National Poetry Week Project

As part of National Poetry Month week we were asked to go on the website and look through a range of poems specifically looking at the children’s and young readers category. After having a read through all the poems i found the poem Otter by Liz Brownlee, a playful poem regarding otter’s and their changing habitats.  

After reading the poem through a few times, and hearing different viewpoints from peers i began thinking of different elements that i could include followed by some initial rough thumbnails of how i could design a double page spread which could really help communicate the words from the poem. 

Above shows the initial thumbnails from my sketchbook. I wanted to play around with a range of different compositions thinking about my audience and how each could apply to the chosen targeted readers. After reviewing the three designs my favourite was defiantly the top image. I like the idea of playing around with a full bleed image that flows from page to page. In this scenario with the poem being written for children I felt this style was most fun and playful and would feel complimentary to the authors targeted reader. From here i wanted to develop this digitally using my iPad therefore, i took the idea and began developing a base sketch off my iPad. 

Sketch and line work 

Final coloured work 

Above shows both the base sketch followed by the final coloured work including final text deign. I loved the colours of the final illustration and also the pattern elements that have that overall playful feel. I particularly like hows the composition turned out and feel it as more interesting to see both above and below the water as it also incorporated the fish and also the fish net. I felt it was important to include these as in the poem the author speaks about the otter habitats and how they have been slowly ruined overtime due to increase in plastic within their homes. However, the author does speak of recently how this habitat has developed after the fish return allowing the otter to slowly thrive once again. Therefore i felt it was important to include this development within my own illustration to help tell the story. 

Feedback 

After finishing my double page spread we were given feedback in an online lecture. In this time during looking at others pieces, I noticed some elements that needed fixing of my own. For example on my piece the text sat in the middle. This would unfortunately not be legible due to where the food would sit in the magazine. Therefore, moving forward im thinking of making a couple of alterations including th e placement of the text and other elements of the illustration.