Dinosaur sidenote

Whist just looking at a book on british wildlife I came across a lovely illustration of dinosaurs by engraver George Scharf. 

He produced this piece of work to show the 'teaming life' in a jurassic sea. I love the colours he has used and the overall quality of the engraving, I mean minus the 'gore' it could fit perfectly in an illustrated children's dinosaur book. 

 His other work is gorgeous also:

I love this old victorian style of illustration and this is really going to be popular next year, I feel this kind of mark making mixed with modern twists will be awesome, I'm actually really excited to start experimenting. 

Art and Children's Emotional Development.

I have also been talking to my mum as she used to be a childminder and has a lot of information on this subject as she was a massive promoter of art and creativity in children. She sent me a link, and it basically said what I've been trying to say. 

Here are some of my favourite quotes from the article:

• "Creativity is the freest form of self expression" 
• "The ability to be creative, to create something from personal feelings and experiences, can reflect and nurture children's emotional health"
• Children need plenty of opportunities for creative play and creative thinking"
• "One of the strongest benefits of play is the way it enhances social development"
• "We must be careful not to dominate the play ourselves" 

All of these just put into words exactly what I want my products to be about. It's a very difficult business when creating a product that children will respond to, as it needs to bridge the divide between not giving enough information and giving too much for them to handle. I want the illustrations on the sketchbooks to inspire them but to also give them their ow ideas on what to draw, which is why I was considering putting small easy to read facts in-between my designs. 

All I want to do mainly is "pay attention to play" to "plan for it and encourage it".  

Which is also why I wanted to do the themes I have chosen for my illustrations, although some are real life things I still want them to seem magical and interesting. 

Ted Talks: 'How Schools Kill Creativity'

As this idea grows so does the concept behind it. I have been doing quite a bit of research into how play helps children to develop into actual well rounded human beings. This lecture from the Ted Talks youtube channel is one of the best things I have ever watched, the talk is by Sir Ken Robinson and the way he puts his argument across is just genius. 

There was many point which I found compelling for this overall case and some that really stood out for me in terms of this brief. He states at one point that "creativity is just as important as literacy". I couldn't agree with this more, as I have grown up I have always been encouraged to let my creativity out and through this I have developed a love for other things as I was allowed to have time to play. 

This point led onto another idea that kids aren't afraid of making mistakes until it's hammered into them in school that making a mistake is a terrible thing. "we are schooling the creativity out of children".  

He went onto make the point that "if you are not prepared to be wrong you'll never come up with anything original". Everything he said was just put so eloquently that I can't believe he hasn't been named the best lecturer in the world. 

He also made a point that Picasso stated that "All children are born artists", in todays society with the school system as it is we do not nurture the creativity in the kids. It is seem as terrible thing to want to be an artists or anything that involves the arts, I remember a teacher telling me that it isn't really 'a viable career choice' when I said I wanted to go into the arts. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Beetles, Dinosaurs and Cowboys

Obviously to appeal to children there will be colour and I will adopt a new illustrative style that is both simple yet complex as I feel this kind of bold style will appeal to both Liberty buyers and to the children I am aiming them at. 

To start I took some books out of library as a referencing start point and came across some lovely styles that really appeal to me and will also suit the style I want to employ. 

The way Steve Jenkins' illustration are present in this book are properly charming. His use of shape and line is along the same lines as what I want my finished Illustrations to turn out like. The way he has mixed some education with them is also something worth thinking seriously about as it could give my products a certain edge over others. And it's something I really believe should be promoted more amongst the young, art and education. 

Following on from the previous point I also want to do something similar on the inside covers as well. I know from my own childhood, where my parents nurtured and allowed my creativity to grow through exciting educational books, for example the Horrible Histories series that were popular when I was younger. They both interested me visually and through that the facts they were giving seemed more important and interesting to me. 

I think the illustration below is lovely, through the use of illustration he gives you the academic side in a visually interesting way. 

The dinosaur idea kind of stemmed from a post I'd seen online a while back and screen shotted. I thought it would be funny to introduce a new idea of what dinosaurs could have looked like. 

