Roald Dahl

I have started on my next responsive brief. I have decided to leave the Adrian Mole brief for the time being, I have almost finished my design it just needs the text added to the back but I want to get some feedback before I complete it. I have a few different ideas I will test out. I have moved on to the Roald Dahl brief. I had already drawn up some quick roughs for this brief but hadn't managed to come up with any ideas for scenes or compositions. I started out experimenting with character design which I think was a mistake. I want to get the ideas for my compositions first and then create characters that compliment the design. I have been working a lot recently with cut and torn paper and want to use this brief to move my practice forward. I am going to start with similar techniques and try to incorporate traditional print processes.

The brief says that the illustrations should compliment the logo. I would like to do that using the colour scheme. The colours of the logo are vibrant and fun and I think they could work very well for my shape based bold designs. The brief leaves a lot of room to decide how much work I should produce but is also a little confusing. it says "you should illustrate at least one child character, one villain character and one fantastical creature — whether this be a witch, a giant, an insect or an oompa-loompa!". The first scene I have chosen to work on is from Danny the Champion of the World and contains a child character and a villain as well as the birds from the story. I would think that the birds do not count as "fantastical creatures" but I am not sure. To meet the brief I will have to illustrate at least one more scene from another Roald Dahl story. This brings me a new problem, the brief states that "You can select scenes from a mixture of novels, although the illustrations should appear as if part of a coherent series. " So what constitutes a coherent series of images? Narrative? Composition? Colour scheme? I will have to research other stories and see if I can find themes that connect the characters and narratives. I like the idea of creating three compositions that compliment each other and work as a set but I have to remember the brief states the images should "appear as if part of a coherent series. "

The brief is for the 'The Roald Dahl Literary Estate' who describe themselves as "MASTERS of invention! MAKERS of mischief! CHAMPIONS of good" so I need to make sure my illustrations are inventive, fun and positive. The target audience is children between the ages of 5 and 11 that "don’t necessarily identify themselves as fans of Roald Dahl – yet!" My illustrations should be more based on introducing a new generation to the works of Roald dahl than celebrating their history for people who are already familiar with them. I want to make sure my illustrations are nothing like any of the previous illustrations of Roald Dahl.