why?”
“The hawk is right behind you!”
“CAW!”
“Run behind me now!”
Leon hid quickly behind Rudge.
The hawk attacked.
It’s beak landed in the dirt and uprooted the mushroom!
It pecked around, but couldn’t reach Leon,
so after a few minutes, it flew away.

Leon came out of hiding and
found Rudge lying on its side.
“It’s okay, Leon. I’m fine.
but I’m not stuck into the ground anymore!
That silly hawk dug me up
so that means you can take me with you!
We can find a home for you
and I can see the Great Sandhill Crane!”
Leon realized that the mushroom was determined to come. “Alright. Let’s go!”

---

Leon picked Rudge up
carefully with his tail
& they began their journey
to the centre of the bog & to find a new home.

“We can’t stay on the boardwalk,” said Rudge.
“This is where the humans walk.
They’ll step on us.”
They jump off the boardwalk.
“The ground is so springy!” Leon noticed
after they had hid from humans and hawks under the boardwalk.
“That’s because the ground is made of peat moss.
If you jump, the ground will jiggle like jelly.
It happens more in the centre of the bog.
Right now, we’re just at the edge of it,” Rudge explained.


---

“What’s so special about
the Great Sandhill Crane anyway?”
asked Leon.

“He has magic that’s connected to the bog.
He only comes to the bog once a year to nest
& he grants one wish!
He’s always wise and he sees everything.
I’m telling you this because you’re my friend.”

“I would wish for a home.
What would you wish for?” asked Leon.

“Feet,” said Rudge.
“So I could go anywhere I wanted to.”

---

Leon and Rudge were on their way again when,
CAW!
They heard the hawk.
“Over there! There’s a tractor I heard about
because it’s stuck into the bog.
Some human tried to steal it
but got caught by the bog’s squishy ground,” said Rudge.

“Let’s hide under it!” agreed Leon.
They huddled under the tractor.
CAW!
SCREECH!
“Wait! Leon, don’t go out there!” yelled Rudge.
Leon came out from under the tractor.
“Look! It’s not the hawk!” explained Leon.

---

There was a commotion in the sky.
Two birds were fighting each other
& one quickly vanquished the other.
A bird appeared in front of Leon.
It was a blue-grey colour.
It was tall, with a long neck.
On its head, there was a patch of red feathers.

The hawk was gone.
The Great Sandhill Crane bowed in front of Leon the vole.
Leon stared.
“Th-th-thank you for saving us,” Leon stammered.

---

The Great Sandhill Crane spoke.
“I saw something strange on the way
to my nesting ground.
A vole and a mushroom traveling together
& helping one another.
I also saw the hawk stalking you.
I think that you’re worthy of a wish, Leon.
What is it that you want?”
Leon thought about it.
He looked back at Rudge.
“I wish Rudge had feet so he could go anywhere.”
“No! I wish you had a home!” Rudge exclaimed.
“I’d be happy to stay with you, Leon.
I don’t need feet.
We have so much fun already.”
The Great Sandhill Crane nodded.
“Your wish, Leon?” he asked.
Leon thought for a second.
“I wish... just that Burns Bog will always exist.
I want it to be protected forever.”

---

“No one has ever asked me for that,”
The Great Sandhill Crane said approvingly.
“It is done.
Good luck on your search for a home...
You might want to look North.”
The Great Sandhill Crane flew away
leaving Leon and Rudge happy to go North
in search of a home.

They do find a home to the North...
but it’s a secret spot that you can only find
if you look very hard.

The End

What I've done lately so far

I'm going to finally post my whole story. I finished writing it over a week ago, but I wanted to edit it and also decide on what text would go on what page. And I had to decide how many pages I was doing. So I've done that. It's going to be 10 spreads (20 pages) plus a cover dust jacket plus a title page, etc.

I have left out some of the story that happens in the middle, because if there is time, I'll add some more spreads. These parts detail some different plants and animals that Rudge and Leon encounter along the way. They can be left out. So I did. The book still achieves the goal of getting kids to want to go to the bog. I think that any book I read that takes place in an actual spot, I'd love to go to that place, as long as the book doesn't suck too bad. I hope my story isn't THAT bad.

