Project
This is a book series about a schoolgirl named Gaja who lives in a forest. She is being homeschooled by her mother, a "forest witch", and her father, a woodsman. The series is filled with funny stories from the forest, interesting facts about plants and animals, and even some healthy recipes.
My role
I was the illustrator and designer of the entire series. I was responsible for creating all the images and the cover design, as well as the typesetting. I worked closely with the author to ensure the text accurately reflected her vision, and we sometimes discussed and made changes together. I was also able to bring my own visual magic to her wonderful and warm text.
Solution
The book takes the form of Gaja's diary, which is why the illustrations are very simple. The colour palette is limited and consistent (just as a collection of crayons or markers would be) and much of the text is written by hand to emphasise the diary style. From a technical point of view, the book was printed without bleed for practical and budgetary reasons, so I had to keep this in mind when designing the layout and creating illustrations.
Sometimes there are illustrations by her mother, such as delicate watercolours depicting specific species of animals. I also created pages showing "forest paper" written by Gaja and her parents together, and an "animal atlas" showing details about the animals she met. There are also some notes from the lessons she has at home.
By working closely with the author, we were able to create an enjoyable and engaging book for young readers.
Sometimes there are illustrations by her mother, such as delicate watercolours depicting specific species of animals. I also created pages showing "forest paper" written by Gaja and her parents together, and an "animal atlas" showing details about the animals she met. There are also some notes from the lessons she has at home.
By working closely with the author, we were able to create an enjoyable and engaging book for young readers.
Cover & Endpapers
The consistent feature of the series is the colourful spine with some fun little drawings. The endpapers of each book feature elements from that particular story, meaning that every map is unique and shows where the events take place. One sequel is set during the holidays and features a different seaside map.
Watercolor illustrations
There are a lot of illustrations in a more “adult” style, which indicates Gaja’s mother's influence in the diary.
Simple illustrations
As with a handwritten child's diary, the illustrations are rather simple. The colour palette resembles a collection of crayons or markers, and remains consistent throughout the series.
Most illustrations contain handwritten elements, which I used as an excuse to add some humour to the book. It's an added bonus that allows me to make the book more personal and fun.
Most illustrations contain handwritten elements, which I used as an excuse to add some humour to the book. It's an added bonus that allows me to make the book more personal and fun.
Lessons
The main character, Gaja, is homeschooled by her mum. Some pages contain her notes from lessons on topics such as trees, frogs and books – those pages are all hand-written to indicate that they are Gaja’s notes.
Forest Newspaper
The family also publishes a newspaper called The Voice of the Forest. It contains short articles written by Gaja and her parents. It was designed to resemble a collage of printed text and decorations done by hand by Gaja and her mum. The paper is distributed to their neighbours.
Recipes
Gaja loves to cook! Throughout the book, you will find many tasty and healthy treats, each with a recipe.
Christmas edition!
The book series is so popular in Poland, that it has a Christmas edition as well! So, so far, there have been five books and one special Christmas edition. The typestting was much more complex and included many DIY tasks, facts, tasks for each day of advent. Each day had illustrated items needed to create each object.
