Getting started on my own book pitch
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@DanetteDraws That's a great point about "reading up". I agree that the 6 & 7 do skew younger as far as the character face/proportions are concerned (though, I think the suit designs in of themselves are still valid). Of course, the unrevealed story and the core target age may give wiggle room here (off the top of my head, I'm thinking about Mustache Baby by Bridget Heos & Joy Ang, but that book does seem to be on the younger side of the 4-7).
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10 - I think it's her fearless expression
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@smceccarelli Showed the page to my two Kiddos -for what its worth my 5 year old daughter likes 6a and my 10 year old boy likes 13 - i did not give them any info besides "if you were to read a new book who would you want to be in it" - be good to get more kid's opinions for Simona if you have any:)
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6 a and b, 7 and 12. I like 5 too but he looks a little too old o me.
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I agree with Quiet Yell. 5 and 6b for the real and the imagine respectively. I like 11 for female. dI also like the variety of your characters. Fun study.
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Wow, thank you all so much for the feedback so far! This is very helpful...though the decision will still be a tough one.
@QuietYell I have used a list of SciFi franchises to inspire the suits: from Star Trek to Star Wars, Tron, etc... I have a whole Pinterest board on this, if anyone is interested. No 1 is actually inspired by Eve in the film Wall-E, but I see why you think of Anime. I do not think I will go in that direction, even though no 1 and number 11 were big hits in a group of 9-year old girls I consulted...I guess hormones are starting to work at that age...
Yes, I have considered non-caucasians, but then the number of variables was getting too big. Plus, ethnicity is not a big deal in the part of the world where I live (and if it was, it would be about East Europeans and Middle-East countries, which are not that different at this level of stylization). I reasoned that an alien character would be the best representation if this was a topic.
I have run this through groups of 6-9 year-old (nearly everybody picked a different one :-(() , and I am posting on social channels today.
And then it is decision-time!
Please keep tuning in - especially if you have a chance to show it to kids! -
@smceccarelli I thought I perhaps saw a little bit of Han Solo influence in #8 and X-Wing fighter in #10 1
I thought the alien might have been to accommodate other ethnicities. I can totally see your point about ethnicity not being "a big deal" in Switzerland (you're still there, correct?). I was just thinking from what I need to consider here in the USA and also in marketing to a global market. Either way, your cute characters and fun story will be a delight to all!
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I have collected votes from 52 people (online and in person) and here is a plot of the results! Thank you to all SVS-learners who participated in the voting!
I think the results are really interesting in terms of comparing adults and children - it seems children want to become adults and adults want them to stay children...
I have written a small blog post here: Children Book Character Options - part 2Anyway, I post here the results for anybody interested! And now I will get on with designing the final version!
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@smceccarelli That is fascinating! It's very thorough of you to do so much research and even plotting a graph for it.. Maybe like you say it's about the children aspiring to be adults...I've read elsewhere about children liking to read about other children who are just a few years older, rather than the same age...whereas adults probably see all of them as young and choose the cutest design... Good luck with the project, will be great to see the next update!
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And here is the first sketch for the final character - a mix of 5 and 7, shifted towards slightly older (like 5). There is a lot more development work to do, but I am happy about how this character is taking shape, and very glad I did a poll - I would not have got this without the input from outside!
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@smceccarelli Love these! I really liked the look of #7 but thought it might be too young looking, you took it and made him the perfect age, IMHO.