So the next step is the illustrations and I had started those a few weeks ago. I began by sketching the animals and plants that are featured in my story. I looked up pictures of voles, hawks, cranes, and mushrooms mostly. I took pictures in the bog to get a sense of where my story will take place. For every page in my book, I'm going to show an actual place that I've photographed, so that kids can find these places too, if they want to.

The style I had decided on was going to directly reference Arthur Rackham's illustrations of "Alice in Wonderland." That meant muted earth tones in watercolour/ink and a thin black outline. It also meant putting human expressions onto animals and plants. My own style lacks the attention to detail Rackham used and the originality of his characters (I don't have the patience or talent) so I've decided to use brighter colours and a different style. I still like the look of wet (watery?) colour because it seemed appropriate to illustrate a bog with watercolour/ink. The bog is very muddy and wet.

Because my illustrations were of places I photographed, I tried out some things with the photos I took. I thought about taking the photos and adding my characters into the scene. This seemed a little inconsistent. My characters aren't realistic. And my photos aren't amazing either.

So what I decided to do is to trace the photos I took, then add my characters into it. It was the easiest way of adding detail and realism to my illustrations while keeping a consistent style.

I tries not to cover the entire page with my characters, etc. because I needed space for the text of the story. I transferred my tracings onto a thick piece of paper that could hold watercolour without warping too bad, by photocopying the images backward and using a blender pen to get the faint outline of the drawing. Then I painted on top of it in a sketchy way (I love things that look sketchy). I didn't worry about the outline of everything, because I wanted the look of a bleed. Everything was supposed to blend together a little bit, as if in a dream.

Then I scanned it onto the computer and manipulated the levels and curves so that it was as bright as the original. I faded the edges so that my text would be fairly readable. I chose a typeface that was large so that kids could try to follow along and so that it was very easy to read and see. For instance, if a child wanted to bring it into the bog while they go on a little walk, they could still read it even in low light or even if they were walking around.

When I started playing around with typefaces, I thought I would use something clear and traditional, like Garamond. But when I saw how boring that looked with my illustration, I decided to try something different. I noticed that when I used a retro typeface from the 60s or 70s, my illustrations reminded me of some of the illustrations from that time period. I don't know anything about illustration from the 60s and 70s, but it just reminded me of it. So I thought about using Gill sans for my body text, since it's a "friendly" humanist typeface and I thought I could use it with Cooper Black as display type so that the page looked a little retro. I need some advice on this.

One of the things I'm going to do in the future is play with the typeface (colour, font, placement, etc.). I have only illustrated one spread in watercolour. I have 9 more to go, plus the cover, etc. I also want to create a map of the bog, including the trails and Leon's journey and markers for areas of the bog that kids should look at or pay attention to, like the tractor, plants, etc. I want them to find markers in the bog that have more information about animals and plants in the bog, so that they can learn more about the bog if they want to. My book is supposed to entertain them, not bore them with facts, but if they choose to, I want there to be facts available for the curious child.

Bog map

I tried to find a map of the trails in Burns Bog online. I thought there had to be one somewhere! But I found nothing.

Then today, when I went into the bog and found this map posting ten feet high on a tree at the entrance of one of the trails. It's not very clear or readable, but it's what I was looking for. I also appreciated the drawing of the crane. I don't know how accurate the map is... But I did notice that the tractor is drawn on it. I wonder why there's a skull and cross bones near the tractor?? Maybe that's where they found the criminal who stole the tractor's mummified body?

Kids books

I went to the kids section of Chapters and looked around. There are some cool books out there! A lot of them use really fancy printing techniques that I don't have the budget for - like sparkly bits, pop up elements (although I could do that if I wanted to...), glow in the dark stuff, dye cuts, dolls, puzzles, etc. But some are lacking good storytelling, which I feel is very important. Especially as a bedtime story, it needs to have a great story not just fun little sparkly things to play with.

