Ammu & The Quest to Grow Up
Cow Says! is a joyful exploration of sibling bonding through animal sounds. As they encounter different animals, one sibling leaps with excitement while the other reacts with surprise, laughter, or tears, inviting young readers to join their adventure. This playful story weaves animal sounds into vibrant shared experiences filled with fun and discovery.
Children's Book
Age Group: 1- 3 Yrs
9 x 10”, Procreate
For my final thesis project in the MA in Children’s Publishing at Goldsmiths University (London), I created a picture book exploring the themes of adulthood and childhood aspirations. The story delves into a classic childhood dream—the freedom of being an adult—but asks: What happens when a child takes matters into her own hands and experiences the unpredictability of adulthood firsthand?
The protagonist, Ammu, is bold, goofy, and unapologetically herself. I wanted to reflect her vibrant personality not only in her character design but also in the book’s visual style. The illustrations were created using a combination of India ink, wax crayons,
and colored inks.
In terms of composition, I used background elements to visually convey Ammu’s shifting emotions through the interplay of negative and positive space. The book begins with more negative space, but as Ammu’s chaotic journey into adulthood unfolds, positive space gradually expands, eventually consuming the pages—mirroring her turbulent adventure.
Since the book explores a child navigating the complexities of adulthood, I wanted "role play" to be the core theme, along with the associated keywords such as theatre, expression and dramatics. Ammu's attempt at adulthood feels slightly off-key—presumptuous, exaggerated, and overcompensating to belong. Her transformation as a "grown-up" has a sense of awkward imitation. From her DIY moustache and borrowed clothes from her mother and sister, the character design needed to starkly show her "dressing-up" rather than being a grown up.
Hence, much of the character design process focused on gesture study, fully understanding and amplifying Ammu's movements and figuring out the characters' physicality. The resulting physicality leans into slapstick humour, enhancing the comedic and theatric nature of the character's portrayal and making her relatable and endearing to the reader.
