Done!

I have now sent the book to fujidirekt, so now it's just to wait until it arrives! I'm not sure that the books will make it in time until we'll show our project work to the other classes.

Overall I think everything have went well, and I haven't had any major problem really. So I'm happy with the results and looks forward to have the book in my hand!

Finishing

I have now finished all the pictures (except some small ones I want to include on the backside of the book) and have pretty much put the whole book together in fujidirekt's program.
It was really hard to sit down and finish those pictures, because I totally lost all inspiration and motivation. So sadly is the last picture pretty bad, but it works.

I've also written a text in the beginning of the book about my trip to Ghana and why I did this project. It was more difficult that I had expected, and I still have to go through it some more before I can say that I'm happy about it.
I wrote a part in the end of the book about the orphanage that I visited, and how to contact them, because they really helped me out with the stories, and I want to return the favour somehow.

I can of... improvised the text on the backside, but I had in mind that it should be suiting for children. I think it went out well, but that is also something I have to look through some more.

Help from Linda

I've finally finished all the stories! They are now translated and I asked Linda for help with the Swedish, so now it should not be anything weird in it.

It was actually a lot harder to translate than I thought. It was hard to hear what they said, and I was torn between writing exactly what they said or write it more as I wanted it to be to be a story. But I went for exactly as they said, because it's their stories and therefore they should be as exact as possible.

So only 1½ picture to finish, and then it's off to write a small part about the orphan and then create the book!

Picture two and three

I've now finished the second and third picture. And it have all went very well, and I've actually don't have much to say about them.

I've have been uploading these picture on a art site where I am a member, www.deviantart.com, and asked for feedback on them. Which I have gotten! So thanks to them I've been able to fix problems and errors in the picture to make them look better.
I'm very thankful for that. ^^

First picture - Ananse and how the wisdom spread over the world

I've finally started on the art! Which both feels great and makes me very nervous. Why? Well I'm in a period in my drawing when I just don't like what I do, and I don't have the inspiration to make things look good. But I'm doing my best and I will put all other art aside so that I can keep my plan on making one picture each week.

About the stories too. I have twelve now, but I think I will cut it down to 7. Because looking at the timeplan I only made time for 8 pictures, and besides that those 7 is all about the same maincharacter, Ananse. The other stories is random and have no connection. So I also think it's smarter to keep it to seven.

Working with the first picture have gone well so far, I worked with the lineart in Macromedia Flash Pro 8.0, as I usually do, so it haven't been any complications. The coloring have also been made but in Photoshop CS5. But I have had troubles with the background. I don't get that feeling of a rainforest. The thing is that it from far away, so I guess I can't do much about it.
I've also thought of maybe giving Ananse some clothes, I thought it wouldn't be needed since he is halfspider, but looking at him colored, he looks very naked, and I don't think children will like that. I might add a shirt on him, or something that will help him look more acceptable.

In Ghana

Being in Ghana and being able to work with the project feels amazing. It has gone far better than I've ever expected.
The first person I interviewed was a woman named Victoria Sena, she had worked with storytelling in a school, but how she is retired. We were a bit out-sync while talking, because my questions didn't really work with her way of thinking, and I think she thought I was a bit stupid. Especially when I asked about the message in the stories and she thought it was rather clear already. (I did too, but wanted it recorded.) Also when I asked her how the characters looked, she explained several times that this was fictional stories, which i knew. But I decided to work it her way and it ended with me not getting a lot questions answered. But I do believe I got the material I needed. I guess I just have a lot of liberty in the art now.
Sadly I didn't get a good personal interview with her either, it totally crashed because the questions didn't fit her at all and I could not come up with new ones. So I don't think I will have a huge part with her, only mention her help and so.

I also hastily interviewed a student at the school, though I didn't get her name. But the story she told is now one of my favorites. Thanks to this, I felt that I needed to change my project work a bit. Instead of just drawing a lot of pictures to one story, I will instead draw one picture to 12 different stories. Like a front page to them all. Why I changed it is because all the stories I got were so good and I wanted to include them all. And also, my first thought was to make this book fitting for maybe 4-6 years old children, but after hearing the stories, I feel that they are too brutal for that age, and that it's more fitting for maybe 8-11 years. Thanks to this it's also good if they have more to read than just one story.

The secound day with my projectwork I went to an Orphanage. First I was very comfused because no children were there, and those who worked there just ran around minding their own business, while Mama Comfort were calling different people on the phone who was going to come there. I kind of felt like an idiot, just sitting there and being complete oblivious to everything.
But after a while the kids came back from school and gathered around us on some tree benches. The woman from the hotel also joined us and later on also her sister who owns the orphanage.
The kids started to tell me stories, all in Ewe, which was very interesting to listen to. And I must say that I'm surprised that they dared to tell so many stories. I Only wished I've known their language, then it would have been twice as fun there.

The third day I was at the school again, and I recored Mama's translations from the children stories the day before. Finally I got to know what they were about and I was suprising how many that was about Ananse, who now will be the main character in the book, and the first stories will be about him.
ONe thing about recording the stories, was that sometimes it was very hard to hear what they said. Because it's sound in the background, as people talking or just a simple thing as the wind. So when writing down I have to guess from time to time.

But I already have some stories written down by Victoria Sena, so that's good. And I've also started to write down other stories. It works, and if I can't hear what they say, I'm guessing what makes most sense.

Overall it was an amaxing time being in Ghana, and I miss it so much! I can't believe I had second thoughs of going there, working with stories. It was amazing!

Children and Personal Interview

I will also during my time i Ghana interview children about stories. I'm both nervous and excited about this, and I really hope that it will work out well.
When I've talked with them I will also ask them to draw a picture to the story, does that sound okay? Maybe I should let them do that before so that they can relax more.

Here follows the Children inteview:

Interview children

Hello, my name is Lina, and I come from a country called Sweden. What your name?

I guess you all like stories? Do you have a favourite one?

What happens in this story?

That sounds like a really good story! Do you like the person in this story? Why?

What does it look like there? Do you see trees? Rivers?

Would you like to draw a picture with this story? Maybe how it looks like there.

Thank you!

I hope that is covering the info I need. I don't want to ask them to much since they might not like that. But I will change the questions depending how the child is mentally and in age. If he or she is a bit older I'll ask a little more about details.




I've also written a personal interview, which I will ask a adult person whom I'll interview. I've had a hard time coming up with fitting questions, since I'm not really sure about what I want to know. I'll use this information for a small information part in the book.

Personal interview

In my project I would love to have a informative part of you too. Would you like to be a part of the book?

Can you tell me a little about yourself? What's your full name, your age and where do you live?

What do you work with and what do you do there?

Do you have any particular interests?

Are you interested in stories?

Did you grow up with them?

Do you think stories for children are important? Why/Why not?

Are storytelling common here?

Do you think it's starting to disappear?

Do you tell stories often?

Is there something else you want to tell?

I will add this into the book. Thank you for anwering!

Antyhing I should change or add? Myself I think this is what I need to get a good informative part, but I would love the see that you think!