Personal response.
The first thing that drew me to this book was the big bold ‘MOOMIN’ title at the bottom of the page, The colours work well because they are very bright and eye-catching. I also liked the hand drawn feel to it because i think it makes the book seem more child-friendly. For example most books make for adults feature real photographs, but children's books usually have lots of hand drawn elements which make it seem a lot more friendly.
I researched the book and the audience for the book are children aged 2-5, which is very understandable because of the vibrant use of colours and images. The illustrator ‘Tove Jansson’ was the creator of MOOMIN, as she used to make MOOMIN comics.
Form
The colour scheme used on the front cover of this book is very vibrant, the colours of the ‘MOOMIN’ text resemble the colours of a rainbow which makes the book a lot more child friendly and helps to brighten the mood, as rainbows are associated with happiness. The use of bold characters, italics and average characters on the cover also contributes to the variety used, making it look more interesting to look at. The rest of the elements on this cover look very hand drawn, such as the moomin character, the moon, and the boat. All these separate pieces were most probably drawn and then edited and coloured on photoshop to insure the chances of making the cover look perfect! This makes it obvious the illustrator has used a variety of media. The lilac/purple colour dominates the page mainly because its the colour used the most and is used for the background. Throughout the book similar illustrations are used. This helps the pages to flow, probably influencing the child to want to read on if they are enjoying the book. The book has been designed and has a story too it unlike some books which are very random and don't have a set story.
This is a very common layout for a children's book, as the usual composition usually consists of an image as the background and then a title either at the top of the page or the bottom in the foreground of the image.
Context and content.
This ‘MOOMIN’ book, one of many is a children's story book, which means its very consistent and therefore follows a story throughout. The moomin character is used through the book with other hand drawn elements, that have been coloured and edited on photoshop. I don't think this book has any other purpose other than to entertain,
there are a lot of primary colours used which are possibly used because at the ages of 2-5 children are starting to learn about colour paletts etc..
Process
There is no noise on any of the pictures so as we can see all the images are very clear and crisp. The colour palette chosen is a very warm selection of colours. The MOOMIN character is in white which makes him stand out from the background. There are some crosshatching elements used in the drawings which help to give it detail, unlike actual photographs which would consist of plenty of detail, the illustrator has to make a substitute for this. The techniques used for drawing MOOMIN seem to be either ink or fineliner. The character its self stands out from the page and looks like a different type of drawing, almost like a sticker. Causing him to be very eyecatching and therefore dominates the page.
Personal Response .
For my second childrens book i looked at a book called ‘Arrrrgh! SLIMOSAUR’. This book immeadiately caught my eye because of the colour palett used. I liked the hand drawn elememts on the page which gave the book a more rustic look. The drawings in the book reminded me of Quentin blake’s drawings, and as Roald Dahl was my favourite author when i was little, seeing this book brought back memories :)
Form.
The chosen colours used in this colour palette are very bright and although blue is used, warm. I found that the variety of very saturated red’s and orange’s mixed with the blue’s and green’s gave the cover more of a variety and therefore helped to make it stand out. Also contrasting with eatchother. The display type at the top of the page, (the title) is in a slanted jagged shaped text that goes from larger to smaller from left to right. I think the style of this typeface gives the book a handmade feel and somehow makes you want to read it more than a very basic formal looking text. The first word of the title ‘Arrrrgh’ resembles a sound, which indicates that this book is more ‘down with the kids’ and isnt formal and boring. Although the majority of the page is a bright ocean blue, i think that the green dinosaur and the green title dominate the page, due to the clashing of the colours, and the fact that the dinosaur and the title are in the foreground of the page. The dinosaur is made up by a variety of media such as water colour.
Context and content.
Arrrrgh Slimosaur’ is a book written by Alan Mcdonald, a writer famous for the series of books called ‘Dirty bertie’ This book follows a running story which helps to keep it on track and draw children in. Throughout the book there are hand drawn images probably coloured in on photoshop which help the book appeal more. The purpose of this book is to entertain.
Process.
The process of this book is fantastic quality. Although its not a hardback the pages are very clear and contain no noise. All images are very clear and highly saturated and bright!
Only containing bright colours, such as yellow red blue green and orange, Typical colours a child would recognise. A variety of media is used throughout the book. On the front cover we can see that coloured ink and water colour has been used in a scruffy way, this helps to give the texture of the dinosaurs skin. It also looks slightly like tissue paper, maybe because it would make the skin look even more textured! There is obvious use of inking, around the outside of the dinosaur which again makes it stand out against the background and also against the title, in the foreground, as the title has a white outline which doesnt contrast so much against the blue as the black does.
On the inside of the book we can see that there are also very child like drawings. These drawings help to give it a more personal and heartwarming feel to it.
The illustrations are clearly shared between a professional and a child.
Throughout this case study have learnt that the majority of childrens books usually consist of bright highly saturated colours and bold images and text, to initially catch the readers attention. The images are clearly hand drawn, which makes the book seem more suitable for its age group. And some books such as the above have more than one type of illustration. This helps to give the book more of a variety making it more intersting and exciting to read!
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