The books that I loved were the ones I remember from my childhood like Dr Seuss, Fairy tales (even the Disney ones are good), Shel Silverstein, Robert Munsch and Roald Dahl. I noticed that the illustrations for Dr Seuss and Shel Silverstein are very simple (lots of white space) but fanciful and fun. I think that's the direction I want to go in (with a little bit of the Gothic fantasy woven into it). I didn't notice any books about the environment, but I'll have to look a bit more to find it...

More research, etc

So I've finished the story and now I'm working out the illustrations, in pencil for now. Then I'm going to buy some heavy paper and do the final illustrations in ink and paint. First though, I felt like I needed a bit more visual research.

I found some pictures of voles, mushrooms, hawks and great sandhill cranes. I sketched them a bit and created the different scenes in the story. There were a few things missing, like detailed images of specific points in the bog. Since I want kids to actually go to the bog and experience the places in the book, it has to be specific.

So that's what I did today. I went back to the bog and took pictures of the tractor stuck out of the mud and other areas. As I was walking, I realized that instead of placing markers into the bog myself, I could use something that is already there - the benches that line the boardwalk throughout the trails. I'm still thinking it through, but why don't I use the benches as "benchmarks" (hah) for the story. In the map I want to create, I could show the places of all of the benches, colour code them, maybe paint the benches or a part of the benches and have kids stop at each one to observe something or do something.

I feel like my idea for kids to go to the bog and experience it is why my project is unique, but I can't forget to put time into the story and book, or else it will fall flat. That's why, although I'd love to start working on the map and the markers, etc. I feel the need to finish the book and illustrations first. I hope that that's ok at this stage. (The markers are there to support the book. The book isn't there to support the markers.)

Story explanation

My story is about Leon the vole and Rudge the mushroom. Leon is running from a hawk when we meet him. His home has been turned into a human landfill and he's all alone. He doesn't have a family. He reached Burns Bog and meets Rudge, who is a mushroom living in a small group of mushrooms just under the boardwalk. Rudge wants some adventure and he has knowledge of the bog that Leon doesn't have.

When the hawk attacks, Leon hides in the mushrooms, and Rudge gets uprooted. This gives him the excuse (after the hawk has given up) to go with Leon to the centre of the bog, (ahem) I mean to find the other voles and a new safe place for Leon to live. All of the bog animals are going to the centre of the bog (which is an otherworldly place. It's very unique.) to see the Great Sandhill Crane, who only nests there once a year. When he arrives, he grants one wish. Rudge really wants the ability to go anywhere he wants, so he wants "feet."

Rudge and Leon become friends, so Rudge tells him about the Great Sandhill Crane and Leon thinks he'll ask for a home or a family. What they will both find out is that they don't need wishes to get what they want.

The hawk will appear later on to attack them again. There is an urgency to the story about when the crane will arrive. And farther and farther they go, the more animals will appear to them, some helpful and some not. They will make it to the centre and the Great Sandhill Crane will appear.

With the story, there's the idea of safety and home vs adventure. Kids would understand this. Most children are protected by their parents and live in isolated neighbourhoods, but they appreciate adventure and fun in fantasy stories. I chose to do a story about animals and plants because 1. I want kids to learn more about these two things. 2. They personify humans very well, but they don't have the restrictions that humans do, like conventional lives with families, parents, school etc. I didn't want to write a story about a kid in the bog, all alone, making friends with birds and things because the thought of someone alone and lost in the bog is a bit too terrifying. 3. Different animals and plants have their own personalities that are easily identified.

The characters and story comes from other sources that are swirling in my head. A little bit of Narnia, Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, the Secret Garden, every Disney movie, Watership Down, etc. I don't want to be too cliche, but I know that good stories have similar topics and motifs. The idea of someone without a home, the outcast. The idea of friendship and family. The idea of making your dreams come true and getting the thing you want the most, whatever that is. Learning about survival. Learning about danger and the world around you.

And it all comes down to nature and how the world is full of interesting plants and animals that we need to appreciate and help. Also, that these things aren't far away. They are right in your back yard (Burns Bog is just one example).

First bit of story, unedited

What is this vole running from?
He seems scared.
Head for the trees buddy!
You'll be safe in Burns Bog, undercover
where it's very easy to get lost
but it's also easy to hide in.

