Here are a few pages from my EMP final piece, a children's nature book...

Business Card Design

Ergh I am far too young to have a business card...

Promotional Postcard

I've been catching up on a bit of the Professional Practise Unit over the last few days. Thought it would be nice for people coming to view the exhibitions to take a little sample of my work away with them. Do I like the info on the the side of the postcard though? Hmm... not sure.



 

I took a trip to about 8 different London gardens, parks, and nature reserves. I went in search of ideas for the content of my book (such as how to best make use of small outdoor areas, how to attract wildlife, what to look out for, how to spot things and so on.) I also wanted to gather some imagery which I could base my illustrations upon, people enjoying the outdoor spaces, the way things were constructed etc. My main aim was to really build a sound and thorough understanding of 'urban nature'.

Above left: a photo from Camley Street Nature Reserve. To one side of the park was Regent's Canal and this industrial-looking building and to the other was Kings Cross St. Pancras. Seemed such an unlikely place to have such a peaceful space. Probably the most built  up area but the most natural park of all of my visits. Above right: Some bird boxes at Abney Park.

Above left and below: I am really interested in the juxtaposition between the natural and the urban in these images. The images capture what I want to demonstrate within my book: that  these two opposites can in fact live in harmony with one another.

I want to look more closely at different angles and viewpoints within my illustrations for this project and this image may perhaps be a starting point for this.



A very encouraging clip:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/audioslideshow/2011/mar/22/best-new-illustrators-awards-audio-slideshow

Thanks for finding this Hannah : )

Also thanks to Emily for finding this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/mar/25/british-summer-time-strengthen-nature

Below is a family portrait of the final characters I have chosen to base my EMP book around; Nana, Grampy, Olive and Willem. I wanted to create an image which each character is included within, to make sure that they work together, in terms of colours, appearence, size etc, which I think they do! Yipee!

A few of my fellow AUCB illustrators and myself made an alternative 'recipe book', take a look by clicking on the link below...

http://issuu.com/obrotheridge/docs/arecipefor...

Useful Blogs

There are so many blogs that I have used as research for this project. These blogs have given me such encouragement, by proving to me that so many people care about the subject of children and nature. The creators and followers of these blogs share my passion and interest in the topic and have inspired my efforts to try and encourage change.

So for any of you who share my interests in the topic, here are the links to these websites:

http://loveoutdoorplay.net/

http://www.childrenandnature.org/blog/

http://natureforkids.net/

http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/

I wanted to explore other artists who have used characters within their work. I love this simple, understated stlyle, it proves how powerful such simple designs can be.


                       

                      

Beginning to Put the Characters into Situe

I have started to put the more completed and finished characters into different situations. I have explored the different 'to do's' and activities that I might use within the final book and I intend on continuing my exploration until I build a vast 'bank' of activities, guides and tasks that are worthy of including in the final piece.

Making bird cakes with Evie : )

I have encouraged my niece to join me in doing the activities I might choose to incorporate within the final book. I want to continue to use her as my model, so that I will have visuals to work from when putting the characters into different positions etc.

Boy Characters

After sitting with my two year old niece and going through my sketchbook, (thought this might be a useful task to guage what elements of an image interest children at this age) I realised that she said all of the little girl characters were her favourite - not the boys! So I thought perhaps a lot of children feel like this, that the characters which best represent them are the ones they tend to 'relate' to best. For this reason I have come to the conclusion that I need to incorporate a boy character and a girl character into the book - so that it appeals to both sexes.

Developing the boy character:

Sketchbook Pages and Character Development

Throughout my last project I found starting off by identifying and perfecting my characters was a helpful foundation for the rest of my work.

I will try and sort these out on Photoshop...if I can work out how  : / and replace them with some less scruffy versions.

More Researching

I found an article in The Times titled, 'How to Let Your Kids Off the Leash', it discussed a lot of the concerns I have about Nature Deficit Disorder. The text also introduced me to some new ideas that I am now willing to explore.

I want to ensure that I gain a really thorough knowledge of Nature Deficit Disorder and the topics which surround it. This will hopefully help to create a well-informed final piece which successfully achieves it's purpose. During this project I want to expand the breadth of my research, not only relying on secondary resources, but more direct primary resources too. By doing so I hope to generate some more innovative, complex and unusual ideas to help develop my work.

