Animals from Around the World
I started with the usual development process of mindmap, moodboard and thumbnails, below.For the dimensions of the book, I decided to go with the dimensions of a National Geographic Encyclopedia I own. It is 24cm x 31cm. While exploring ideas I felt it would be useful to select animals from the different continents to illustrate the ‘around the world’ part of the title. Initially I looked in to selcting less obvious animals but then decided that children would be more attracted to animals they could recognise.
Having selected three thumbnails to go on to linework I decided to experiment with ways of depicting the animals. I chose a bison and made some quick sketches in watercolour and ink, gouache and a digital version, below. The digital version seemed like the most appropriate for a young audience with its slightly comicy feel and clean colours.
I decided to work in Illustrator which was useful for managing process as I could use the same animal characters in different layouts by creating symbols with them. Also it made it simple to produce visuals at different stages of the process without repeating work.
I felt that the first cover was the most successful as it links the animals with the continents, showing where they come from in the world.Possibly there was an opportunity to show more of the different types of animals, i.e. mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, fish and invertebrates. I also considered whether I should show habitats in the background but felt that it would become confusing.