In Burns Bog, the trees are thick
and there is plenty of cover
When you walk on the ground,
it's firm and squishy.
When you jump on it,
it jiggles like jello
but you have to pay close attention to see it.

All of the trees have needles
and get scraggly the farther into the bog you go
Some plants are smelly,
some are vine-like moss hanging from thin tree branches
Some plants you can make tea out of,
by boiling them in water and taking the leaves out.
Some plants you can eat while others are poisonous.

Most of the plants are unique to the bog,
and grow only in secret places.
To find them, you need to look very hard,
under and over things.

But the vole running into the bog doesn't care about plants.
He doesn't plan on making tea.
He's not thinking about food, poisonous or not,
because human beings have stolen his home.
They've built a landfill over it
without even asking him!

"They took my home.
I'm feeling so angry and sad
because I don't know where I will live now.
Where will I cook, sleep and play?
And now I'm also being chased by a hawk.
What else could go wrong?
At least I've reached the trees!
That will cover me and keep the hawk from finding me.

Up ahead, I see a group of mushrooms
that could hide me even better
than running on this wooden boardwalk."

The vole ran and hid in the mushrooms,
disturbing them from their sleep.
"Hey! Don't push us!" They yelled at the scared vole.
"This is our home!"
The vole apologized, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
but he didn't want to go out.
SCREECH
The hawk is close by.

One of the little mushrooms feels pity for the vole.
"It's okay, they're a little grumpy.
You can stay here until the hawk goes away, mouse,"
Said the little mushroom.
"I'm a vole and why are they grumpy?"
Whispered the vole who was calming down.
"They're stuck here just like I am
and they know that it they could just
get into the centre of the bog,
they could meet the Great Sandhill Crane,"
the mushroom said.
"Why would they want to do that?"
The vole asked.
"Don't tell him! Don't tell him" yelled the other mushrooms.
"I can't tell you," said the little mushroom.

SCREECH
The vole and mushrooms shrank into their hole,
because the hawk was closer than before
and obviously searching for the vole.
"My name is Rudge. What's yours, Mouse?"
whispered the mushroom.
"I'm a vole and my name is Leon."
"What's the difference?" asked the mushroom.
"A vole and a mouse are two different species of rodent,"
explained the vole quietly.
"Voles are unique. That's my problem. I can't find any other voles."
"So you're all alone?" The mushroom asked.

SCREECH
"I could't find other voles, so I lived alone.
And now that my home is full of garbage,
there's no going back now.
I want to find a safe place,
hopefully I'll find some more voles... a family,"
Leon whispered.
SCREECH

"Don't move, Leon," The mushroom warned.
"Why?"
"Because the hawk is right behind you!"
The vole froze.
"Run behind us!" the mushroom yelled.
The vole ran and hid in the farthest part of the hole as the hawk attacked.
It's beak landed in the dirt and uprooted the little mushroom.
It pecked around, but couldn't reach the vole
so after a few minutes, it flew away.

The vole came out of its hiding place,
worried about Rudge, the mushroom.
He found the mushroom lying on its side,
its roots in the air, helpless.
"Rudge!"
"Leon! I'm okay."
"I'm sorry I brought the hawk to your home!"
The other mushrooms were silent.
"It's alright. I don't like living here anyway.
I've always wanted to travel
and now I can!
You can take me to the centre of the bog!"
The mushroom said enthusiastically.
"What?" The vole asked confused.
"We can find a home for you with other voles
and I can see the world!" said Rudge.
"How? You're uprooted!" Leon exclaimed.
"Exactly! I'm not stuck to the ground anymore.
I'll just have to stay moist." Rudge explained.
"But it's dangerous!"
"Even in my home, It was dangerous," said Rudge.
Leon thought about it for a moment.
"You're right. Even my home wasn't safe from the human landfill.
Okay, let's go."

