Fumio has finished evaluating and annotating my draft book and I will start looking in it for improvements next week.
Sunday 19 February 2017
Tuesday 7 February 2017
Plans for the future weeks
11 weeks have pased since the start of FMP (excluding xmas break)
14 weeks left until 8th may hand in.
FMP HEADERS/CONTENT
- storyboard
- character design
- draft book
- annotate the draft book for improvement
- splash pages in colour
- stick into draft book
- improve on annotations in book - redo some scenes
- keep improving everything
- tidy everything up
- make several hand-bound books and perhaps pay for hardback?
The mood of my writing:
Fun, informative, yet entertaining, My challenge is to create a book thats fun to make and read, but reflects on important mental health issues and has a motto of tolerance.
Wednesday 1 February 2017
HOW TO HELP THE DRAGONS?
DEPRESSED DRAGON
(1)you can help depressed people by tidying their house - when they feel their life is spirling out of control they tend to not tidy and not care anymore. Have Ben tidy away some clutter? Have the cave full of old bits and peices.
(1)Make them some food? Perhaps Ben could pull out a half eaten chocolate bar and offer it?
(1) Make them go outside - perhaps there could be a skylight in the cave, that is letting a tiny bit of light through. The dragon could look up happily as the sun beams across its face, after Ben lets it know that he doesn't have to hide all the time? Sunlight can boost your mood.
(1)hug them
(1) tell them a joke to make them laugh
(1) make them feel like they're worth somthing. show how much they mean to you and that you love them. - Ben can offer to be the depressed dragon's friend.
ANXIETY
References:
(1)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IDZ3AChlcM
- Hug them
- Gain trust -trust exercises?
- walk with them to next cave?
- Chat and listen to problems?
ADHD
- Establish structure - make a list of things he can do a day to keep him focused
- slow him down to listen and chat
- Help him make a track for him to run around and burn energy?
- Give him a challenge that will help him use all his energy?
BIPOLAR
- Find common ground with the two heads? something they have in common to stop them arguing?
- Game of chess? A competitive yet friendly game?
- Remind them of why two heads are better than one?
- Make friends with both heads - jokes and chatting?
TOURETTES
- Calming procedures? If hes less stressed he'll shout less
- Listening to him rant - everyone feels better if someone listens
- Sing him to sleep?
- teach him things to think about when he feels he's about the have a tik, so it distracts him?
The Plot
I realize I have yet to explain what I'm doing and why. As we planned it out in pitch and planning I forgot to add it onto this blog, so I will now.
What am I making?
Originally it was going to be a children's book to raise awareness for autism as well as other mental health disorders, but now due to the length it is more of a graphic novel than a children's book. I did consider making multiple books to follow (so it was a series) but I would not have enough content in each book to really make it worthwhile.
Target audience?
Children ideally, but all ages as well. The aim of this book, is; say for instance you have a child who knows someone with autism and doesn't understand the way they act. You would read this book to them and they would start to understand. Its subtle awareness through entertainment. Target audience for reading it themselves would be 7 up, but if you were reading it to younger kids, perhaps 5 and up?
Why am I making this?
I don't feel like I understand enough about mental health issues, which is why I'm sort of learning as I do it (so I'm teaching myself something) and its to raise awareness for other family's. If this took off successfully I'm sure it would be developed into other books about other issues.
Plot:
Two young boys - Ben and Charlie. Ben is older and doesn't like his younger brother, who has Autism. He doesn't understand him - so the first bit of the story is laying the relationship between his brother and his mother. Even though the main character in the book is Ben, It's really about Charlie. Then one night Ben wakes up and sees a silhouette at the foot of his bed. Its a dragon. It leads him into his wardrobe and through some caves (when he's in the caves he sees they are bright and colourful. Also that the dragon he is following is red. He doesn't give him his name, so Ben simply refers to him as Red) Then the red dragon leads him to a cave - in which is a huge blue dragon. He is introduced as Depression, and Ben must help him before he can move to the next cave. There are six caves in total, and each have a different dragon in - (anxiety is a small pink one - ADHD is the size of ben and green, Bipolar is HUGE and has two heads and is purple - and Tourette's is a swimming dinosaur (Water dragon) with a muzzle on. He's blue.) Each dragon has attributes or behaviours in its cave that link to it's individual disorder. For instance, Depression has a messy cave to show lack of control - so Ben helps tidy the cave for him to get his brain in order - anxiety has agoraphobia (anxiety of open spaces) so he encourages it to walk with him and show that things aren't as scary as they seem. ADHD is all over the place, and vibrates so fast when he's moving, it looks like there's multiple dragons in the cave, whereas there's only one. So Ben Helps make him a 'to do' list to help keep his mind focused. Tourette's is obviously distressed from his blurting out words, so Ben sings him to sleep to relax him to ease the ticks. All the while, Red is being very rude and blunt to the other dragons, and ben confronts him about it but Red doesn't give an explanation. Then when they get the last cave and its empty. The red dragon turns around and explains to Ben his name is Autism. He explains what that means and how he acts and how even though he doesn't mean it, it makes everyone dislike him. Ben makes the connection with his little brother and they agree to just sit and play for a bit, so the dragon feels like he does have a friend. The final scene is the exact same pose but instead of being in the cave, they're back in the bedroom and its Ben and Charlie (in a dragon onesie) playing together by torchlight.
