This boy is having a particularly bad day, Children's Digital Illutration

My project for course: Children’s Digital Illustration: Colors and Textures

The text I picked is from the fairytale: Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, by Judith Viorst.

My bath was too hot, I got soap in my eyes, my marble went down the
drain, and I had to wear my railroad-train pajamas. I hate my railroad-train
pajamas.

When I went to bed Nick took back the pillow he said I could keep and the
Mickey Mouse nightlight burned out and I bit my tongue.
The cat wants to sleep with Anthony, not with me.

It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

As i read it, i saw all of these images in my head, i realized how familiar it is to all of us to have one of those days. Where everything seems to be going sideways. And imagine a little boy having a day like that, with his full spectrum of emotions. A little boy who has not learned to tamper down his feelings like adults do. Kids feel everything in a different capacity. When they love, they shout that they love you to the sky and further away. When they are sad or mad, they give in to a good old fashioned cry session and be done with it. They are honest with everyone as well as with their feelings. So it drew me in, and i thought it was going to be a lot of fun to capture his feelings.

Moodboard

Character

I started with sketches of him, trying to grasp different emotions and poses inspired by the book. I used Adobe Fresco for this stage.

The Stains

I didn't know that I could make my own stains and brushes in Photoshop, so that was a valuable information and it really helped me. I didn't manage to create my own pattern like John did, but i'll try it again some other time now that i know how to do it!

My Sketch

I decided for my composition and colors together. The passage I chose is at the end of the day, right before he goes to bed. I wanted to show his room, and to have dark blue colors in order to feel like night. So I left the bathroom door open to let some light to the room and to our character. So blue and yellow were my main colors, but i used bright colors as well, like the ones you'll find in every kid's room.

I wanted to show how exhausted the character is, and to try and give him a look of a kid who just wants a hug. I felt, it's the moment where every little thing from the day he had comes at him and he propably feels like everything is against him, and that's a lot for a kid, so he starts crying, and his mom comforts him.

Progress

Black and White Values Check

At the end i moved the little toy train from the left corner to the middle of the spread, because i felt that the text needed more space around it. It's a children's book, so the size of the words and the spacing is important. I feel like the text could be even bigger.

Details