-

Carefully, Leon picked up Rudge by his long tail
and started to run along the boardwalk.
"We can't stay on the boardwalk," yelled Rudge as he bounced along.
"This is where the humans walk.
They'll step on us.
Besides, the path doesn't go to the centre of the bog.
We're going to have to go off the path."
"Why the centre?" Leon asked.
"Everyone is going there to meet the Great Sandhill Crane.
He only comes once a year.
The mushroom didn't want to tell you
because they didn't like to share with strangers,
but you're a friend now so I'll tell you.
...
The Great Sandhill Crane grants wishes.
One wish a year, exactly."
"Wow," Leon said.
"I'd wish for a family and a home,
what would you wish for, Rudge?"
"Feet," Rudge said.
"So I could go anywhere I wanted to."

-

The vole and the mushroom travelled for a day
through shrubs and over moss.
They became tired and hungry.
"I'm thirsty, Rudge."
"Me too. Stop. We can get water."
"How?"
"The ground is made of peat, a type of moss that is special.
The moss can hold water like a sponge,
and it filters bad things from it,
so if you grab some peat and squeeze,
fresh water will come out of it," Rudge explained.

Leon squeezed and drank.
"Wow, that's the freshest water I've ever tasted!"
Rudge bobbed its head,
"Have you noticed how fresh the air is?
The bog also filters pollution out of the air."
Leon breathed deeply.
He felt so mush more happier since he came to the bog.
The hawk did him a favour by chasing him here, he thought.

-

After a snack of bog cranberries and bog ---------
the vole and the mushroom noticed that the trees were thinning
There was space to run and jump,
but the vole was nervous
because there were less places to hide,
if the hawk came back.

What I got from the inspiration

So my inspiration seems a little scattered. If you don't understand where it comes from:

1. Illustration by Arthur Rakham. He was amazing! More specifically, he drew fantasy. Pen, ink and gouache. His scenes are spooky and creepy sometimes. The way that he draws trees, all spindly and curvy is really interesting. The colours he uses are earthy, because his images are of nature. He uses a lot of brown and black. He illustrated an edition of Alice of Wonderland and the animals are very detailed and playful.

2. "Gormenghast" by Mervyn Peake. A fantasy novel about a small kingdom enclosed in a castle where no one leaves the walls of the castle. Each person is born to a role, whether a kitchen boy or the future duke, and they stay in that role no matter what they want. The main character is Steerpike, a kitchen boy who is beaten and wants a better life so he schemes and flatters his way to power. He drives the current duke mad (the duke starts to believe he is an owl) and locks up two noblewomen after taking their power. Anyways, it's a gothic fantasy novel that was made into a Masterpeice theatre movie and has a lot of interesting gothic visuals, such as the wild girl, the castle itself, the room of cats...

3. Ruby Gloom is a kid's cartoon in the gothic style. It takes a housefull of odd characters, like "Poe" the raven, a ghost, a bat, a black cat, etc. and creates kid friendly stories about them. What I like is that it takes something scary and makes it friendly. There's an edge to it. It isn't the teletubbies.

4. Rudyard Kipling was an author and illustrator of "The Jungle Book." The way he drew animals were very decorative. (Black ink, mostly). It was sketchy. It was exotic. His short stories are really creative.

5. Tim Burton has an amazingly distinct style. "The Nightmare Before Christmas" entertains me as much now as it did when I was 7. It's attractive yet dark. It's heart warming but not sickeningly sweet.

6. Edward Gorey was an illustrator who also mixed cute and creepy. His images are bold. I really like the detail he put into his work.

7. "Alice in Wonderland". This story is messed up but it's entertaining. I want to design a story that also follows a journey into the unknown. (And you learn all about the bog at the same time).

What do they all have in common? They are fantasy and use gothic motifs.

I think kids can handle stories that are a little scary.

Why did I choose this aesthetic? I love anything gothic and fantasy, so it makes me more engaged in the project. I like it because it's emotional. It can give me the shivers. Fear is a powerful emotion. I'm not saying I'm going to frighten little kids because I still want them to want to go to the bog. I think a little suspense will make them more interested. I also think a happy ending contrasted with a harrowing story will create a greater impact. So my book is going to have illustrations that show the bog as being mysterious and unusual.

Inspiration