Children's toys based on children's drawings

http://todayilearned.co.uk/2012/04/28/there-is-a-company-which-makes-toys-based-on-childrens-drawings/

http://www.childsown.com/


So my friend sent my this link, it's about a company that makes toys based on childrens drawing. Parents would send off their kiddies drawings and then people would make a toy based on the image and then the parents can buy them. It's fab!
The characters from the drawings are so unusual and unique! Kid's minds are brilliant, I love this. I wish this was about when I was a kid as I would have sent them a million pictures (I might send some anyway as I love random teddys and things there just fun!)

Lots of imagination goes into children's drawings, I think people just think kids just doodle and do anything and their hands just go all over the place but if you think about it, they have wonderful minds and can come up with unusual things which can relate to other things. I enjoy looking at children's drawing, they almost remind me of something or spark off ideas for characters etc. Thinking like children is hard, as we all know from the 1st year of the course when we were told to not think too much about the things we are creating and to do something different. I do like working this way (though sometimes it doesn't go too well).

I wish I was a child again, just so I can create many more drawings that can make people smile :)

Podcast: Kevin Cross and Joshua Kemble

We have been encouraged to listen to some Podcasts by The Big Illustration Party, this is to help us see and understand what goes on in the illustration business and other design areas and how to get commissions and approach art directors. The podcast was a conversation between two designers/illustrators named Kevin Cross and Joshua Kemble; they talked about how to contact art directors and potential employees without being pushy or annoying.

They talked a fair bit about having to ring Art directors, which for some people, including myself, get very nervous doing. I don't like talking on the phone, not even to my own boyfriend really, I feel more comfortable being face to face with someone, so this is something I would get really nervous and stressed about, but the main key is to just be professional, once you get started you will be fine, I tend to be nervous meeting people, but after introducing myself and having general chit chat I tend to feel more calm and confident. 

They mentioned how to not sound like a door to door salesman, don't be too pushy about your work or a job, this might make you sound too cocky and unapproachable, therefore people might not want to work with you, you also might come across as annoying.

When emailing an art director/agency, make sure your emails are professional, and everything’s spelt right! give a few days before replying, but in the end, if they never reply, don't keep harassing them, this might come across as annoying or "spam" and you don't want people to end up blocking you as this then doesn't help you If you want to contact them again in the future.

One other thing that I found quite interesting from the convo between the lads was to do with holiday cards, and around the holidays if you produce cards or e-cards, that it's nice to send them to art directors you have worked with or want to with, this might draw their attention to you or remind them of your work and make them want to contact you. But if you do this the cards have to be amazing, and different, not too obvious. The reason I liked this part of the convo, was because over Christmas when I had some spare time I ended up producing a charismas card and it was so obvious and looking back at it, it was rubbish. If I was an art director and someone send me that I wouldn't have thought twice about looking at it again. I just thought it was quite an interesting way to approach art directors etc.

Website

www.rebeccahadfield.co.uk

Here is a link to my website.
I keep playing around with different layouts but the one I have kept atm I like because of the shape of the thumbs of my work, seem to fit really well. Kept it quite simple looking atm but it will get better with time!
Enjoy!

Evaluation of FMP

I decided to base my Final Major Project on the Grimm's Fairy Tales. Then Penguin/Puffin design awards 2012 competition was my starting point for this project, as the puffin competition was to create a book cover for Grimm's Fairy Tales, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. After researching and thinking about my project a little more, I decided to do a series of book covers, the other covers would be for other stories by the Grimm brothers, after researching I decided to do create covers for 2 of the better known stories, Rapunzel and Cinderella.

I tried to split my time between the 3 covers equally. I started off with the Rapunzel cover, creating images of a fairy tale nature. Rapunzel being a fairy tale that would attract more girls than boys, I tried to use the more feminine colours. Though after researching other covers for Rapunzel I saw that most of them were very similar so I wanted to do something different, something more eye-catching, I then looked at the story from a darker point of view, which is where the skeletons came from. I always tend to struggle with typography, so with this first book cover I tried my best with typography, trying to it with the image instead of having it look like I just randomly placed the type anywhere. I thought what I had done worked quite well and I was proud.

I also started to do some screen printing, started to experiment with other things instead of just sitting at a computer and doing everything digitally, I also started to do some paper cutting to create shapes for certain elements. These worked well and I was pleased to have done something a little different than usual and as I work with texture some of the screen prints came out lovely. I also started to work with other materials such as fabric, which I then made into some pillows. I never usually do things like this with my work, but I think the context of what I was doing is perfect for things like this.

For the next book cover, I focused on the main Grimm's Fairy Tales one, again I took a darker approach to it and I didn't want to use pick one story and illustrate it, I wanted to include things from a few different stories. The main focus for this cover were some of the evil characters, such as the Wolf (Little Red Riding Hood), Evil Witch/Old Lady (Hansel and Gretel), and the Evil Queen (Snow White). I think I work well with creating characters with are animals, but I have always struggled with human faces and features. But as I wanted all 3 characters to be a similar shape, this helped me create fun and simple characters.

Both of these images took me about 10 weeks to complete. Having around 4/5 Weeks left after I did these and created 2 pillows. I started my Cinderella cover, which I was very proud of as I completed this in just over 1 week. Using simple ideas and strong typography as I have done for the other 2. All 3 of my covers work well together, using the same view points and all having nice strong colour pallets and typography. I feel they work really well as a set of covers, as you can tell they are part of a 'series' and are done by the same illustrator.

Overall I have created 3 book covers, including fronts, backs and spines. Some pillows and other things such as notebook covers and book marks. I am overall very pleased with my outcomes. I have done more than I usually would for a project, instead of just doing the main things I have set for myself, I have pushed them aside and done a few more things and experimented a lot more.

If I had even more time for my FMP, I would have liked to have experimented with different ways of working even more and try new things and possibly do even more book covers that would sit nicely with the others I had produced.