Flower Sprout

We’re already at the end of the term, which is wild and I’m so excited to share with you all the progress I’ve made on the picture book! I am titling the book Flower Sprout and have created a read-aloud video that you can find embedded below. Although my initial dream time-line did not totally pan out, I’ve completed a lot more than I thought I would. I was able to finish the final illustration outlines, the front cover and the back cover. I would love for you to watch the video or scroll through the pdf version and I hope you enjoy the book!

Final Reflection

Overall, I learned a lot and had a lot of fun with this inquiry project. Some of the challenges I faced was an overall lack of time and a feeling of pressure to finish. However, I learned to take my time with it in order for me to put in my best work. Also, my previous picture book project was a very personal book to me, so creating a book that catered towards younger elementary students came as a struggle. I wanted to make the story meaningful and fun but also relatable and engaging for that age group. With this, one thing I wish to have worked on more, is the story and writing. I hope to develop a certain distinct style of writing that students engage with as I did with some of my favourite authors such as, Shel Silverstein and Robert Munsch.

The illustrations took the most time and I’m really proud of how they turned out. I spent a lot of time going through different renditions of illustrations because I wanted to achieve consistency and create a symbiotic relationship between the writing and images being shown. I didn’t want the writing to seem like a caption to an image or for the illustrations to be taken as add on visuals to a writing piece. I think a key piece to a successful picturebook is having the writing and illustrations work as one

You can see in the images above that I totally changed the format of one of my spreads because I realized while doing the final outline that it really didn’t work with the writing and the composition was not pleasing to the eye. Going through a process like this opened my eyes to how much goes into making a simple picture book and how intentional you must for a good product to come out.

So, thank you readers for coming along on this journey with me and I’m glad I had this platform to share it with you all. Also, big shoutout to Procreate! The app was really essential to this whole project and I can see myself doing more picturebook project illustrations on Procreate. I would really recommend it! Stay tuned for the final final printed product with colours, a dedication, a bio and all! I’m going to be working on this at my own pace over winter break so come by and check my progress. Have a great holiday season and I hope you were able to take away a little something from my inquiry project and the picture book I created!