Brief:
“Collect as many examples of imagery for children as possible. Group the illustrations you’ve collected into the target age groups. Include at least one image for each age group”.
- Pre-reader
- Pre-school
- Early-reader
- Established reader
- Older age groups
Pre-reader:
Pre-school:
Early reader:
Established reader:
Older age groups:
Brief#2
“Take two of these age groups and, for each one, go through a process of brainstorming around at least one word chosen from this list:“
- Festival
- Scary
- Wild
- Growing
- Journey
- Sad
- Family
- Discovery
I choose the age groups of: Pre-reader and Older age groups.
Brief#3
“Pick an animal appropriate for each age group and brainstorm to identify themes, images and ideas pertinent to your age groups”.
I decided to pick a little bear for the pre-reader age group, and a little mouse for the older age groups.
Pre-reader, “Scary” and a little bear:
Then I started to create a spider diagram:

I decided to create an illustration based on an irrational fear that little kids have at night: a monster hidden in their closet. And since we had to choose an animal I decided to choose little bear for this illustration.
Illustration process:
Final image:

I think that this image really gives the feeling that I wanted to represent: that desperate fear that we sometimes felt as kids. And I am pleased with the creepy monster that I created sticking out of the closet.
Older age groups, “Journey”, and mouse:
I started by also creating a spider diagram of what I wanted to create:

Then I decided to create an illustration of a mouse going on a journey but to make it more age appropriate, the destination is true self knowledge, knowing who you are and what you want to do. I thought that the concept of finding yourself was a good one to represent in this illustration because it is something that you Strat thinking about as you get older and I thought it was accurate for this age group.
Illustration process:
Final illustration:

I am pleased with how this image turned out, but now that I am looking back I think I would have liked a more mature version of the drawing. I feel like it still looks a bit childish.
Conlsuion:
I found this exercise quite challenging, because I had to incorporate the age group, animal, and word. But I tried my best, and I think it turned out okay. I would change some things if I repeated the exercise again. But I am quite happy with the results, specially the first illustration. I think it would make a good book cover for that age group.