Of the set, the second part is a much bigger project, which was also exercise in black and white work, to be inspired by the text of a creepy poem.
The brief went something like this:
The image should be suitable for 5-7 year olds. Make it portrait orientation. The given poem should be in the centre, with the illustration forming a border around it. Give it a white border, no bleed, and use 18cm wide and 25cm tall, with the poem to sit in an area of 8cm wide and 14cm tall. Balancing the black and white is important, as is creating a creepy feeling. Use the images evoked by the text, but don't be limited to them.
The first part was getting the layout right, and that meant using InDesign and doing some research on how to display a poem where the first line is also the title. Accordingly the first line was in bold with a stanza-sized gap to the second line.
Then I needed to try out some ideas for the illustrated border. So I printed out a few templates and started sketching. With the first one I tried for a Phantom of the Opera style character, but ditched that idea.
The next sketch developed the grim reaper and the moon further.
This is how it looked around halfway through. Again I needed to use nib ink to get the black as consistent as possible.
Getting the balance of white and black required more work on the stars at the top of the page.
I've added a hairline border using the blog tools, so that you can see that there is a few mm of white border between the illustration and edge of the trimmed page. It is easiest to see under the boy and beside the grim reaper.
Creepy work like this rarely features in my visual diary! With Unit 5 done, it is time to start working on the 6th and final set of projects for this course.