every picture spells a story

1
R a k e ' s S o n g t h e every picture spells a story e reason I began this project is because I wanted to explore the subject of narrative, and also lept at the chance to experiment with some character drawing. I intended to create a picture/story book around e Rake’s Song, by e Decemberists. As the song was quite dark, including the murder of children. In my mind was a traditionally illustrated story, reminiscent of e Brothers Grimm. However, aſter drawing a number of illustrations (watercolour, fine-liner, and Illustrator based) and them showing them to my Mother, a primary school teacher, she informed me that, in this day and age, this kind of storytelling was not as appealing to children as it once was. e colours were not attention grabbing enough, and the book (in theory) would not be interactive enough to hold a child’s attention. In addition to this, the feedback I recieved in crits had shown that the illustration appealed to a more mature audience, rather than ayounger one. Aſter hearing this, I swiſtly changed my idea to the more interactive concept of puppets. I can recall making puppets in middle school and being completely enthralled by split pins, and how they gave paper characters the ability to move. I looked at illustrators such as Melissa Kojima and Norma Toraya, who have moved their work from still, flat traditional illustration to hinged puppets and pop-up work. is got me to thinking that puppets aren’t just for children - they are also novelties for those who are a child at heart. e products could also be sold as band merchandise, as they are all characters featured in the band’s song - and therefore could be considered a collectors item, especially if only a few were ever produced - furthermore I had seen collectable paper figures at the Handmade and Bound book fair. I plan on extending theset of puppets I have created, and adding templates of background and foregrounds to set the characters on. is will aloow the user to create their own journey for the characters to go on - and hopefully will make it appeal to the younger generation as it is reminiscent of Fuzzy Felts (however mine would be for a slightly more mature audience as it contains small parts when you build your own puppet). a) Rake’s Song front cover (for book) b) research and development: John Kenn c) Illustration for book, Rake storytelling d) Victorian Brothers Grimm bookcover e) early character development: the Rake f) research and development: Carson Ellis g) Norma Toraya hinged puppet h) Illustrayor generated image of Rake i) paper cut out of the Rake j) laying out paper parts of puppets k) hinged mock up Eziah puppet, holding baby sister. a) b) j) c) e) g) h) i) k) f) d)

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Brief 1: Rake's song

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Page 1: Every Picture Spells a Story

R a k e ' s S o n gt h e

e v e r y p i c t u r e s p e l l s a s t o r y

The reason I began this project is because I wanted to explore the subject of narrative, and also lept at the chance to experiment with some character drawing. I intended to create a picture/story book around The Rake’s Song, by The Decemberists. As the song was quite dark, including the murder of children. In my mind was a traditionally illustrated story, reminiscent of The Brothers Grimm. However, after drawing a number of illustrations (watercolour, fine-liner, and Illustrator based) and them showing them to my Mother, a primary school teacher, she informed me that, in this day and age, this kind of storytelling was not as appealing to children as it once was. The colours were not attention grabbing enough, and the book (in theory) would not be interactive enough to hold a child’s attention. In addition to this, the feedback I recieved in crits had shown that the illustration appealed to a more mature audience, rather than ayounger one. After hearing this, I swiftly changed my idea to the more interactive concept of puppets. I can recall making puppets in middle school and being completely enthralled by split pins, and how they gave paper characters the ability to move. I looked at illustrators such as Melissa Kojima and Norma Toraya, who have moved their work from still, flat traditional illustration to hinged puppets and pop-up work. This got me to thinking that puppets aren’t just for children - they are also novelties for those who are a child at heart. The products could also be sold as band merchandise, as they are all characters featured in the band’s song - and therefore could be considered a collectors item, especially if only a few were ever produced - furthermore I had seen collectable paper figures at the

Handmade and Bound book fair. I plan on extending theset of puppets I have created, and adding templates of background and foregrounds to set the characters on. This will aloow the user to create their own journey for the characters to go on - and hopefully will make it appeal to the younger generation as it is reminiscent of Fuzzy Felts (however mine would be for a slightly more mature audience as it contains small parts when you build your own puppet).

a) Rake’s Song front cover (for book) b) research and development: John Kenn c) Illustration for book, Rake storytelling d) Victorian Brothers Grimm bookcover e) early character development: the Rake f) research and development: Carson Ellis g) Norma Toraya hinged puppet h) Illustrayor generated image of Rake i) paper cut out of the Rake j) laying out paper parts of puppets k) hinged mock up Eziah puppet, holding baby sister.

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