Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Idea Development
Moving forward with my ideas I began to look at how I could develop and come up with a more clear, concise vision of the direction I wanted to take my book. From my rough concepts personally I liked elements of each so with the development I looked at creating a hybrid of all what I liked from each and then putting them into one.
The idea I came up with was this.
I really liked the story skew and I have the sole intention of making the book as fun as possible, while still having enough information in the book for the child to actually learn about foraging. I really liked the idea of this subject flowing through the book, it can act as a mascot in a way to the book. I still want to inform and have that fun essence to the book and really get the children involved and active in foraging. So I came up with an idea of kind of a foraging adventure. Where a story of a child setting out on a foraging adventure would unfold that the children can act out as well. So basically It would start off in a particular setting, primarily I'm looking at a forest, with a forest I can be quite illustrative, striking with the visuals, then as the story unfolds the child would be going on this adventure as well collecting what he sees in the book and at the end of the book would be recipes using what the child has found. I'm going to pitch it kind of like a treasure hunt. The plants, the food is the treasure that children must find, giving it a more fun, interactive element that will actually seem like a game, an activity to the children
So that's the idea, to get the children (the readers) to go on their own foraging treasure hunt and with the treasure (food) they've collected can then make the food from the recipes that will be at the end of the book.
Still want to make the book like a story, where there will be a character, will be fantasy-esque visuals.
This is the idea i'll be taking forward and developing for my final idea, here I've just drafted up concepts and layouts of how I want the book to look
Early Concepts
After gathering research for the brief the next stage of project was to then move onto generating some rough ideas/concepts that I had for the book.
Rough Concept #1
This idea is kind of like a reference/recipe book concept. On the first page, basically you would have a little an illustration of a diagram/process. Firstly you would have an environment or a mark of a particular environment such as the forest page, you would have a tree, this is just to showcase where you can forage, then the next part of the diagram is what you can find there and then finally, food you can make from that particular plant. On the next page opposite the fitting illustration you would have the recipe to make that particular meal/food. It's a very simple idea however I feel with a vibrant art style this could work really well. Is a danger however as the book will be aimed at children, it isn't very exciting, no story is being unfolded, so perhaps if I decide to develop this idea further, maybe look at possibly adding an interactive element, feature to the book. Just to give a more fun element to the book.
Rough Concept #2
This concept again is quite a simple one, but has a more fun, child friendly approach to it. The idea behind this design is all about the immersion and interaction for the child. You would basically have an environment, a scene, in the case for the rough, I've took the liberty of drafting up a forest setting, as mentioned though throughout the book you would have different environments. Now to the interactive element. The page would have pop up/slide mechanisms that the child would pull which would reveal something they can forage. So for example in the bush, pull on the mechanism it would reveal berries. Basically the idea here is so the child will go looking on the page of what to find. Similar to idea one, the second page of the spread would be more informative, and what the child finds on the visual page they can then look and read about it, so for berries, where they are found etc. I really like this idea and certainly feel it has a lot of potential, especially if I get the art style right.
Rough Concept #3
This idea i'm really drawn to and whereas it is still quite a raw idea, certainly I see a lot of potential here. Here, this is more of a story, a story of a subject, here I've used a leaf, but could be something else such as a butterfly, basically something that relates to nature and foraging. This subject will flow through different environments (pages) and on each page a different story a different theme relating to foraging is told. So on one page you could have a forest setting, where the child can be introduced to foraging and what it is all about and you could have a kitchen setting, where the child can learn about recipes for example. This subject though would flow through the entire book, could even have a child or character chasing this subject through the book.
Rough Concept #1
This idea is kind of like a reference/recipe book concept. On the first page, basically you would have a little an illustration of a diagram/process. Firstly you would have an environment or a mark of a particular environment such as the forest page, you would have a tree, this is just to showcase where you can forage, then the next part of the diagram is what you can find there and then finally, food you can make from that particular plant. On the next page opposite the fitting illustration you would have the recipe to make that particular meal/food. It's a very simple idea however I feel with a vibrant art style this could work really well. Is a danger however as the book will be aimed at children, it isn't very exciting, no story is being unfolded, so perhaps if I decide to develop this idea further, maybe look at possibly adding an interactive element, feature to the book. Just to give a more fun element to the book.
