Research Plan

Sue Van Hamersveld 20 May 06 11:43 AM MST

Listed Below are some of the questions I have regarding illustrating the children’s book and how I plan to do this research.

First I need to know how many illustrations will be required and how many pages we are talking about. It order to complete this research, I’ll take the story and divide it by 30 to see how much text that gives me on each page, and if it leaves a reasonable amount of space for the illustrations. If not, I’ll up the pages or try less, depending of what is necessary. After that is complete the next step is to analyze each page, or two page-spread, and see what illustrations might be called for. From this a list of illustrations, with possible alternatives for each page will be formulated. With that list in hand, the rest of my research will start.

Earlier this week I did some Internet research on the current trends in children’s books. From that research, the things I want to keep in mind are:

1) The story and illustrations need to be equally applicable to both male and female readers.
2) Play up the magical/mystical aspect of the illustrations.
3) Keep the potential to place a child from any ethnic group (or a mixture of ethnic groups) within the stories and illustrations.
4) Keep the book classic and do not join in on FAD elements of illustration.
5) Above all, keep the story and illustrations interesting. Kids want to be entertained as much as adults do!

From the Internet, library, old National Geographics, old cartoons, bookstores, etc., I will need to know as much as possible about the Mayan Culture and the Rainforest. Some of the things I will be concerned with are the styles of dress for adults and children, boys and girls, every day and ceremonial. I will also be looking for the types of buildings they lived and communed in, what they ate, what they ate with, work utensils or tools, entertainment, physical attributes, pets, hairstyles, thoughts and attitudes would be nice as well. About the rainforest, at the time the Mayans lived. I’ll be looking for plants, terrain, waterfalls and lakes/ponds, animals of the rainforest and how they lived in the forest along with the fruits and vegetables that grew in the forest in the Mayan times.

I will also be talking with the employees of bookstores on the types of illustrated books that sell best for my target age. Along that same line, I’ll talk with children from my neighborhood about the things they consider important enough to surround themselves with. What do they like to wear (other than branded items)?

I’ll be in constant contact with the other members of the team who will be conducting some of their own research, such as focus groups, financial efforts, programming issues, and sharing my research with them along with getting the results of their research. Although most of their work will not impact the class project, the more information you have, the better. You never know when a piece of info will be come very important.

Some of this research will be preliminary and some ongoing. Things change as you are going through a project like this, and I expect that the research will continue until the day the project is completed. I can see that the research on illustrative style will be constant, trying to figure out how to get the look I want. I have already begun to look up Internet sources and talk to people. I am expecting that my preliminary research will be fairly complete by next week.

By the beginning of next week I plan to have the following completed:

Division of text and list of illustrations.
Some ideas for illustrations and alternatives.
Internet, library, bookstore and magazine research on Mayan culture and illustrative styles.
Some preliminary sketches of ideas gathered during research.
Database Matrix on Excel Spreadsheet completed.
Front, Profile and Back facial views of Caucasian girl with blond pigtails for book character (3 expressions).

Hopefully, this will conclude the preliminary research, leaving only the ongoing research as the need arises during production.

Resources and Trends

Wikpedia definition for project management

(a) detail the questions you are attempting to answer and the resources you are utilizing plus trends

Example:

Sue Van Hamersveld 19 May 06 10:14 AM MST

1) What are the resources you will use in your project?

I have been doing a little research on this subject for a while and playing around with styles, knowing that I would eventually be doing these illustrations. Some research materials are already in my folder, others still need to be checked out.

I have several resources in mind. First is the story itself. The story will tell me what needs to be illustrated. I’ll divide the text into increments to fill about 30 pages and see where the illustrations land according to the pages describing the action. That should give me a list of illustrations.

With this in mind, the next trip is to the internet. Here my research will start by checking out the Mayan history. What were the probable skin colors, hair colors, dress styles, ceremonial styles, games, daily tools, and utensils. What kind of houses did they have, what did they eat, etc. My internet search will also include checking out the Rainforest, its inhabitants and exotic plants. I’ll also need to keep in mind the clothing today’s children wear, things they might have around them and use. Another thing I want to check out are illustration techniques for the target age group.

There are many resources I plan to use for this research:

Informational Resources:
The story itself
The Internet
Bookstores (and their employees in the children’s book areas – perhaps some shopping
parents)
Neighborhood kids
Library
Old National Geographics
Illustration books on jungles, animals, birds
Drawing styles for target age
The other team members in this “real world” endeavor
Classmates and Instructor
My husband (a fine animator who gives freely of his advice, praise and criticism).
Trends in the children’s book styles.

Drawing Resources:
Computer, scanner, printer, light table, animation table, good old paper and pencil, digital camera and model (if necessary), lots of tissue papers for layering drawings.

2. While creating a project, do you think it is necessary to be creative and find out trends? Discuss the instances where in your project you will follow trends. More specifically, list the current trends in your senior project area of interest.

I do think it is important to follow trends in your projects, depending on the trend. If you are going for a classic look, you won’t want to follow any trends that could end up being just a fad. Your project, rather than being timeless, could end up outdated very quickly.

On the website for the Woman’s National Book Association, Inc. wnba-books.org/bookwoman Mary Quattlebaum states that trends certainly come and go, but that children ultimately like to read a good story. The WNBA is chagrined that a recent trend in book branding tends to sell books lacking in the area of story because they are associated with a famous personality. Children like to be wisked away from real life, just as adults do, in a consuming story. She also says that there is a trend to address both language and cultural experiences of many minority groups. This is a consideration that will be addressed by the eventual database of culturally diverse children for this project.

Another trend in children’s books that seems to have been, if not started by, certainly enhanced by the Harry Potter books, is the fantasy in the magical/mystical element. This is a prominent theme and is being used in several series that are destined to be classics. This is a definite trend that I plan to make use of in the illustrations for our book.

Another website washingtonpost.com features an article by Mark Bauerlein and Sandra Stotsky concerning the growing gender gap in reading by boys. The gap has become so much more prevelant receitly that they say, “what was formerly a moderate difference is fast becoming a decided mark of gender identity: Girls read; boys don’t.” One of the reasons sited for this is the lack of subject matter that appeals to boys. This is one of the reasons that we want not only the story, but the graphics in our book to appeal to both genders. Each gender should ultimately be able to replace the other smoothly in the book.