Evaluation and Conclusion

I’ve really enjoyed doing my Final Major Project.  It’s combined two things that I enjoy doing – creating something using fabric and creating images.

Toy Development.

Because I already had a strong idea of how I wanted the characters to look, toy development became an exercise in problem solving, and to a certain extent compromising, when it came to the materials I could source.

Trial shapes for stars.

I had sketched the alien as far back as last summer, Little Star and Owl had started to develop during the early part of Self-Promotion when we were doing badges and cards.  I had a fair idea of their shape and relative size.  The hardest one to develop was the star.  It took me several attempts to really get the shape I wanted, even though it’s actually the simplest character in terms of colour and facial expression. The Owl also needed more work on the block shape.  Both the alien and owl had more surface decoration and details to work out, and take more work in terms of embroidery and sewing. 

Owl needed to change shape too - so his wings didn't stick out!

As Ben pointed out, these are only proto-types, which someone else would have worked on independently from a finished book, so developing toys first and then using them in illustration is a topsy-turvy process.  I appreciate this, but part of the challenge for me has been to make a character and then express it as closely as I can in a book form.   Who knows, I might one day be presented with a developed character and told to illustrate exactly that.

I have used lots of skills I already had, like pattern cutting and sewing for this part of the project, but I had not looked at or done machine embroidery before.  I can see myself using this again (when I can get hold of a second-hand machine), maybe to produce things to go on Etsy.   I can see this sort of embroidery adding value to promotional goods as well.  I have thought about sewing/applique for creating images, but I’m too fond of painting and I would need to find a really good photographer to get the image digitalised.  I’m also not sure I have the patience to work in this sort of way either – paint is such instant colour.

Book Development

I looked at a lot of board books before sketching, and it helped!  My instant reaction to the whole board book and toy thing had been to dismiss them slightly as an inferior product to Picture Books, or just a truncated version with a spin off toy.  I now see I was wrong and that there is a whole pre-school, pre-reading set of books that are very cleverly devised, written and illustrated for this age group. 

 

I really enjoyed painting my images for my board book.  It was fun to crank up the colours and get out a big brush to do the backgrounds.  Whilst I am pleased with the images, I realise now that one of my biggest shortcomings is to leave the text as – almost – an afterthought.  I need to have a clearer idea of the text, font, size and space it will take up on the page from the work go, and should concentrate on page design as much as character design.  I think I got a bit carried way with the whole ‘making-a-toy’ thing, and left the text behind.

I also enjoyed the challenge of physically making a board book, it made me consider the needs for that age-group more, and do more research.  It’s a different approach to making a hard-back book, for an adult or older children, who are more likely to treat a book more gently.  There are lots of things to be taken into consideration to produce a more durable product that can be used independently by little people with little (but very strong!) hands.  I’ve explored things like different card and paper finishes, as well as size.  

The more I look at other board books, the less convinced I am that these particular characters are as good as some others for toddlers.  For me, Bing bunny is spot on, a toddler with appropriate responses, and whilst Maisy has friends, her story lines are very direct and accessible to toddlers.  I think I might be slightly out of touch with this age group, and need to rethink some of the story lines before approaching publishers, or use them for picture books instead of board books.

Conclusion.

There is a large chunk of publishing aimed at small children, with some exciting, colourful and interesting products around.   I feel I need to do more research into characters and images, and perhaps even sit in the corner of a playgroup to really get back to how these little ones look at life.  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Lucy Cousins (Maisy’s author) is a mother of four, or that Ted Dewan had a toddler underfoot when he developed Bing.   I hadn’t appreciated how long ago it was since I had toddlers running around, and it’s dangerous to think you know an age group just because you’ve experienced living with a couple. 

This has been an interesting project.  I feel I’ve learnt a lot and discovered some gaps I need to fill, particularly with page design, text and bleed.  The feedback from group tutorials and the power point presentations has been very valuable.  The experience of talking about my project in front of others felt nerve-wracking, but it was really useful to put my aims into words, and then do the work needed.

Thanks again for all your help and advice.