Writing A Children’s Book

Butterflies and Dragons

This was one of the final projects for my Advanced Graphic Communications Class in high school. The class was a year long (when most like this were a semester) and we were tasked with working on projects bigger then anything we had done yet. This was the 4th and final class in the graphic arts pathway at the school.

Our assignment was to write and illustrate a short children’s story using Adobe Illustrator. Someone wrote a story about a bouncing ball, the girl who sat next to me wrote her’s about dragons and butterflies. Inspired by mythic tales and fables I wanted to write one that was more akin to a classic fairy tale.

The above images are my result. It’s not great. It was before I learned about the Monomyth, and Joseph Campbell, and read The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vought. It was also before I had ever taken a life drwaing class, or a drawing class at all for that matter. The characters are all traced stock cartoon images and the faces, oh my, I wouldn’t get too close to them. But for some odd reason, I love it. It makes me feel cozy in the same way the game Epic Mickey does. Maybe I’m just nostaligic for a time in my life that has long since past.

Thanks for reading,

Sincerely,

C