For the first Brothers Grimm story I choose for the G category, a short story called The Fox and the Horse. It is a light hearted story of a horse being to old to work at his farm and his owner sends him away. The horse however can stay and be well fed and not have to work forever, if the horse is able to bring a lion to his owner as proof of his strength. The horse runs away to the forest and is left in dismay until he meets a fox. He tells the fox his predicament and the fox devises a plan. The fox tricks the lion into having the horse drag him to his owner, and he then gets to live well fed and happily through the rest of his days. Since the story is simple and sweet, and to match the category that it associated with, I had the design and illustrations reflect as such. With the illustrations for the story I had them emulate a colouring book. With strong organic black outlines and a majority of white utilized, opens up to the possibility of being coloured by the reader if they so wish. The subject matter is stylized in a fun cartoon style graphic, where the animals have also been given anthropomorphic attributes, not only in the story but in the art as well. The text has been designed in a playful manner appealing to children, with the typeface larger so that the young reader may be able to read it more efficiently and be able to recognize letters. With interesting and fun pictures, playful type, a fun story, and some other surprise features. This book encapsulates the spirit of a modern day children’s book and classic old story together in a playful balance.
