Page Layout

I’ve decided how to lay out the page with the giraffe on it, which I’ve drawn in my sketchbook, but for research purposes I’m gonna put my inspiration image here.

I’m sorry about the quality of the image! I tried to scan in directly from the “Mythological Monsters” book, but the pages were to large to fit on the scanner screen. Luckily, the same image was printed in “Illustrating Children’s Books,” so I’ve scanned that in instead.

So this is a two-page spread in which the book has to be turned vertically to view the image properly. Besides being a neat trick for the viewer’s entertainment, the use of the space to display such a large, tall figure makes it much more imposing than it would have been if it had been shrunk down and squeezed into a horizontal format. There would be much more empty space surrounding it, making it look smaller by comparison.

This is just a neat use of space, I think, which is why I’m going to use a similar layout technique for the page in my book featuring the giraffe. I think it would really serve to emphasize its height to the reader, and is also simply a better fit for a very vertical animal.