Peep into the Deep comic series
Abstract:
Humans have explored most of the Earth’s surface, from the polar regions to the densest of jungles, but there is still one place to be explored further, the ocean. With increasingly more research pointing towards the obvious benefits of a deeper understanding of the ocean, it is time for us to dive into it, to better comprehend marine biology.
One way for us to place more importance in marine biology is to cultivate a healthy interest in the topic. I believe that the best place to start is with the children of today. By allowing their interest to take root, it will ultimately result in the advancements of future ocean studies.
Peep into the Deep is a comic book series about the deep sea, with each book featuring different deep sea marine species. It aims to educate children and garner their interest in marine biology as well as facilitate moral education among them. It is targeted to children of ages 6 to 8, which are crucial ages in the development of a child’s cognitive skills, making it an effective entry point to introduce these children to this topic. As a form of narrative, comic books are appropriate to this age group because they act as a bridge between picture books and novels. Furthermore, the colourful visuals of comics attract and motivate children to read. In turn, this could encourage them to venture into the unfamiliar ocean to discover more about it.
Character model/expression sheets:
I decided to use my handwriting to develop a new typeface that would make the textual elements in the speech balloons neater and more legible within my comic book. The new designed typeface was named, ‘Bloop’, just like the sound of things being dropped into water.
As part of the marketing efforts to distribute the series of books written and designed by myself, stuffed toys modelled after the characters of my comic book series were also created. All the stuffed toys were hand sewn with cotton cloth and felt.
The function of the stuffed toys is to help promote the comic books in locations such as schools and bookstores. The objective is to attract children to find out more about these creatures, which will hopefully entice them to enrich their knowledge about the creatures of the deep sea.
Read the Peep into the Deep series here!
