The Tales of Chuck McBook.
Client: Grimm and Co
Grimm and Co is a Rotherham based children’s charity that supports under-resourced children with their confidence and skills around creativity and writing. While volunteering my time and expertise as an Illustrator to the charity, I was asked to provide all the illustration for The Tales of Chuck McBook.
This anthology book showcases the stories from the Grimm and Co Saturday Afternoon Club. My brief entailed setting the art direction for the book, creating the character of Chuck McBook, designing the cover for the anthology and providing illustrations for each of the 11 stories written by the children.
Once I had completed my work the book was printed and given to the children at a celebratory launch event.
Creating Chuck McBook
The client wanted Chuck McBook to be a Victorian gentleman with papers spilling from his pockets, a book brought to life.
I knew that the character and the book cover design had to fit in with the visual style of Grimm and Co and include elements of their branding. To this end I designed the character to include the correct red brand colour of Grimm and Co, their logo and, the “what3words” that would provide someone with the location of Grimm and Co in Rotherham on the note tucked into the band of the top hat. I also experimented with the colours of the character’s clothing to further capture the Victorian style.
In addition I made Chuck a person of colour as I felt it was important to show racial diversity and enable children from varying racial backgrounds to see themselves in the character. I also created a library background that reflects the design of the creative spaces at the Grimm and Co headquarters.
Story illustrations
When creating the 11 story illustrations I was told that I could use colour or black and white, but to pick one and stick to it. I was asked to read the stories the young people had written and choose something to illustrate that “sticks out”, but if an object becomes obvious then pick that.
I was also asked not to draw any weapons or violent scenes. While these may be in the stories, the ethos of Grimm and Co was to not depict violence, threat or weapons.
I chose to create black and white illustrations, feeling this approach was the the best for a book of this nature. I added halftones for shading, where appropriate, to reflect those I had used when creating Chuck McBook.
