Group project for the 'Getting Your Children's Book Ready to Publish' course,
in which students were asked to contribute illustrations.
The May 2010 class of 'Getting Your Children's Book Published' created a bright and colorful
alphabet book as a collaborative project. Each participating illustrator chose one or two pairs
of letters in the form of printed templates which I provided. These templates defined the
borders, font, letter size, and position. Within the constraints of this page design,
students created their images.
They chose their own media, but were asked to use a limited palette of only three or four
colours for each illustration with a view to making the individual pages stand out more clearly.
I also asked them to edge their page with a border of a solid colour. These design constraints
were aimed at pulling the disparate illustration styles of these artists together to form a
pleasing result. I wasn't intending to participate in this project, but ended up illustrating
the 'left-over' letters as time was running short!
From my point of view, working with illustrators who come from a wide range of cultural
backgrounds made the whole project more interesting, even if it did present a few
communication problems along the way! Have a look at the book and judge for yourself.
The Illustrators Alphabet is available through Blurb's print on demand service,
or click below to view.