I decided to relate dragons to mental illnesses, as people tend to not believe in mental illnesses if they can't 'see' them. Much as people nowadays don't believe in dragons. Also kids love dragons, so its interesting to them, and Its also to show the scale mental disorders can reach.
What am I making?
Originally it was going to be a children's book to raise awareness for autism as well as other mental health disorders, but now due to the length it is more of a graphic novel than a children's book. I did consider making multiple books to follow (so it was a series) but I would not have enough content in each book to really make it worthwhile.
Target audience?
Children ideally, but all ages as well. The aim of this book, is; say for instance you have a child who knows someone with autism and doesn't understand the way they act. You would read this book to them and they would start to understand. Its subtle awareness through entertainment. Target audience for reading it themselves would be 7 up, but if you were reading it to younger kids, perhaps 5 and up?
Why am I making this?
I don't feel like I understand enough about mental health issues, which is why I'm sort of learning as I do it (so I'm teaching myself something) and its to raise awareness for other family's. If this took off successfully I'm sure it would be developed into other books about other issues.
Plot:
Two young boys - Ben and Charlie. Ben is older and doesn't like his younger brother, who has Autism. He doesn't understand him - so the first bit of the story is laying the relationship between his brother and his mother. Even though the main character in the book is Ben, It's really about Charlie. Then one night Ben wakes up and sees a silhouette at the foot of his bed. Its a dragon. It leads him into his wardrobe and through some caves (when he's in the caves he sees they are bright and colourful. Also that the dragon he is following is red. He doesn't give him his name, so Ben simply refers to him as Red) Then the red dragon leads him to a cave - in which is a huge blue dragon. He is introduced as Depression, and Ben must help him before he can move to the next cave. There are six caves in total, and each have a different dragon in - (anxiety is a small pink one - ADHD is the size of ben and green, Bipolar is HUGE and has two heads and is purple - and Tourette's is a swimming dinosaur (Water dragon) with a muzzle on. He's blue.) Each dragon has attributes or behaviours in its cave that link to it's individual disorder. For instance, Depression has a messy cave to show lack of control - so Ben helps tidy the cave for him to get his brain in order - anxiety has agoraphobia (anxiety of open spaces) so he encourages it to walk with him and show that things aren't as scary as they seem. ADHD is all over the place, and vibrates so fast when he's moving, it looks like there's multiple dragons in the cave, whereas there's only one. So Ben Helps make him a 'to do' list to help keep his mind focused. Tourette's is obviously distressed from his blurting out words, so Ben sings him to sleep to relax him to ease the ticks. All the while, Red is being very rude and blunt to the other dragons, and ben confronts him about it but Red doesn't give an explanation. Then when they get the last cave and its empty. The red dragon turns around and explains to Ben his name is Autism. He explains what that means and how he acts and how even though he doesn't mean it, it makes everyone dislike him. Ben makes the connection with his little brother and they agree to just sit and play for a bit, so the dragon feels like he does have a friend. The final scene is the exact same pose but instead of being in the cave, they're back in the bedroom and its Ben and Charlie (in a dragon onesie) playing together by torchlight.
I decided to relate dragons to mental illnesses, as people tend to not believe in mental illnesses if they can't 'see' them. Much as people nowadays don't believe in dragons. Also kids love dragons, so its interesting to them, and Its also to show the scale mental disorders can reach.
Tutorial with George
Today I had a chat with George and she advised me to finish my book first, and then start making at least three double page spreads (splash pages) to insert in throughout the book. Then I can colour them and use them as prints for my portfolio and planning.
She also preferred the scales idea for the end-pages - or the one of Charlie and Autism together, as they relate more to the style inside the book. She also said to maybe put one of my illustrations on the front of the book, as it'll show my style inside the book consistently, instead of just the red page.
So I need to:
Finish book
Redesign front cover
Choose suitable end-page
Make and add 3 splash pages
colour splash pages
make prints of splash pages
Here's an idea of what I've been doing:
She also preferred the scales idea for the end-pages - or the one of Charlie and Autism together, as they relate more to the style inside the book. She also said to maybe put one of my illustrations on the front of the book, as it'll show my style inside the book consistently, instead of just the red page.
So I need to:
Finish book
Redesign front cover
Choose suitable end-page
Make and add 3 splash pages
colour splash pages
make prints of splash pages
Here's an idea of what I've been doing:
 |
| end of book |
 |
| start of book -I do think the red theme scales relate more to my story |
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