My concentration this year was centered around
creating a children’s book and putting an emphasis on the compositions of each
page so that every page could potentially stand on its own. I used watercolors
with brief guest appearances of India ink and gouache, so it was also an
exploration of watercolor techniques.
The idea came to me during French class and at first
I thought it was brilliant because I have always been interested in
illustration, but then I took another look at the AP poster with the sample
concentration ideas, and I realized that illustrating a children’s book was
one of them. I was discouraged, but decided that the merit of a concentration is
contained more in how it is executed rather than the general idea itself.
The story follows a little man named Meehab and
his camel, Abdul-Jahid, around their world travels as they find a new place to
inhabit. You never learn their names just from looking at the book, but naming
them was important in the process. The process of making a page developed pretty
quickly and I got into a good rhythm in making each of them: first I’d sketch
out what came into mind for what a page would look like, then I would transfer
that sketch onto the watercolor pages in pencil, ink them with my trusty Micron
pens and then after water coloring them, I was done. The hardest part of the
process was just the initial idea because once I had it; it was just a matter of
getting it onto paper and colored. It was hard, but also a lot of fun. I liked
picking where I wanted them to go, my favorite being the scene in the Pacific
Northwest because it makes me feel like going camping. I also found my
concentration to be great because I am interested in bookbinding and I think it
adds an interesting element to the whole project.