Exercise - Educational Strip

For this exercise we were asked to create an strip style illustration to be used in schools to help teenagers cope with the onset of puberty.

I chose to focus on what happens to girls during puberty and set about brainstorming some ideas.

As suggested I wanted the images to be quite humorous yet was conscious I didn't want to down play the emotions that can be felt at puberty. I began with some ideas in my sketchbook thinking a girl being alarmed by the changes in her body - looking in the mirror at herself - her curves, imagining that everyone know shes got her period / is carrying a sign..
I was trying to think about how accurate I should make the character given that the piece was very body orientated and tried out various character like simplistic styles and more realistic looking shapes.

I thought about the main things that happen around this time which are difficult to deal with - periods, getting more shape - hips , boobs and curves, mood swings, spots.

I looked at the work of Oliver Jeffers and love his almost stick like representations which still manage to convey emotion and humour and his work is used across a variety of disciplines from adverts to kids books.

Tom Gauld is another illustrator who creates some very quirky illustrations for campaigns including for Boots the chemist. Again, I love his simple character representations which convey very real life emotions.

I also looked at Hannah Warren whose work really creates a story with strong characters and narratives using mainly digital processes. On the other hand Tim Kirby creates humorous strips but tends to use more hand-drawn characters.

What's going on type image - simple line drawing

Changes in emotions, body shape, support from a friend

Considering stick style drawings with some shape or more realistic characters

I decided on some linear drawings with minimal colour and picked out the drawings which would sum up the changes which occur and selected a shrugging shoulder girl for the front cover image.
The last image tries to show that with support of friends/ family and a bra that things will be okay.

Front image

I decided to make my image into a strip style illustration which I thought could perhaps become a folded concertina like leaflet with the "What's happening to my body - its all gone mad!" being the front fold. 

Click for full size

Other styles/ ideas

Just to experiment I also considered using more basic figures as an illustration but for the desired audience I think the strip illustration above is appropriate.

I'm reasonable happy with this illustration and think it gets the message across without being too complicated to understand. I've added a few words for effect but these could be excluded easily.
I'm happy with the simple colour choice but there are opportunities for more variation and Photoshop effects/ backgrounds etc should the client require.

Update after tutor report feedback

The feedback from my tutor for this exercise suggested that I could combine the spots and mood swings image and perhaps finish the strip on a positive note with a confident blooming young lady. This seemed like a good idea and I think it would assist in meeting the brief which was all about how to cope with puberty. 

Happy sorted teenager!

She also suggested that for the "Periods" image I could consider look at alluding to the huge choice of sanitary protection available and perhaps consider looking at surface pattern for teenage girls. or using a background pattern . I looked at some teenage bedrooms for pattern ideas from some magazines. 

I thought perhaps using something that alluding to the crazy time that is puberty would be appropriate so I considered a zig zag pattern and spots in girly pink shades. However, I was conscious I didn't want to overwhelm my images with pattern. 

I experimented adding a pink dot patterns and a flower pattern and quite liked how it almost looked like something you would get on some of the female products designed for puberty! I experimented with different opacities and scales of pattern - trying not to overwhelm the illustrations and I think the overall look is quite appealing. I decided to change the font to make it stand out more against the backdrop. 

Overall after the tweaks I'm actually a lot happier with this image and it was good to revisit if after the feedback. I think finishing the illustration on a positive note also works better and the background texture whilst quite prominent is appropriate for the market.