"Draw Me a Story" at Plymouth Museum

The Art of Illustration for Children

http://www.flickr.com/photos/plymouthmuseums/5646273426/

The illustrations were simple in there content, this can help the child relate to there own art work as the style is very similar and give a direct meaning to the illustration and the story.

The emotions of the characters make it easy for a child the recognise and relate as they are usually over express, for example an angry character would have a large frown and the eyebrows will change position.

The majority of the illustrations shown had a limited rage of colours to convey there meaning, the advantage of using few yet bright colours is that a child is attracted by them and will be more indulged in the artwork. 

With many of the illustrations things are missing from the scene. For example if the story read about the description of the character, the character would be on it's own page with a limited background to further emphasis the subject and the meaning becomes very focused.

Many of the Illustrations on display had the same style of line drawing. Many consisted of a thing black outline then coloured in with either water colours or pen. By having this consistency across many publications the child becomes used to the style and is able to interpret the mean a lot easier.

The Best Way to Visually Record

What a cow!

This is a visual recording of a toy cow which I photographed and then traced in Illustrator. The advantage to this method, over sketching by hand in my opinion is that it is much more accurate and if a mistake is made it can be easily corrected in a short amount of time.
In the image above I have done three views of the toy cow, top front and side. I have also done them in different styles (left to right) line drawing, colour and grey scale. By creating all of these variations I can ensure that, if another designer was to take part in the project, they would be able to under stand the style and characteristics of the character.


What an interesting looking cow!

This is my attempt at drawing the toy cow by hand. I tried to include as much detail as possible but due to the size of the toy and my lack in drawing capabilities it did not turn out how I would have liked. Despite this drawing by hand has it's advantages, such as it is much fast than drawing digitally.

Examples of Games for Kids

Air Hockey Gold

I think that this game was very popular on the app store due to it realistic graphics and accurate interface. The objects in the game, such as the puck and hitter have a web 2.0 style that give is a 3D feel and therefore more realistic. I like how much detail there is in these graphics, for example the table itself has sharp makings, the white lines and logo in the middle, and even the air whole dotted across the table have a extremely realistic look. 

Nano Panda
Nano Panda contains extremely high quality graphics that appeal to younger children. the rules of the game are very simple which enables the child to play the game quickly before they get board of miss-understanding.
The main character in this game is a panda that has been drastically simplified. The main features have been continued, such as the eyes, ear shape and black and white colours with  the changes beening made in the pandas shape and textures. By making the main body of the panda a circle, it becomes more 'cute' and and takes on more human characteristics which intern makes it more engaging.

Angry Birds

Jelly Car

Tiny Wings