Play

I was originally going to have the image as the tree house with the odd things that children like to play with scattered around, but then in a tutorial, someone suggested that i have them separately, so that a kid reading the magazine could cut them out and stick them on as they wished. I thought this was a fantastic idea that made the image interactive, which was always something i loved when i was young. So i began work on the things that would help to complete the tree house. Here they are.

Development

So the first draft was obviously crap.. this is the second, and an attempt at colour.

Tree House

I considered themes that my cover design could cover ('under the sea', 'adventure', 'dinosaurs')but i wanted something that was more universal, especially considering that the magazine is unisex. I wanted to create an image that encompassed what it is to be a child - the things that they enjoy, how they play. When kids play they are acting out what they would want to do if they were adults. So they play the hero, or exaggerate the villain; and the more real these things can be, the more independent you can be in your play-world, the more thrilling it is. And the obvious thing, to me, that every kid wants to make these games even better.. was a tree house!

This is my first sketch.

Brainstorm

These are the ideas i had..

Inspiration - David Sparshott

The Anorak deadline was 30th October, so now i need to show you my work! I began by looking at artists/illustrators who inspire me, whose style could be suitable for children. The most prominent of these was David Sparshott. I love his lo-fi, child like approach, and his clever use of colour. I know there are a lot of images here, but i loved them all too much to miss one out!

Negotiated Practice

This blog will be my learning log for the Negotiated Practice Unit. I'm going to be doing 2 competitions - a cover design for Anorak magazine and a cover design for Alice in Wonderland, for Puffin. I will be posting my development regularly.

http://www.anorak-magazine.co.uk/blog/P20/

http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/puffin_intro.php