Cara Rooney | United Kingdom
‘Ants’ book is an interactive picture book exploring the tiny world of ants while replicating experiences of exploring outside to encourage children to build a connection to nature.
The book has an underpinning narrative of being strongest when with your family. The story begins by expressing all the ways in which ants are amazing, such as climbing tall plants, making homes underground and bridges. The reader is encouraged to interact by making them climb taller and following the tunnels underground like a maze.
One little ant ventures off alone into a folded picnic blanket. The little ant ends up in a much bigger world as the reader unfolds the picnic blanket. The changing page size reflects the little ant’s increasing vulnerability without all of his friends.
The ant then feels scared and much smaller than before, he follows a snail trail in the dark to find somewhere to hide. As it becomes day time, the reader is able to lift rocks and plants to find his friends and family and reunite them, reaffirming the fact that they are strongest together.
I wanted to establish a style of illustration that is elegant and attractive to adults as well as children, by combining painted shapes with a bold colour scheme and expressive ant drawing. By making the experience of a creature easily accessible by all children fascinating and more relatable, it is hoped they will have increased empathy for all creatures in our little world.
Education:
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design
BDes (Hons) Illustration
Graduation: 2020