Snake Alley Band

Analyzing Text and IllustrationsBryce Arata

Shape

• Shapes are all irregular for the entire book.• Drawings look more like rough sketches which produces a very 2D effect.• Pictures possibly drawn with a calligraphy pen.• Overall, the pictures are quite cartoony which makes them

more acceptable to young readers… after all, snakes can be pretty scary looking.

Space

• White space surrounds important things to that particular page.

• Sometimes, a character will take up an entire page or more, shifting all focus to it.

Color

• Watercolors are used throughout, but only a handful of colors creating a picture that’s more about the lines than the colors.• Colors don’t necessarily reach the lines they

are in.

Texture

• Darkness and texture are all added by calligraphy pen making the pictures even more cartoony.

Perspective

• New animals are portrayed in very large pictures making there presence known.• Snake is shown as being bigger when he’s angry.

Design, Rhythm, Meaning and Movement

• Rhythm – Once the animals show up there is a rhythm to the “music” that they make, each one starts a new line of music.

• Tension – When snake can’t find his band there is tension, and when the animals show up and snake is unhappy there is tension.

Continued

• Character Placement – Snake is often seen in background when others are the important characters in the scene.• Page Layout – When things are quiet or

unheated the pictures are smaller, but when there is chaos/anger the pictures start taking up more and more of the page.

Textual Analysis

• Moral – Don’t be biased against others.• Themes – Bias/Prejudice.• Plot – Snake is looking for his band but ends up making new friends in a new band.• Characterization – Friendliness• Concepts – less basic, making friends• Rhythmic Repetition – The repetition of animal

noises.