Children’s Book

Enzo Mealing

Mind Map

Children’s Book

Visual StyleI’ve liked the idea of a cartoon-style book, featuring a significant landscape, this being a forest, with bold, bright colours, most children books have cartoon styled images, this is a great way to appeal to children, so I decided to follow this.

RotoscopingImage WarpingSketchColour OverlayingFiltersIllustrations

LayoutA common layout for a children’s book is an image on one page and text on the next page, I thought this would be an easy, simple, yet effective layout to use, especially seeing as a vast majority of children’s books use this layout.

Font/Text sizeThe font used in children’s books is usually big, bold and clear, it make it easier for the child to read, a large majority of children’s books have clear, understandable text. Children’s books tend to have very little text, this is good because it allows children to learn how to read but not get bored or impatient on the way.

StoryA story about an upset/lonely character, which finds hope is appealing to me, it will show children how even in the darkest of times, there is always hope, and for every dark day, there is a brighter one just ahead.

Plot Twists

Goals/Aims

CharactersI’ve always thought that having a non-human character will appeal more to children, such as the use of insects or any animal in general, it can appeal to children by adding fun and mystery to the book, cartoon characters are a lot more appealing to children then realistic characters, the cartoon characters can send off a positive, enjoyable vibe.

Character PersonalitiesHow will they act?They’re moods/emotions

Colours of CharactersWill their colours reflect their personalities?Will they be bright?Will they be textured?

The storyline of the book what do the characters need to achieve?How will they reach their goals?

Mood Board

Here are a few simple, cartoon forest images, with the addition of Photoshop, I could cut out specific objects from an image, and add them to another image, to create my own landscape, a forest is a good landscape to use in a children’s book, it is a mysterious landscape and is exciting to a child.

Bright, simple forest.

Cartoon trees/sun/cloud

A more detailed forest.

Mood Board

Cartoon characters appeal to children, as they are colourful and fun, happy facial expressions are used on cartoon characters to give a positive vibe.

Something like this will be good, they are simple and easily understandable

Bright, bold colours are good in children’s books, they add positivity to the character, giving a sense of happiness and joy, this will appeal to children.

Mood Board Chosen Idea

Caterpillar charactersA cottage/school which the

caterpillar(s) attend.

A bright, colourful butterflyA bright, cartoony forest,

where the story is set

Fonts• There are thousands of different fonts that can be used, here are some fonts which I think will suit the children’s book the best.

Visual Style• Visual style is significant in

making a children’s book, it must be, eye catching, colorful, bright and positive, especially if the book has a strong cartoon-factor to it.

• The use of bright, bold colors in images and landscapes is a great way to interest the child into reading the book, so the child does not get bored, they can learn so much more from colorful, cartoony imagery instead of dull, boring colors and imagery. Children can find cartoony imagery and escape from the boring stuff in reality, such as homework and learning, but whilst they read a child’s book, they will learn from it, but because it is fun and has a cartoon factor, it interests the child into reading on.

This cartoon image will appeal to more children than a real life image, the amount of color and creativity in this image will interest and excite children, they will not get bored of dull, dark images, they will be caught up in the color and imagination in a cartoon picture, and learn from it.There is a lot of positivity from this image, the bright colors, the nature and the smiling frog, this is what catches a child’s eye, the positivity from an image intrigues a child and makes them want to read on and learn more about the story.

This image is a photograph of a forest and a river, this has no cartoon-like features and seems to be dull and boring, this will not appeal to children, as it has no positivity and imagination, so having this in a children’s book will not interest them, they will not get involved with the story as there is no imagination or color in the images they see.