june perkins

Designer in Focus – Heidi Den Ronden

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So how did you come to be part of the Magic Fish Dreaming team?

I met June Perkins through my involvement in the ABC Open Disaster Project. We kept in contact and she approached me about designing the layout for a children’s book she was working on.

What is your background in design? and can you tell us a little more about Heidi the person and artist

I graduated from Qld College of Art with a Bachelor of Visual Arts in Graphic Design in 1997 and have been working as a graphic designer in one form or another ever since. This is my first children’s book design however. I am also a freelance photographer, writer and I occasionally dabble in drawing. Before I became a designer I wanted to be a fine artist.

What did you find different about a children’s book compared to the previous work that you do?

I normally work on corporate material which does not always give the opportunity to be highly creative (except where I can sneak it in). However given that the text and illustrations themselves were so delightful it was not hard to let the creativity flow!

 What inspired your decisions on the typography and layout for Magic Fish Dreaming?

Definitely the imagery and the words. I visualised each word as a playful, little picture and envisioned how it would bounce across the page, but not detract from the beauty of the illustrations.

I’ve always loved making text flow across curves and shapes so that it becomes an art piece in itself.

 What is your favourite page of the book?

“Beyond Caterpillar Days,” with its combination of the beautiful artwork by Helene and poetry by June, is simply breathtaking.

What where some of the challenges of this book, and how did you overcome these?

I had to ditch some traditional corporate design rules (small typeface, clean, lots of white space) and consider a creative and child specific typographic layout so that the design made the text easier for young children to read.

I had to factor in font choice and size, colour, and page layout with regards to educational and age specific demands,  and consider how all of it would work without taking away from the integrity of the illustrations and text.

Would you like to work on more children’s books?  How can people get in touch with you?

Yes absolutely! I really enjoyed the experience.

People can get in contact via my WordPress site Heidi Den Ronden 

Above is a poem Helene and June shared for the kickstarter and how it changed with design.

Below are some of the layouts before it was designed.

POST SCRIPT

June said this about working with Heidi:
“Heidi Den Ronden was part of a dedicated and delightful team who worked together to produce Magic Fish Dreaming. Her playful designs enhanced the artistic work of Helene Magisson and showed sensitive understanding of my poetry.

Her professionalism and high level communication skills made working with her a rewarding and enriching experience for all in the team.”

Helene had this to say about working with Heidi on the book:

“It has been a great pleasure to work with Heidi on the poetry book Magic Fish Dreaming. She demonstrated an amazing imagination in her work. She was able to enhance each page thanks to her wonderful artistic sensitivity and always with a strong respect to the integrity of the illustrations. It was also very pleasant to communicate with her as she has wonderful and surprising ideas; she is open minded, flexible and available.

She gave a very special and unique touch to the book.”

Diversity in Magic Fish Dreaming

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In Magic Fish Dreaming diversity comes in many forms. There’s the diversity of wildlife and landscape and the diversity of author June Perkins’ Papua New Guinea/Aussie heritage and her European descent Aussie illustrator, Helene Magisson.

Together they have created something truly exquisite that shares the wondrous Far North Queensland, Australian Environment in playful, lyrical, and inspiring ways.

Meet all sorts of wonderful characters as Magic Fish Dreaming encourages children and families everywhere to hunt for their own nature-based or urban poems.

Mira Reisberg Ph.D.  Director of the Children’s Book Academy

Inventive New Patterns

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The whimsical and lusciously evocative poems of Magic Fish Dreaming are subtly imbued with wisdom, and steeped in story.

In playful language, June Perkins takes traditional forms of rhyme and rhythm, twisting and weaving them into inventive new patterns.

Helene Magisson’s delicate illustrations are luminous – the aesthetic interplay between this rich text and these elegant images is a sheer delight.

Robyn Sheahan-Bright, JustifiedText Writing and Publishing Consultancy Services

Official Brisbane Launch Date – Date Saver

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The Official Brisbane Launch

Magic Fish Dreaming 

Sunday October 30th

3-5 pm.

We’ll be sharing more on this very soon (posters and program in development).  Working on a special program and have some wonderful collaborative partners helping us out who we thank so much and will feature here soon.

A Gold Coast signing and launch is also being planned.

Launch Partner for Brisbane Event – More on this soon.

Beyond Caterpillar Days – Sneak Peak

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So, so exciting! Super, super busy! I think I need a pair of butterfly wings! Flap, flap.

Above is our second last sneak peak of the enchanting illustrations by Helene before the launch. Just one more reveal! No poem to reveal, as you’ll see that in the book.  Wow, our caterpillar book is about to fly! No more cocoon. . . so very soon our book will fly into your hands.

It’s final editing of the manuscript time – the point where the poet is not allowed to tinker or fine tune the metre of any more lines, but has to finally be satisfied for the line edits by magic Matilda.