Rough Concept #2
This concept again is quite a simple one, but has a more fun, child friendly approach to it. The idea behind this design is all about the immersion and interaction for the child. You would basically have an environment, a scene, in the case for the rough, I've took the liberty of drafting up a forest setting, as mentioned though throughout the book you would have different environments. Now to the interactive element. The page would have pop up/slide mechanisms that the child would pull which would reveal something they can forage. So for example in the bush, pull on the mechanism it would reveal berries. Basically the idea here is so the child will go looking on the page of what to find. Similar to idea one, the second page of the spread would be more informative, and what the child finds on the visual page they can then look and read about it, so for berries, where they are found etc. I really like this idea and certainly feel it has a lot of potential, especially if I get the art style right.
Rough Concept #3
This idea i'm really drawn to and whereas it is still quite a raw idea, certainly I see a lot of potential here. Here, this is more of a story, a story of a subject, here I've used a leaf, but could be something else such as a butterfly, basically something that relates to nature and foraging. This subject will flow through different environments (pages) and on each page a different story a different theme relating to foraging is told. So on one page you could have a forest setting, where the child can be introduced to foraging and what it is all about and you could have a kitchen setting, where the child can learn about recipes for example. This subject though would flow through the entire book, could even have a child or character chasing this subject through the book.
Research/Inspiration
Tackling this brief, it really is crucial to gain a solid foundation of research regarding anything and everything about foraging. This isn't a brief that can be successfully challenged without being armed with a solid foundation of knowledge and research on the subject area.
My first port of call regarding research was simple but a necessary stage. The brief revolves around foraging in the wild, a topic I wasn't really aware of, so I found it essential as alluded to, to develop a foundation of knowledge and research regarding foraging.
So firstly, starting at the basics I wanted to look and find out what foraging actually is.
A website I found really insightful was 'Go Self Sufficient' which I found an amazing introduction to foraging. The website discusses what foraging is all about, what and where to forage.
http://www.goselfsufficient.co.uk/all-about-foraging.html
Similar to 'Go Self Sufficient', Fergus Drennan of 'Wild Man Wild Food' offers a really simple snapshot and introduction into the world of foraging. On his website, Drennan covers the basics of foraging and even discloses some interesting recipes.
http://www.wildmanwildfood.co.uk/Dyeing%20with%20wild%20plants.html
After looking at foraging and what it's all about, It was necessary for me to then to look more in depth at foods available to forage in the UK.
I found a hugely helpful PDF from the Wild Food School, that goes in to great depth into the basics of foraging but more interestingly looks at foods available to forage here in the UK, as well as even disclosing some beverage recipes using some of the plants looked at in the guide.
http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/wfs/wfsURBFORAGER.pdf
Again backing this up I looked at other articles regarding more plants and foods that can be found foraging and where. Here is an interesting article by Kara Moses, in which she looks at the top 10 foods to forage.
http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/food_and_drink/815671/top_10_foods_to_forage.html
Little video as well just showing the great ingredients and finds, foraging can bring.
Little video as well just showing the great ingredients and finds, foraging can bring.
The next step then after looking at foods and plants that can be found foraging, the natural step was to then look at recipes using some of these. Personally I gathered a collection of recipies that I found appetising as some to me just didn't look appetising at all.
From my research, taking note of some of the most popular goods to forage, I looked at recipes that use some of these particular ingredients found foraging.
From my research, taking note of some of the most popular goods to forage, I looked at recipes that use some of these particular ingredients found foraging.
Fergus Drennan has a lot of really nice recipes on the website I looked at early on in my research and I also looked at John Wright of the Guardian who looks at some really nice, simple recipes using some of the most common plants and foods found foraging in the UK. The bramble moose for example I just think looks a really appetising desert and made using common berries found foraging. Wright's recipes also include a wild garlic pesto and chestnut macaroons.
I also thought it would be useful to gather a range of children's book covers, just to gather and spark some inspiration.
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