Experiment - 1. Owl Babies By Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson

To investigate into how altering elements of an image can affect the feelings that are being portrayed and therefore the feelings the viewer is experiencing.

I am going to investigate into how changing parts of an image taken from the children's story book 'Owl Babies' effects the feelings that the viewer is experiencing through looking at the image and whether it effects the viewers impression of the image in either a good, bad or neutral way.

In this image a sense of family and togetherness is being shown. There is a feeling of calm and safety in the image and this is being translated in a number of different ways; through the colours used, the artistic style, the choice of animal and the text.

'Owl Babies' By Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson

I will analyse how well the emotion of the image is being portrayed and whether this can be improved upon by changing the colour of the image and of the text, changing the style of the image and the font and changing the type of animal used.

First I will change the colour of the image:

 I changed the whole image to a shade of blue. This makes the image look colder and not as friendly as the original. The blue gives the impression an eerie feeling. The setting is in the owls home so the change in colour is now reflecting a negative feeling rather than the positive homely feeling in the original. The owls appeared as one family in the original image but now they seem separated and like strangers. The blue communicates a feeling of emptiness.

In this image I changed the colour of the owls individually and changed the colour of the background. The colour of the owl babies is effective, it's child friendly and makes the image intriguing...is it communicating the different owls personalities through the use of colour?
If I had changed the colour of the mother owl then this image would have been tied together in a much more effective way. The change of colour doesn't effect the emotion of the image too much, the individual colours separates them slightly and alters the feeling of togetherness but the feeling of friendliness and calm is still apparent in the image.
I changed the background to make it brighter than the original dark background. I feel that this changes the emotion of the image as its brightness is taking away the feeling of calm and makes the image seem much more alert.

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I then changed the style of the artwork:

Firstly I took away all the detail in the image and made it block colour along with changing the colours of the owls. This simplifies the emotions, the lack of detail causes the image to be far less pinnacle on the particular emotions of the original image. There isn't much telling of the relationship and togetherness of the owls and the calmness of the image has changed as the background is very black and the owls are very simple. This creates a slight uneasiness in the image.

The next thing I tried was smoothing out all of the details in the image. This creates a very friendly and comforting feeling. The owls look soft and like you could touch them. It also increases the feeling of togetherness. The babies blend with their mother and show them as a species of owl that are all the same. The silky appearance of the owls is very calming and the blurred background provides a dream-like emotion, like the birds are in a fantasy world.

I then changed the drawings of the owls to real images of the owl. I tried to match the species as closely to the original drawing as I could. This gives the image a feeling of uneasiness. The owls eyes are quite creepy and not very friendly. The owls don't work well together as a family and therefore eliminates the feeling of togetherness and calm. Instead the viewer is made to feel on edge and like something suspicious will happen in the book.

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I will next change the type of font used:

This font is very loud. It isn't a friendly type as it's bold and in your face. As the book is for children I don't think the font is very appropriate, the capitals are quite over bearing and take over the double page. It also over powers the sweet and innocent owls on the opposite page and takes away the calm setting of the owls home.

This type is very friendly and playful and sits well with the painting. It is quite difficult to read which makes it less appealing for a children's book.

This type is structured which doesn't sit well with the image. This sort of illustration needs a much softer text. The text I have used here would work much better with a robot/science kind of book and possibly for an older child. It doesn't help to translate the calming feeling of the image.

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 I will now change the colour of the font:

The orange writing works in the image, it continues with the calming colour tone of the yellow and reflects the motherly influence of the owl on the opposite page .

The green also works well as it draws in the green tones of the owls nest. It sits comfortably with the rest of the image making it warming and showing the sense of family as the double page spread is all tied in together.

















The blue and the pink don't really work with the image and mostly for the same reasons. They are too bright and over powering for the image and creates a negative feeling as the image is repelling the type.

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Lastly I will change the type of animal in the image:


I first changed the type of owl. The previous owls were sweet and innocent owls. I decided to change them to quite menacing looking owls and the feeling that is portrayed through this change is quite frightening. The owls look like they will do something bad through the book and the viewer will find it difficult to sympathise with the animals.

I then changed the animals to rabbits as they are also a sweet and friendly animal that children know and can recognise. The rabbits work well, but would probably be more effective if they were drawn as the photo doesn't leave the right impression. But I think they would create a friendly and calming story like the original owl babies.

I also changed the animal to cats and kittens. They are also a sweet animal that would be able to communicate the same friendliness and calmness that the original owl babies do and also demonstrate the feeling of family and togetherness.

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After creating all of these experiments, I have taken aspects of what I have found and I have allowed them to influence my own illustration.

Above is the original rough sketch I did for this experimental process. However, after looking at it again, I realised that I was setting my drawing out like the book, 'Owl Babies'. I found that this wasn't as effective as taking the elements from the book that I found interesting and applying it to my work. So I decided to do another drawing, set out in my own way, as just a one page illustration and I will apply the most useful parts of this experimentation to that illustration.

I have re-created the rough illustration. Having drawn out the design, I used Photoshop to drop in the colour as it's a quick method of showing my thought process behind the experiments and illustration.
The experiments I was working on was to do with type, colour, and character.
I found that the type had to be clear and easy to read and positioned within the illustration well. This is important for the quote I have decided to illustrate because the quote and the drawing go together, and the message needs to be clear. By keeping the type black, I have linked the black outline of the characters and the writing together.
In using colour, I have created a background for the writing, giving the writing a frame. I have then used the same shade to create shadows under the characters and this also ties the image and the writing together. I found in my experiments that eye catching colour made the illustrations more engaging and translated the mood of the illustration. As my quote is positive, and is generating a reassurance of feeling anxious of being yourself, I thought it was necessary to have positive colours. The red and blue are eye catching and your eye is automatically led to the characters. They are also primary colours which are good to use for children's illustrations as they can engage more with a simple colour palette. The colour green is usually associated with jealousy or envy which are feelings that make you feel unsure. Anxiety also generates this sort of feeling. I decided to use a mint green for the characters face, hands and feet as the quote is about changing a negative feeling of anxiety to a positive feeling. So I still wanted the anxiety to be apparent in the illustration, but I have dulled it down by using a more friendly shade of green on the characters.
In my experiments of character, I found that the viewer; a child in particular, relates more to a cuddly, soft looking animal as they appear friendly and welcoming in the drawing. However I found that my characters are already child friendly. They appear cuddly with their round belly's. They are simple enough for a child to be able to relate to in shape and colour. So I found that I could keep the characters the same as my original drawing.