Picture Book | Project Outline & Feedback

Project Outline Form Summary

What is your picture book about?
This question was hard to answer as I have many different thoughts and ideas floating around. They all relate to one another, I just needed to narrow down those themes and pick one. I find this difficult as I feel I want to do all of the ideas justice, and shelving an idea means a potential story won't get told

Intent: tone and atmosphere?
Again, because I have several themes in mind, I cannot settle on a solid tone just yet. However these appealed to me: 1) calm, serene, isolated
2) tumultuous, perilous, adventure, otherwordly

Something that is intense in a quiet way (that made more sense in my head). Basically I like when things manage to exude atmosphere without being overbearing. I can conjure atmosphere through colour, textures, people & expressions, scale, scene & composition...

Structure: format, layout, sequence?
A few potential formats. Concertina - a panning shot? a long image? a scene? a scene that progresses over a long stretch of paper? Normal book - a narrative? a collection of scenes? something happening, occuring? a tone that builds?

Repetition of images or imagery would be interesting if it fit somehow. Or, the idea of progression - a small change on every page, leading up to a big reveal or an end point?

Ideas are based on my research into..
North Shields, the Fish Quay. Granda Bob's life as a fisherman.

How to develop?
Research into the Quay more if necessary, speak to Granda more, visit the coast, gather more photographs and drawings.

the Self-Evaluation part

What have you discovered about initial research?
It's not as difficult as I had thought, and getting a range of research types is beneficial! Getting lots is helpful as it's easier to narrow down from a great amount, than to try and make something out of very little.

What approaches did you struggle with?
Drawing on site, whilst on the go. Not always, but sometimes it's difficult if the subject is moving, and cold hands can also be a problem. Be prepared to make bad drawings too.
Tip: Take an extra side bag for pencils and books. Taking backpack on and off and on again is a right faff.

Which approaches did you find beneficial?
Photos - can capture places, objects, moments, and people. Can come in useful for reference images.
Talking - real stories from real people, conversations, dialogue. Something straight from them, you can't find online or in a book.
Looking - observing, finding a subject, getting a sense of a place, sketching
Factual - may inform research from a historical point, you can see how things have changed, or how the past has influenced a place and its people

What could you have done differently?
More quick observational drawings, a greater body of drawings. Museum visits perhaps? However this would mean heading towards Newcastle and away from my town. I would have liked to have talked to more people on the street, but I was shy and there weren't many about.

Feedback

When others saw my rough ideas, they seemed to enthuse more about the ones that were based off my Granda's stories. They said the stories were original, and personal to me, and a lot of them were things you didn't see every day.

However, one thing we had to consider for our books was relatability. This worried me a bit, as the basis of a lot of my work is personal to me; whether this was through my background, my town, or my Granda.

I spoke to Eleni and she said that a greater, universal message could be implied through scale or the mood of a piece. So even though the subject matter is a bit wild, the thoughts and feelings it makes could apply to others. (Thanks Eleni)

Could I somehow introduce something about the human experience to make others connect with my book? Could this be done without watering down the stories of my Granda's experiences?

I will have to grapple with this idea of relatability.

Picture Book | Book Roughs

Before creating my 3 rough book ideas, I looked back on the research I had done so far and picked out ideas, themes, and recurring subjects.

The first idea was a retelling of one of my Granda's stories. I began the process by making some drawings of the objects that would be featured, small notes, and basic plans of pages with alternatives for compositions, etc.

Book Rough 1 I think what really makes this concept/rough work is the material that it is made with. Any other material wouldn't be able to create the nice, mottled blue tones. It works with portraying both murky, moving seas and the rough texture of whale skin.

The colour palette is blue which is typical of the ocean, but in a more sombre sense. I also like the coppery tones that come through when the ink is diluted. The greys make the overall feeling very cold and comfortless, which I think reflects the location (the North Sea) as well as the line of work.

I think if I was to improve or take this concept forward I would consider testing out different textures and materials, and see how they could possibly contrast against flat colour to give areas greater emphasis? Altering or exaggerating the scale of objects may also create more impact, making the story more perilous or extraordinary.

Book Rough 2 This second idea is less story-driven, and was intended to work as a collection of scenes, ephemera and other objects that combine to create a sense of the place I visited. It's sort of a visual depiction of the route I took, and the places around.

Although it lacks the strength of a story-based concept, I think it still has its charms as a small huddle of things relating to a place. However, maybe scenes, or locations with figures of people passing by would be better, and would maybe evoke something greater?

Weather and the time of day would also effect the atmosphere, possibly adding an intensity to it. I think as far as a rough goes, I have explored both media and technique through collage, as well as composition (sparse arrangements, use of negative space) so it is valuable in that way.

Book Rough 3 Another rough that centres around a story. This narrative is more amusing/humorous compared to the first, however I feel that the story at hand is more straight forward.

