Storybook Cover

Have you ever wondered who it is that designs the fronts of all the books we read? And how do they decide what to put on it? Today you will be the designer!

Choose one of the titles listed in Tiikat’s Imagination journal entry to illustrate, like we have here, or make up your own. Then just get drawing!

The story titles Tiikat wrote about were:

The Bear who ate the Colours
Lost in the Woods?
The Time the Waves Stopped Waving
Shipwreck on Ice-cream Island

We are going to create a cover for Shipwreck on Ice-cream Island here

 

Difficulty Level:

1 paintbrush

What you need:

Method:

  1. Fold your piece of paper or card in half. This is so we can stand the cover up later.
  2. Put the card in front of you so that it opens on the right side (just like an actual book).
  3. Think about the title and what kind of things you think would happen in that story. Now start to draw it.

Hint: Bear in mind in your design that you will be putting in a title. You may also want to leave space for a border.

Tip: It is a good idea to start using a pencil so that things can be erased and redone.

  1. Draw your title. Think about what kind of writing to use (the “font”). One technique to make it look extra nice is to make sure that all the letters are the same size. Do this by marking out where they should be with a ruler. Here we have space for all the letters of “Shipwreck!” to be 2cm wide and 2.5cm tall. Mark out with dots where the letters should go.
  2. As you can see, this technique has helped all the letters in the title stay a similar size and so look really good together!
  3. Our title is quite long, so we’ve continued the rest of it smaller, lower down the page. We decided to use the same kind of font and to measure it out again.
  1. Now that the title is done, we have added a border around the edge using a ruler and a pencil again.
  2. It’s time to colour it in! You could use pencils or pens for this.
    Tip: Go around the outlines with black pen to make them stand out.
  3. Once you are happy with your design you can stand it up and display it proudly!

Extra Challenge – Why not fill the inside of your book with the story itself? You can decide what happens and write it all down on the inside. You could even add a short biography of yourself inside the cover, and ask someone to leave you a review on the back!