Soyee Park
BFA in Illustration - Entertainment Arts — IllustrationI Ate the Apples!
This is a project for children's book storytelling and illustration.
Nagi, the cat saw a big basket of apples in the living room. He wanted to eat the apples, but his sister stopped him because they were a gift for their youngest brother in the hospital. However, while his sister was out, Nagi ate all the apples. Then he lied to her, saying he didn't eat them. That night, his body turned into an apple, so he apologized to his sister. After his body returned to normal, they went to visit their youngest brother and shared the new basket of apples with him.
The main theme of this book is "Lies and Guilt." Children sometimes lie for various reasons: shame, fear, or defiance. However, if people tell a lie, most of them feel shame and guilt. This story shows that although lying can temporarily smooth over a situation, the lingering unease and guilt of deceiving someone remain in the back of our minds and torment us.
First, I developed the storyline and drew thumbnails. Then, I received feedback from my professor and revised the sketches. After making some revisions and adding color, the project was finished. The original assignment was a black-and-white book with three color spreads. I colored it after finishing the term for book printing and display at the graduation show.
Children's book illustrations require intuition and simple, readable shapes. At first, I included lots of small illustrations, like in a comic book. However, my professor told me that small illustrations are difficult to read. Therefore, I changed many of the illustrations to large spreads, except for a few pages.