Origami Astronaut and Puppet Development

Astronaut

Found the initial idea with a spaceman to be the mot successful in communicating the themes of the book, it produces an essence of wonder as we as people have an interest in space (as does August). 

I wanted to approach the project from the same mindset as a 10 year old kid, thinking about the techniques they'd use when approaching a design project, thinking about the science fair section of the book.

Think about using:

- papier mache

- cut and stick

- found materials

- puppets

- pipe cleaners, stickers etc. 

Design with the origami spaceman, including the text needed for the book cover on the spaceman, ties the two together, makes it look less disjointed, appears more cohesive. 

- what to do with background? looks strange on white.

Think about the background and picking up element of the image and incorporating into the background. Thinking about the blue and red from the NASA badge, crumpling the aper to add more texture and shadow within the image.

I think the red makes it stand out more on the page, particularly when scrunched, but the coloured paper is faded and makes the whole thing seem dated.
- try using a desk as a background, make it look like it's been made on a school desk during class.

Tested using a marionette spaceman puppet, it was really difficult to make it function properly, and capture it well on camera. The illustration looks nice on it's own, but need to try with other elements, combine with watercolour background. 

Watercolour background shows space, nebula, star etc, designed to be used as background for experimentation with puppet and origami man.

Designed a variation of type to incorporate with the design, inspired by the childlike nature of the film, used felt tip to write them, trying to mimic the innocence within the book.

Incorporated these into design cover, the texture made complimented the hand made nature of the background as well as the spaceman.

Loopy type made the cover look for fun, and whimsical, seems a bit too young for the target audience, especially when combined with the bubbly, child-friendly astronaut. 

The sharper type had a much more adult aesthetic while still communicating that the book is about a child, or could be read by teenager/young adults. 

Tried to tie in the type to the image by making it the cord attaching the astronaut to a spaceship. Makes the loopy nature of the type have more of a purpose within the design.