These are the background for the four pages of my book that I am going to make for the hand in. I used a low opacity to build up the colours over time sort of giving the back ground a surreal effect. This will draw the attention more towards the characters in the book instead of the backgrounds.
I used bright colours for the background as most children’s books use brighter colours and children tend to enjoy brighter colours more than dull ones.
Audience
The target audience for my book is children aged 5-8. Specifically my book is aimed at children in care as the story centres around a Rat trying to find his forever home. This book tackles the feelings of not fitting in and feeling like you have no where to call your own home. The story aims to explain to children in the care system that it is OK to feel like you don’t fit in because eventually you will find somewhere that will show you why it never worked out anywhere else.
The book follows Rats journey as he tries to fit in where he doesn’t belong. This represents the foster families that children in care will have been placed in as they get moved around a lot. The Rat then meets a little dog who asks for his help. The Rat helps the dog and in doing so finds his home. This shows that doing good things and helping people will help you eventually!
Story
page 1 – There once was a Rat who didn’t have a home, he was very sad. One day the Rat decided to look for a home he didn’t want to be sad any more. So he packed his bags and started on his journey.
page 2 – A little while later he came across a family of birds, they seemed nice so he asked if he could live with them. The birds said “no, we’ve got no space!” so the Rat continued on his journey.
page 3 – The Rat soon stumbled upon a family of ducks. They were really nice and gave him some food so he asked if he could live with them. The ducks looked flustered but still said no. The Rat gathered his things and went on his way.
page 4 – Soon after the rat became tired and found somewhere to rest.
page 5 – The next day the Rate came across a very sad Dog. The Dog told the Rat he was lost and scared and was looking for his family. The Rat offered to help the dog find his owner and they set off on their journey.
page 6 – Sometime later they were wandering through the town when the Dog stopped suddenly. His tail started wagging. He rand quickly in the direction of a boy with orange hair. Rat ran after him.
page 7 – The boy and dog embraced, happy to be reunited. The boy thanked the Rat for his help and Rat turned to leave. Dog stopped him and said to the boy “can Rat live with us please?”
page 8 – The boy said yes and took the Rat home. For the first time ever the Rat finally had his own home!
For the project I am selecting a 4 of these pages to showcase the idea.
I have decided to go with the rat adoption story as adoption is subject that children in the care system may find upsetting. The book aims to reassure these children that it’s OK to not have home because eventually everyone finds somewhere they belong. The book will be aimed at 5-8 year olds as the story is not simple enough for a lower age range but too complex for anyone over the age of 10.
The story follows a rat on his search for a home. He meets a few families that aren’t right for him before meeting a little lost dog. The two of them set out to find the little lost dogs owner and the rat gets accepted into their family. The story is heartwarming and shows that sometimes you’ll get it wrong but never stop trying.
I decided to go with a cartoon style of drawing as its the only type of drawing I can do that doesn’t suck. I will use Photoshop to colour these outlines and add dimensions to the characters. I rejected my first sketches of the little lost dog because it looked like a triangle with a face and a tail. The second sketch looks a lot more like a dog in cartoon style. The rate sketches turned out well. I had the rat stood like human because it makes him easier for the children the book is aimed at to relate to. I did initially try to draw a rat on all fours but it looked terrible so I tried a cartoon style.
I am struggling with ideas as I cant draw and I have very little technical ability. So I’ve come up with a few ideas….
Idea 1 – little lost dog
The little lost dog idea was going to be a rhyming book which follows a dog that gets lost in his search back home. However, rhyming and creating a story that makes sense is very difficult. So I scrapped the rhyming idea and concentrated on the story of the little lost dog. In the story the little lost dog meets a rat who helps him look for the dogs owner, at the end of the story the owner adopts the Rat as a thank you for his help returning the little lost dog. While I was trying to create this story Mike mentioned that I should make the book about adoption as it is a difficult subject to approach with children.
Idea 2- Rat adoption
So adoption I have decided to try and re wrote the story so that it is from the Rats perspective. I’ve done it so he travels around looking for a home then he meets the little lost dog and his owner and finds his forever home. I think that this story is good at it shows that eventually everyone finds somewhere they belong. I had an attempt at drawing the rat and its safe to say hand drawing this isn’t an option unless I improve significantly.
Idea 3 – A book where the children draw the story
Since it appears I can’t draw I thought an idea might be a ‘draw your own’ children’s book where the pictures are started but the the children finish them. Or they can complete word searches and mazes to help the rat on his journey.
Idea 4 – toddlers touch/feel felt book
This is an idea if I am allowed to do it. I would physically make the book and fill it with zips, soft fabrics, loud materials, physical puzzles and other things that would keep a toddler entertained.
We’re going on a bear hunt will always be my favourite childhood book. There’s just something about it. I like the watercolours used they add a soft feel to this children’s book, which might be needed as the story is a little scary in parts. The story at face value is about a family who go on a bear hunt and have to overcome obstacles on their way. I think the real point behind this book is to teach children how to problem solve and overcome obstacles in their own lives. The artwork in this book isn’t perfect but it doesn’t need to be. One thing I have noticed about children’s books is that the artwork is rarely perfect, most children’s books take pride in being messy and hand drawn. Below are some examples of the children’s books I’ve looked at.
I also sat and read many books with my two year old sister as research for this project. I found that she got bored if the story was too long or the pictures were not bright. She loved ‘Guess how much I love you’. It’s a happy story about mummy rabbit telling baby rabbit how much she loved them. My sister is obviously younger than the age range I’m likely to target as my book will be intended for older children aged 5-10, but i can still get a feel about what children like and do not like. My sister hates long fairy tale books with less than 1 picture a page. Sticker books are very popular, and activity books might be a good idea. I will remember this when planning my ideas.