It very much goes from A to B (found the mine, panicked, detonated..) and although I still love it as a tale, I do think it lacks the awe and mystery of the whale story. A positive of this rough is that I think I managed to communicate the story fairly well through the pictures used, and I think the aerial views work well too.

However as I've said, I feel it lacks something that the first idea had. Maybe this is because it involves solely people and machinery? I think that the interaction with the natural world, and the rarity of that sighting is what draws me to the first story and others like it, that deal with the wonder of nature. (in a way it adds soul to a very industrial, man-made space..)

Also, the silence, the lack of words and speech just feels more apt when it is a crossing of paths between a person and a creature/natural phenomena?

Another feeling that the initial rough created was the sense of feeling insignificant and small in that moment. I would like to explore this further, because that may help to add a universal experience to a very unique story.

Texture Portraits

Moving on a little bit from solely using shape, we introduced texture. Creating textures through mark making on giant sheets of paper, we used them to collage together a portrait of ourselves. Textures can be made from anything that isn't flat colour.

beginning by trying to get a likeness of myself

even plain papers have subtle textures, the pulp/grain of the surface

The exercise itself was pretty free and fun to do, however I wish I had stuck to using shapes for the whole thing, features and all. I really like using line but need to try and consider different ways of utilising it, stepping away from it a little.

I do like working with textures too, I think they lift a piece of work and prevent it from looking too flat or dull. Making your own textures is a way of generating surfaces and patterns that are completely original, and traditional media help to introduce a handcrafted feel. Collecting textures and paper is a way of reinventing existing imagery and patterns too.

Visual Journalist | Visiting Grandparents, Tales from Bob

Later that day, I went to my Grandparents' house and talked to my Granda Bob for a few hours. He was a fisherman for over 30 years, from when he was 15 years old in the early 1960's until the 90's, and I knew he had some tales from his experiences at sea.

Granda (left)

There were lots of stories, so I will just write out a few from the notes I took down.

Mine | Boat named the Mimosa, some time in the early 80's. Fishing just off the River Tyne, about 10 miles from the piers where boats have been going up and down for years. They brought up a large net full of stuff and in amongst the prawns was a sea mine.

It was on board for around 5 or 6 hours until the navy and the authorities arrived, where it could have exploded at any time. I asked if he was nervous, and he said he thought "if it gans off, it gans off"

Bomb disposal team arrived, they attached rope and buoys to the mine and took it over to near St Mary's lighthouse where they put on an explosive charge and detonated it.

Granda said it went off about 150 yards away and they could feel the explosion in their feet.

Strange Noise | When Granda was an apprentice in the 60's. Lots of European boats were after the herring with drift nets, big factory ships. Their boat was anchored at night, and my Granda had to ring the bell when the drift net ships were near, otherwise their nets would creep up the mast and take it down. 

One night, he is on watch and hears an odd noise, "sshm, sshm..", he looks over the boat and sees a black shape the size of the boat (around 54ft?) so he runs inside, shutting the doors and windows. 

The next day the skipper says it was a herring whale scraping along the boat to get the barnacles off its back, the noise was the water spraying from its blowhole.

Ladybirds | Granda and the rest of the crew were fishing somewhere down south, and saw a red cloud approaching the boat. It was a swarm of ladybirds that landed, covering the entire deck. 

(There is a voice recording of this, but I need to figure out how to post it here…)

Photo from Grandparents' kitchen, of the Lindisfarne boat

built in Buckie, Scotland (BCK.147)

The rest of the notes taken from my conversation with him. It's a shame to think that if my Granda didn't speak about these events, no one would ever know that these things happened. I came away from it all having an even greater respect and admiration for him, as it was a physically and mentally demanding line of work.

Visual Journalist | Drawings

Here are some of the drawings I had completed whilst out doing research, as well as from photographs after the trip. I would definitely like to go back and collect more photos as well as objects, and create a greater body of exploratory drawings. Maybe more that create a sense of place or reflect things such as weather and atmosphere.

Visual Journalist | North Shields

To start my research off, I decided to head home to North Shields as one of the themes I had considered was to do with the coast, fishing towns, and all that came with that territory.

The day was quite peaceful as I just went at my own pace, and there was barely anyone around. I began by heading to North Shields Fish Quay (a fishing port close to the mouth of the River Tyne), going to the Old Low Light, visiting small beaches nearby, before walking along the promenade to Tynemouth (another town a short distance away).

the Fish Quay, taken from viewing platform at the Old Low Light

wooden staithes on Shields beach

above: view of Union Quay, bottom left: nets laid out near 'The Gut'

some beach finds..

End of the promenade. North pier lighthouse on left (North Shields),
and South pier lighthouse on right (South Shields)

Ruins of Tynemouth castle and priory