Project Evaluation

What was the theme for the project?
The main project objective was to create a book cover for Roald Dahl's book 'Grisly and Ghastly' and to base the cover around the poem Little Red Riding Hood and The Wolf. Because it was a children's book I approached the task with a friendly horror theme. I made sure I used some aspects of horror but made them into cartoon so it looked friendlier to children and to make it look like  a children's book but still keeping along the lines of horror.

How have you developed your ideas? How did your work change through the project?
I started off with really simple ideas on a page and changed them so that I could include drawings made using different techniques and cover the whole page without it looking to shabby. Part of the task was to also make sure that only one colour was used, because it was was Little RED Riding Hood and also horror, I immeadiatley had the idea of using red so I could keep with the theme of Red Riding Hood wearing red  but also horror so I could use the red for things we consider aspects of horror such as blood. I have completely changed the layout of my book cover from my original design but remained with some the drawings and all of the typefaces. For example I have remained with drawings such as the one of Little Red Riding Hood but added in a different drawing of a tree and a different wolf, however overall I have stuck with simliar ideas but just developed them so that I could use different techniques and spread my ideas across the page.  

How much reference material did you find? Do you think you should have done more or less?At the begging of the project as I prepared for designing my book cover, I used a lot of different materials to draw and create ideas that I could add to my work. When it came down to my final design I balanced out my use of reference material and my original ideas that I developed from looking at reference material. For example several of the drawings on my book cover are from photographs, but I have changed the angle of things such as the wolf to make it lokk directly at the reader so it adds to the horror of the book. Some things such as the drawing of Little Red Riding Hood I developed from another drawing but made her my own by adding a different outfit and props to the picture, so it added to the message of the storyline but still created that innocence of the character. Finally most of the types were my own ideas however the 'Ghastly' in the main title was an idea I used from the type book 'Hand Job' because one again it showed the aspects of the horror genre but also because it went really well in make the book look ghastly. Also the Grisly is also inspired  from a different type I found in the same book as the 'Ghastly' heading that looked at lot like lightning bolts however I devloped it so that the letters looked hairy like a wolf. I believe I used a fair amount of refernce material as I wanted to include mostly my own ideas to make it look original.

What artists or designers have you looked at to help and inspire you?
I have looked at the work of Scott Campbell while preparing for my design, however I didn't use any of his work in my book cover. However his work did inspire me to my drawings cartoon style so that it didn't scare young children but still left them intrigued. 
What materials, tools and techniques did these artists use?
Most of the tools I have used were on photoshop however for my wolf drawing I used charcoal to give it a darker edge and also for all of my other drawing I have gone over them in fineliner to make them stand out. However on photoshop I have used tools such as levels to change the darkness of sme of my drawing, once again including my wolf drawing but also to make them really stand out and catch the readers eye. I have also used the paint tool to colour in some of my drawing red, however I have used different brushes on ht epaint tool to give things such as the blood on the 'Ghastly' title a faded look further to the top to ka eit look like it's running off the letters but also a thicker brush to cover the coat of Little Red comepltely in one block and also add bows using a finer brush. I have also used the magic wand tool to delete out any unwanted peices on drawing I have copied in from my documents so that I could easily layer the darwing son top each toher to crete one big picture.How have your skills developed during the project?
I have developed my skills quite quickly but efficiently on how to use photoshop so I am now more confident and know how  to use the different tools, I now believe I can create anything using photoshop even though there may be more to learn. I have also been able to build an imagination more so that I can think of more orginal ideas instead of copying loads of different materials and using them as my own. I have also developed my drawing skills so I can sketch out drawings quickly and still mae them look artistic without looking to rushed. I am also more confident on drawing different shapes and putting them together, for example in the body of a wolf. This is all from time and effort put into practicing and learning different techniques.Are there any aspects of your studies that you wish you had explored further?
I'm not sure as I'm happy with what I have learnt and produced so far in the course, however one thing I did struggle with is drawing things a different angles sometimes, I feel that if I am to add pictures of things a different angles to my wor in the future I need to learn to do this better, I also think we could have studided more artists and their drawings and how they represented horror but through cartoons, so we had more ideas and styles to be inspired by.How have you used formal elements such as line, tone, colour and shape?
I have thought a lot about tone and colour in my work especially colour ecause part of the task was to only use one colour and leave the rest black and white. I have used the colour red to represent the usual horror and blood colaboration but also to colour in the coat of Little Red as this keeps within the representation and charcteristics of the traditional character. Tone, I have also used as I have used levels to show different shades of my wolf drawing as this show contrast between light and dark not only to help look less dull and to help make the rest of my work look clearer against it but also to explore how different tones work together to mka e a book cover stand out and appeal. What materials did you use, and why? Did they work successfully?
I used mainly fineliner pen and charcoal but any other materials I added graphicly. I think they did work well because the charcoal meant I could easily change the tone on photoshop but also I think just those to materials worked well together because they were simple and weren't to extravagant, which if they were would have ruined the work. 
What meaning and messages did you want to convey and were you successful?
I don't think I wanted create a message as such however I did try and make it add to the aspects of hrror but still make it slightly comic by adding cartoons, which kind of adds to the humour of the peom it s based around. I also wanted to also create something that said you didn't need to be mature to enjoy ahorror story and horror doesn't always have to be something that gives you nightmares it can still be funny or gentle. I think this did work successfulyl as I tried to add as much childishness to thecover as possible by adding cartoons but also by making them smile.
Are you happy with your final piece? Are there any elements you like in particular?
I am certainly very pleased with my final peice as the fact that I have completed to what I believe is my best standard so far in the course means that I am becoming more confident. Overall the elemt I like in partuclar is my type because most of it is my orginal ideas and shows my imagination the most.
Is there anything you would change? Why?
There isn't much I would change however I wil take inot account a fewpoints that were brought up by my peers and that to make my text stand out more by making it bigger and also to change the background on my left dust cover to make the author bio easier to read. 

My finished book cover :) With constructive crit

This is my final piece :D

Sketch Book Photos (Grisly and Ghastly topic)

These are all the photos of everything that have done during the Grisly and Ghastly book cover topic, also including the drawings I used for my final design :)

Wolf Drawings

Fake Etchings

Scott Campbell Drawings

Wolf (Charcoal Drawing)

Final Ideas for my final book cover design

Charcoal Drawing of a log cabin

Drafts for book cover ideas

Wolf (Graphite Drawing)

Annotated Book Cover

Book Cover Draft