Fall/Winter 2019
homework assignment
illustration, character design, translation/adaptation
The assignment was simply to do something creative with an Old English text.
While sorting through various OE poems, I stumbled across The Rune Poem. The format of a letter, or rune, in this case, followed by a few lines about its meanings, reminded me of alphabet books. The professor of the course also had a four-year-old at the time, so I also thought a children's book might have special appeal.
I show only the cover and a few character sketches here because I still have some hopes of someday publishing.
The art style I developed for the book was messy and mostly flat-colored to help speed illustration. Altogether, the translation, essay, and illustration happened in about two weeks. Given the total number of runes (nearly 30) and a busy schedule (it was time for finals), I needed to streamline my process as much as possible.
I wanted the main character to have an ambiguous appearance so that kids would more easily be able to identify with them. Though I say "main character," the book is hardly character-focused, and no one is actually named. I thought having recurring characters would give the book a better sense of continuity since there is no plot to speak of.
A few more character sketches are below. On the left is a friend around the same age as the main character and the child of a nobleman (hence the fancier-looking clothes). The others are a few Viking types and a random village woman to round out the cast.
