Iron Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design · 2020
Seven Haunted Crows Book
by Mariela Katiuska Baez Ramirez
- A' Design Award 2020 Iron Winner in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
- Awarded April 15, 2020
- CLIENT: Maka Bara®
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 11,487
- Verification code 13BB983B8A · Verify this award
About Seven Haunted Crows Book
Seven Haunted Crows is an inspirational fairy tale about a strong girl who lost the brothers. Seven Haunted Crows is very loosely based on Grimm brothers but that said, the readers don't need to know anything about the play to read the book. It is a sci-fi story set on the earth and in outer space about haunted crows and painful truths about a family secret. She decides to embark on a journey of reconciliation and bring her family together again. Along the way, she meets many friends who help her overcome fears and challenges.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Seven Haunted Crows, is a moving fairy tale about a strong little girl. A day like any, she comes across a story of haunted crows and their painful truth about a family secret. She decides to embark on a journey of reconciliation and bring her family together again. Along the way, she meets many friends who help her overcome fears and challenges that left her with the most precious gift. Let’s join her in this fantastic adventure
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The dimensions of the book are 178 x 20 x 254 mm.
Poster promotional: A3, 297 x 420 mm. - Tags
- Childre's Books, Illustration, Graphic Design, Power Girls, Inspirational
- Production Technology
- The book was made in mixed media: Chinese ink and digital retouching.
- Design Challenge
- The research challenge was figuring out what to do with the story and how to find the right words as an artist. Most classics are classics for a reason because they contain stories that still speak to us, stories that endure.
- Project Duration
- The project started in January 2015 and ended in August 2015.
- Operation Flow
- This book engages our children with reading. The story emphasizes the relationship between brothers and sisters and their special bonds. Each illustration is dynamic and adds to the narrative when read with somebody or alone. In addition, at the end of the book, the reader will encounter an activity with which to develop as a family.
- Research
- The research was almost experimental and associational in nature. The objective of the interpretation of the research is simply to develop through illustrations our similarities about subjects and doubts which children have. The intention of the project is to be a reference for the reinforcement of children's self-esteem and emotion management.
- Inspiration
- Children’s book explores what it means to be brave.
The illustration of Children’s books is one of the ways to inspire children in their language which is a dreamlike world, as well as Illustrated books, allow the children to clear up doubts.
This book was to emphasize the relationship between brothers and sisters and their special bonds. As well, it is about the girl who decided to be brave in her life. This is a reinterpretation of a classic book but rewrote in a special way. - Image Credits
- Mariela Katiuska Baez Ramirez/ Illustration/Graphic Design/Video
Colors of Seven Haunted Crows Book
Design Interview about Seven Haunted Crows Book
My main goal is to tell a story about our relationship with ourselves and with our environment, which implies the family and social relationship.
My main focus was always to transform a classic tale into a story in the best possible way. I wanted the reader to enjoy the journey of this character through the images.
My plans are to talking with some editorials to see if this children's book could reach more people and see what kind of response it gets. Furthermore, it is an important reference for future publications.
From start to finish, it took me about 1 year to complete this project. He had to find time in addition to being self-employed, so it was mainly on Fridays and weekends.
I was inspired to apply all the techniques I had learned from illustration until then to tell this story. In addition to seeking inspiration from different authors of children's books.
At the moment, it is already published and for sale.
I have always loved illustration, as well as the story itself. It is telling a story on a more dreamlike level.
No, not in this project
Children who are at ages to improve their reading and adults who enjoy an adventure.
At a visual level, the mixture of digital techniques with manuals such as Indian ink. And on a social level, responsibility.
It comes from a classic tale, I like to keep it because I love crows.
I used a combination of Adobe programs including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign with manual techniques like Indian ink, gold acrylic, silver, and fabric to create textures.
I think it could be the message it conveys to children and the illustration techniques.
I worked alone on this project. Although the English version, It was with the service of a professional translator.
I used a computer and software that I needed to put together the design. In addition to virtual stores such as amazon for publication.
I did a little research on how children interact with children's books, what kind of stories they are looking for, and how they perceive them.
The time and process of a children's books can be very long, continuous reviews of history and some frustration or anxiety that result from it.
I decided that I would add some credibility to the design concept and the effort involved in this type of art so I decided to enter a competition that offered a category applicable to my design concept.
Increase my research on behaviors at an early age, furthermore improve my illustration techniques, and stay coherence in the story.
Not for the moment.
Grand Interview about Seven Haunted Crows Book
Both techniques represent an emotional duality. For me, Indian ink has a free language, a fluidity of its own, and when combined with digital techniques, it takes on even more character. My creative process begins by unravelling the story, then creating the characters and detailing how they coexist in different environments. Then the magic of creating textures with Indian ink begins. I collect each one and convert them into Photoshop brushes, which I use to complete the compositions.
Classics belong to their era, and that is part of their legacy. When I read the story, I wanted to bring it into a more contemporary setting. I liked the fact that, despite learning about her sad history, the girl decided to turn it around and break the curse. Embarking on the adventure of finding out who she was and learning the wonderful news that she had siblings made her a fighter for the truth, enabling her to find herself and free those who had been forgotten.
When you are a lonely child, your friends can be the most unusual. I have always loved space, movies, and books. Sometimes I think that the stars and planets speak to us in some way. That's where the idea came from to go out and look for her brothers in unusual places to exhaust all possibilities. Besides, the topic of space is very common at certain ages.
The story reveals a lot about the ways in which people communicate. It shows how a moment of anger can cause us to inflict pain with just words. Birds are fantastic animals for illustrating the skill and agility needed to reach faraway places, even though they represent a curse for the siblings. Despite her anger, the girl managed to understand that the situation was much more complicated and that her state of mind would not help her find her brothers. The real content of this book is the courage with which each reader sees themselves reflected in different situations and emotions. Both the story and the illustrations help the reader understand that they are not alone and that talking and asking questions can help them find their own way.
That moment of reading shared with their favorite family member is important to readers. I wanted them to have a memento of it, so I included it in the book.
I think it's a book for both of them. Reading helps strengthen the relationship between parents and children. It's a beautiful moment when both realize that some situations in the book can be resolved in a simple way, that it's okay to venture out and try new things. It's like when you try a new flavor of ice cream. If you dare to try it, you can decide whether you like it or not, but with certainty.
The world is a place where we all live. Migration should be considered something natural. This also involves learning about different cultures, and this gain in values and culture broadens your view of the world as much as space itself.
The biggest challenge I faced with this book was not to project my feelings of deprivation, but to explore the construction of the characters and their emotions in a more leisurely way. I changed the emotional structure several times so that children would not feel lectured to, but would accompany the characters. I wanted them to see that they too were vulnerable, that they could have doubts, conflicts, anxieties, and joys.
Visual reading is children's first act of interpreting the world. They have a greater ability to find details that adults do not perceive at first glance. That is why my first question when conceiving images and characters is: What is this child learning by looking at these illustrations? I feel that they need illustrations that challenge them, move them, and accompany them on their journey to understand this complex world.
This project definitely led me to delve deeper into children's visual intelligence. I set limits on the visual narrative so as not to overwhelm what I wanted to convey and to ensure consistency between the characters and the situations they faced, even though the settings had no limits. It's true that for new projects I've been delving deeper into emotions and how they deal with them. Perhaps it's time to venture into more youthful themes, as if it were a transition between them, as if with each publication I could grow through them.