We have some magical people in children’s writing and poetry, writing something about the book as we speak.  Can’t wait for their feedback !  They are the first, other than the team, to see butterfly emerge from its cocoon.

Our design wizz Heidi will soon be doing her stuff, taking the manuscript and the art and putting it all together.  Ah the decisions on font and so forth will be taking place.

I’ll be off to see the printer to make some final decision before that.  Papers, binding, and other mysteries to hide from you all a little while longer.  Ah for the mysteries of the cymk that will make the colours Helene has put into her art sing onto the page.

As for launching and so on, there’s still some research to be done, before we fix dates and places.  Maybe we will make a trailer?  We dream of flying or road tripping North to share our book in the place where the poems were born.

Will our dream come true?

(c) June Perkins

Progress Report

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The art work is complete!  Yesterday Helene delivered it. Now it is time to scan it ready for designer Heidi to work her magic.

It was so great catching up with Helene as we have both been busy. She has been working hard on the art for the book, and I’ve been managing other aspects of the project and preparing our review schedule.

On the weekend I went to a writer’s retreat at Mt Lamington National Park. This was the view from the room I was staying in!  Now that’s Magic!

I enjoyed my time at the retreat and you can read more about it on:

Pearlz Dreaming.

The time near Mt Lamington has renewed my energy for completing the rest of Magic Fish Dreaming and other writing projects.  It was educational, vibrant and full of friendship and networking.

I was delighted to find fans of Magic Fish Dreaming attending the retreat. They expressed so much anticipation for our project that it made me smile.  I told Helene all about it when we met on Monday.

We look forward to seeing everyone who can make the launch when we announce it.  I am working on fixing a date and venue.

Best Wishes,

June, on behalf of the Magic Fish Dreaming Team

Interview with Ali

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You can read an Interview with Ali Stegert on Magic Fish Dreaming HERE.

“Magic Fish Dreaming is a children’s picture book project written by my friend and crit-buddy June Perkins and illustrated by Helene Magisson. Today, I interview the author about her beautiful work and her dream of bringing the project to fruition.

A Dreamy Book for Youngsters

Ali: “A dreamy book for youngsters” is my five-word description of your book. How about you describe Magic Fish Dreaming  in five words?” FOR THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW CLICK HERE.

Passing the $5000AUD Mark

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So excited to let you know we have just passed $5000, and are now at $5049 raised towards our green light $9000 goal.

Just $3951 more and we will have our project definitely up and away!

There are just a few more hours left in our special Cassowary soft toy and book reward, so if you know anyone that would love this reward with the book, do let them know.

Thanks so much to Dimity Powell, who blogged our project today, and shared her blog throughout her networks.  We greatly appreciate the assistance of Dimity and many others who are letting the wider community know about our book.

Mr Koala says check out this: ARTICLE BY DIMITY

We acknowledge continual supporters on twitter like the Children Writers Guild, Alesa Lajana, Nancy, Vacen and Lenora Riegel, Pasifika Tales, Australian Women Writers, and Torey-Ann Torres, as well as their retweeting friends!

A big thank you to Jan Cornall, the Writer’s Journey, and to Di Bates, at Buzz words for sharing information about our project in their newsletters. We now have a few multiple book order options available, as some people are buying one for themselves and one for a friend or library. So check out our custom rewards.

ABC Far North Queensland did a prerecorded radio interview.  We will inform you when we know when and where this is airing and if there is an online podcast link.

Today the following stop press went out to schools.

Stop Press – Additional Note for Schools – Workshops Magic Fish Dreaming 

We realise that for many schools and libraries to consider the workshop option and day visits they need to budget well ahead of time.

The schedule for this book is that it will be available October/November 2016 and the workshops will commence in 2017.

We recommend if you would love a presentation or workshop or term project for 2017 pre-purchase at least the book or Education Reward 1 so we make sure it happens and goes into print.

You will then have the satisfaction of knowing you supported a book which encourages the development of poets in our community from the earliest of ages.

We will convert your skype in Education Reward to the introductory talk to a large school group.

June has run poetry workshops in schools and for community groups, and has a graduate certificate in teaching and a PhD in writing empowerments. She is currently on an Australian Society of Authors mentorship for writing picture books and works mentoring University students in creative writing.

Helene has taught art in India. She is an award winning artist with four picture books that will have been published by 2017.

They are combining forces to inspire and share the process of collaboration, illustration, and poetry in programs will be suitable for budding illustrators and poets. Much of the information you will need for budget and grant consideration is on our project blog.

Furthermore you can look at the educational rewards in the kickstarter to get an idea of the costs and programs we provide.

First preference for 2017 workshops will be given to those schools and teachers who supported the kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/juneperkins/magic-fish-dreaming

June and Helene are based in Brisbane. Travel outside of Brisbane’s CBD more than 50 km will incur additional travel costs.

(More information will be available on workshops soon)