The Puppy Pack!
The little book that is going to change puppies lives for the better.
This is my final major project from my third year at the Art University Bournemouth. I created the brief, choose the subject and created an outcome that reflected my research and talents as well as challenging myself to step out of my comfort zone.
This book, parent leaflet, and activity sheets, would be sold in book stores but would also be in vet waiting rooms and could be used by charities such as the blue cross in their education program. It tells five stories that are meant to educate dog lovers, owners and possible puppy parents to the issues that surround the puppy industry and how to avoid making the wrong choices for ‘man’s best friend’.
Below is a quick summary of my journey to creating this outcome…
Every process starts with a Mind Map? While doing my research on the problems with puppies today, one of them being the rise of demand over lockdown, I didn’t just discover that puppies are too cute. There were lots of routes to take and lots of problems I discovered. Some of the worst being battery farming puppies…
I began to sketch out characters, which dog breads would I use and how realistic would I want them to look. Above this is some initial sketches of Delilah the Dachshund, a bread with a lot of problems, which is also unique enough to be obvious on the page.
Layout is important in any graphics based project, especially front covers, but I also needed somewhere for my activity pack and parent pack to live.
The actual creation of the stories, was the most fun, choosing the characters, deciding what would happen etc. I just had to make sure the ending turned out in some way happy, without defeating the point. I sketched out each page before illustrating them and editing the copy as I went so it fit best on the page and as I developed the characters more and more.
I tried lot of different illustrative techniques, but ultimately the traditional medias took too long and didn’t give me enough ‘wiggle room’ which is while I ended up using Photoshop. Above is a test print, with printing I was most worried about losing words or illustration in the centre seem.
Trying to take weeks and weeks research and create an outcome that played to both my strengths and challenged me felt impossible. This is when I came up with the idea of telling dog stories.
How to make stories into outcomes, lead to teaching and children, which is when I decided to write my own stories to teach children about what I had learnt through my research.
Of course childern’s stories tend to dum down, really serious problems. I realised that I also needed to inform parents and adults about my research. Hence the creation of ‘The Parent Pack!’…
Illustration is one of my favourite things to do.
The Narrative…
The story that I wrote to try an cover multiple problems that I had researched, revolves around five characters and their individual narratives. I called these five dogs ‘The Puppy Pack’…
Peanut the Pomeranian
Peanut tells the story of how the he was illegally imported into the UK from Hungary. He was only a puppy and he hints on the problems of puppy farms, with his mother and siblings. Traveling across the world in the back of a van, with no vaccinations or passport, smuggled across the border and sold to an unsuspecting family.
Fred the French BullDog
French Bull Dogs are in the brachycephalic and therefore are some of the breed of dogs that struggle with their breathing. Force owner to keep them from getting too excited for fear they will over heat. Fred tells how he has to stay inside and play dress up as Human interference with the way he looks stops him from having a normal life.
Delilah the Dachshund
To Start off we have Delilah the dachshund, her story is all about how years of selective breeding has lead to breads, not just looking different but having all sorts of health problems. Suffering because of human interference in their natural state. In the case of dachshunds, they were once perfect badger hunters but are now sausage dogs with back problems.
Lola the Labradoodle
Lola has a story about how she was dognapped by three bad men and taken away. The main part of her story is to highlight how bad the police system is to support missing and stollen pets. The criminal offence is minimal and the lack of understanding by the law on how important our animals are to us. While Lola is gone her family try very hard to get her back but eventually give up hope and get another puppy named Liam. When Lola is found it is not because the police found her but because she had a micro chip and a lucky vet.
Cherry the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Lucy’s Law was a big part of my research and the horrible realities of puppy farming. The law is named after a Cavalier King Charles spaniel named Lucy, who was rescued from a puppy mill. Cherry tells Lucy’s story and end with a notes that asks human kind to help their canine friends in the future.
The Pages…
Each spread was illustrated together, this way the illustrations could spread over the centre seem and add to the flow of the story. Below are some examples…
The Parent Pack
I wanted the information I have researched not only to be given to children within the stories of the puppy pack. However, I also wanted the parents to understand the severity of the problems highlighted in the book.
Inside…
The Parent pack is not just about the problems highlighted in the book but it also gives the parents tips on dog napping, things to never do with your dog and a decent breeders checklist as well as others. Helping new and old dog owners to make the right choices and do the research before buying a new puppy. It gives websites and charities to check out to begin their own research.
Stickers and Activities…
The whole family can read the main book but what should the children do while the parents are reading the parent pack and researching? Well, I picked out images from the book and made them into stickers. I also created three activity sheets; a maze, a word search and a spot the difference.
Finally.
Some final images of the finished printed book.
