building blocks..... of text

In getting my children's book ready to be sent out I have been doing a lot of work on it in the past few weeks to make all those final adjustments. One of the biggest things I did was to go back through the book and look at how readable all of my text was. Being an illustrator, pictures seam to be the most important part but really the words are just as important. After all I want people to read my story and that's the goal. Next time i'll think about how I integrate the text more as I start my book. Text shouldn't be an afterthought cause its really important and if it isn't incorporated it takes you out of the story. So those are my little thoughts about my words.

This is one of the first pages of my book. Notice how the text is very hard to read because of the background color. There is also a lot going on in the picture so the text needs breathing space as well so your eyes can pay attention to it.

I drew a paper with folded corners and put in behind the text to maker it stand out and easier to read. Hopefully it also anchors the picture and makes your eye move around the page.

The words on this page are really not that bad, but they could be better. Again this is a highly detailed page and the words blend in just a little to much with the background.

The words become easier to read now with a lighter color behind them. The bricks in the back lend themselves to making a shaped boarder for the words.

  These are two pages of my final color mock ups.