Alterity

I connected to Aesop’s Fables through the stories they tell and how they communicate the morals they represent; in my own life, and the lives of every reader. They are a reflection of morals that we collectively believe in, so the lessons learned can be applied universally. I want the reader to take something with them as they finish these stories, whether that be questioning their surroundings or themselves. Thinking of the readers, my choice of style, color, layout, text, and presentation were all designed to help keep them engaged and easily relatable. In order to make these age-old stories feel fresh and more relatable to readers across generations, I created a modern, illustrative style. Using influences from extremely well known cartoon-like styles from Hayao Miyazaki, Rebeca Sugar, and Bryan Lee O’Malley ,it made the characters approachable; connecting a hint of familiarity and a dash of quirkiness to the stories. Pushing the stylization of the character’s emotions and gestures made them visually interesting and fun. The text is hand-written to create a more personal feel and the layout in the stories are consistent so the reader will know where the text and illustration will always be located; giving the text a more grounded feel. The individual book covers all have designated colors that symbolize the characters and the lessons they learn. While the larger collective book cover is simple line art with the text popping from a distance. Every choice I made was to help grab the reader’s attention, give a fresh and familiar feeling to the stories, and make them relatable. This bridged the gap between age-old stories and a new generation of readers. As a result, these universal stories can continue to be retold and passed down in a refreshing way but keep their morals and traditions of storytelling intact.https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art499/1009/thumbnail.jp