The article in The Times introduced me to a lot of new names in the world of child psychology, child development and nature experts. I contacted Professor Tanya Byron to try and gather more detailed information for my project, I was advised to contact leading childhood 'thinker'  Tim Gill. Tim gave answered all of my questions so thoroughly, he was so helpful! I gained a much better insight into those aspects of the subject that I am concerned with covering in my project.

Tanya and Tim were so kind to offer me so much help, here are their websites:

(www.professortanyabyron.com)

(www.rethinkingchildhood.com)

Starting Point for EMP - Nature Deficit Disorder

 (The National Trust Magazine, January 2011)

There is a major concern amongst researchers, naturalists and child pyschologists (to name just a few) surrounding, what has been coined, 'Nature Defecit Disorder'. Research has revealed that in todays world children gain less contact with nature than ever before. Obviously, this has a physical affect upon children; there is undoubtedly a correlation between the growing rate of obese children and their diminishing contact with the outdoors. Researchers have also been studying how nature (or a lack of it) affects the emotional and pyschological state of the child.

I have always had a strong connection with nature, wildlife and the outdoors. Nature is something that has played and continues to play a large role in my life, so the articles on 'Nature Deficit Disorder' have interested me hugely. To think of children today not being able to enjoy our world in the way that I have is quite depressing!

This all got me thinking how I might so my little bit to try and prevent children from becoming even more distant from nature. All my research so far and previous projects make me feel that like a children's 'guide book' for nature or gardening would be the most natural, satisfying and enjoyable route for me to take. I am excited to see how the project is going to evolve and change!

Wowzah!

Ha!

From: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV4oe118B279Sltj9krUyZSXw7SkzdF5diKVb9BVEmmnZGLnN11Jdj0H-e8Z8F2LWy7d3rHCEyZpMUhYZNM1E9ogxGF0dbh0kocALywBjzq8ujE11ztmWLjDxXDPK_p68qIh_J6-shF5IE/s1600/41%25281%2529.jpg

Negotiated Practice Final Piece

Below are three double page spreads from my book Alberta Goes Green. The pages below show the affects and reasons for climate change. There were a few technical problems but I am pretty happy with the result. Looking forward to developing this style and adding some colour.

Work Experience

Today was my last day of work experience at a local primary school. I have had a lovely two weeks and I am pretty sad it's over : (

Each class in the school makes a decoration to hang in the assembly hall at Christmas... so my job for one class was to illustrate three wise men and a camel, these were then photocopied ready for them to then collage.

Yesterday I was called into the class and made to stand in front of 64 children whilst Mr. Ruffle explained to the children that they had had their very own illustrator to help create there decoarations... embarrassingggg!

I think they look lovely though : )

Book Front Cover Design

This is the initial plan for my front cover design. I need to tweak a few bits but I'm pretty happy with the general idea : ) Also... in my sketchbook this design has a nice little border around it, but me sketchbook was to hugemungous for the scanner and it didn't show up fully.

Had a really helpful tutorial with children's book illustrator Salvatore Rubbino today. Discussed my worries about the writing part of my book. He gave me the very true advice that children love silly words - therefore I will be trying to incorporate as many of these as  possible! 


I had my first day of work experience at a lovely little primary school in Southbourne today, the children are adorable - maybe I should listen in on their conversations in the hope that they might help me on the silly word front! 


Toodle pip for now!


x

A Recipe for a Perfectly Embarrassing Pooch

So here is my recipe... I think! I'm not happy with the little characters in the back, they were so small it was difficult to put any detail on them so they look a bit pants. If I get enough time may be I'll make another attempt!

Illustration Group Publication

So us third years are doing a little publication with the title, 'A Recipe For...' We are all adding an illustrated recipe, but not your average food recipes...

Here is my letter for the front cover title. We had to make our letter relate to the theme of our recipe, mine being 'A Recipe for the Perfectly Embarrassing Pooch'. Inspired by that mischievous little pup of mine. 

             

(The first one wasn't bold enough for the title page.)