Although the illustrations in this book are fairly classical, it is still a good reference point for the basic shapes I will need when it comes to producing my illustrations. 

http://cmkosemen.com

Although gun imagery with the cowboy theme is a big no no, I have looked through a massive toy directory from the library and thought the colours used on old toy guns were actually really nice and will look into a way of bring them in on my colour palette. 

The patterns on them are also really nice and I will probably try to include similar type things in my sketchbooks. Maybe even as small vignettes on my pages... hmm

I absolutely adore this image, I may even incorporate my own interpretation of it for this brief. It's fun and that's what I want these books to be about. 

More thought out ideas

To help myself make a proper decision I have listed out all of the product ideas I had, with the concepts and the colour scheme I want to  include. 

Through doing this I have properly established that I want to create 2 sets of possibly two or three sketchbooks in small fun packs. The products at this point are planned to be heavily illustrated so to catch the attention of little shoppers, each set of books will be marketed towards either girls or boys and will hopefully include a 2D embroidered character to hang off the page divider. 

The main concepts I have for each and need to narrow down obviously are:

I feel as though these are strong themes for both genders, and if I have time before hand in, and even if not, if I have time before the actual open call I'm tempted to make a unisex pack based around the English countryside and Coastlines. 

Colleczioni bambino

To really get an idea of what kind of competition I will most likely encounter through producing a Kids product I went into the library and look through current and past trend magazines for children. Although the majority way fashion I still felt I could gain some knowledge from the designers use of colour and themes within their own field of product. 

Unfortunately it seems that I may have to just use internet research to really get an idea of Kids stationary trends for 2015, as I can only go so far with researching fashion when I don't even want to pursue that field. 

Throughout this edition of Collezioni Bambino for S/S 14 there seemed to be a lot of natural world influence with animal prints and themes galore. 

There also seems to be lots of pops of colour which I know will be present in trends for next year, through what my previous internet research gave to me. 

Obviously due to it being summer there will be floral motifs, that I am more than eager to stay away from. 

I love the way that these images have been shot for editorial as it represents the fun style I think that the Liberty Kids department will favour over a more serious approach. I also love the simple snake pattern. 

 For the previous season there also seems to be a lot of in depth anatomically correct wildlife illustration, which is something I wanted to incorporate within my finished products as I want them to be a fun creative way to learn a few new things and for them to be inspired by the illustrations I use for the cover and inside pages. 

If I possibly have enough time I thought its would be quite lovely to include a  page separator that had a little embroidered illustration of whatever theme I have chosen for that sketchbook. 

The colours in this edition of Mix for S/S 15 are beautiful and the soft pastels would juxtapose nicely against my intention of having pops of neon. 

Generating ideas

This brief gives me an opportunity to really create a well rounded product ready for sale in a retail environment... therefore I need to really think about what I want to commit my time to making. I've had a few thoughts and to be honest the Kids department, called 'Little Liberty', is relatively new so there is still quite a lot of scope on what I can choose as my product.
Their description of the department is lovely and makes it seem like a magical place that children would really appreciate, it would be like stepping into a storybook.

"Our whimsical and exciting Children's department on the 3rd floor is now open, spanning over 2,000 square feet. Step inside Little Liberty for a world class edit of designer kids clothes, toys, gifts, accessories and books."

"Little Liberty has a very crafty, organic and quirky feel: the entire space is decorated with a story book style hand-drawn motif of a giant tree which will spread out over draws, tables and chairs."

Rather than going down the route of Kids fashion, as working that much with fabric design really doesn't appeal to me after a year of struggling with it already on the textiles course. I was thinking of going down a more paper route, like starter sketchbook packs to encourage creativity in the young. 

Obviously the motifs I include on my products will have to appeal to a young audience and also possibly fit in with what is already placed in the Kids section. The fact that the website states that the style in this department is crafty and organic means I may have to think cleverly about my intention to use some neon colour in my work, but I think if done right it will simply make my work stand out in the best way possible. 

http://www.liberty.co.uk/fcp/content/little-liberty-childrenswear/content