I chose to have an animal from air, land and the sea in the title page to represent creation along with a wreath of leaves from mother earth herself. The animals were also chosen because they were different colours of the spectrum.
Hopefully adding extra visual impact to the cover. I set them in a circle chasing each other to add movement to the page. I later used the same three animals to create a pattern for the endpapers, which l felt worked really well.
I started the first pages of the book with simple arial views of the island from different angle. I wanted to build up the visual language as the book continued through to the end.
Using variety of layers and effects such as crumpled paper, textured paint and collage paint and pencil. I created the image of mother earth as an island of earth.
The second and third pages introduces the two main characters properly into the story: father sky and mother earth. I have purposefully used less and less negative space as the book progresses. This is due to the narrative becoming more complex but also to add visual impact and more to observe and investigate in the image.
On reflection with my images i feel i should have been a bit more experimental with the compositions and considered the text a bit more. As shown below I altered father sky's arm to embrace mother earth as stated in the text. Initially i was definitely pre-occupied with getting the visual language right and how i wanted to continue with the story. Even though the story element was important i felt amendments could be made further on, as long as I was gaining ground with the project.
It took me a while before i was used to using photoshop again as it had been a while. This i felt slowed me up a little. But after a bit of solid studio time i felt much more confident in producing work i was happier with than at the start. I felt i was learning more as i made each page and its adjustments.
I feel the image below is a stronger one in its communication of the narrative than the previous attempt above.
The visual language is appropriate for the story because i have used natural looking elements for the images such as leaves, water, clouds, hills and a simple looking handwritten typeface.
The last pages to be worked on was the cover of the book, this was due to being undecided on how to recreate the idea of creation without giving away too much of the story or imagery from inside.
after playing around with ideas I decided to use the same textures some animals and give a feeling of mystery with the father cloud hovering above the land. I tried different areas for the text including at the bottom of the cover as well as sitting on top of the land, but I felt it stood out higher up. I added long white soft clouds to the cover image as New Zealand is apparently known as the land of the long white cloud.
On reflection of my book i would like to have added more flowers and berries to the later pages such as mother earth and father sky embraced and the final landscape scene. If given the opportunity to create it again i would probably add more animals too, except that Native New Zealand do not have many mammals, mainly birds, reptiles and insects.I have amended many things as i have progressed and included these in my sketchbooks to show my development. Also printing on matt paper i feel was a mistake as the photocopy mock up displays the colours and textures better. Although i also requested a copy of the cover on textured paper just to compare for future reference.
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