How To Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers is a fun, whimsical children’s story about a young, nameless boy who wants to catch a star so he can be its friend. Filled with colorful, yet minimalist illustrations, it captured the hearts of adults and children alike all over the world and became an instant bestseller.
As part of an exercise to become more familiar with the more advanced features of Photoshop, my task was to redesign the entire book. As this was my first foray into illustration, I was more than intimidated, but excited by the challenge. Using Jeffers’ whimsical story as inspiration, I used a simple yet colorful style for this re-illustration. While my interpretation is certainly inspired by Jeffers’ style, it is quite different and complements his story without bombarding little kids with tons of visual information.
I re-created the author’s main male character as a very simple, but endearing boy with a blue shirt and matching blue striped shorts. Through only a variety of poses designed to look aesthetically pleasing, yet simple enough for children to remember, my re-creation of Jeffers’ boy goes on an adventure to find a star of his very own. A vibrant variety of colors eye-catching to children make up the color palette, while textures abound to create visually interesting scenes.
When read aloud with a variety of children, they all loved the new illustrations paired with the story and it became a beloved staple in their bedtime book rotations.
