What is Squiggle?
I went to bed one night with the germ of an idea and by the end of the next day, had written verse for Squiggle, stories illustrated in a single continuous line that never crosses. An example is the artwork to Sea Squiggle (left), if the three rows were linked together they'd trace the journey in one blue line. In other Squiggle stories the line changes from the main simple character into animals, plants and objects, meaning the child doesn't just follow the verse but the line as well. In Squiggle, I’ve created something with a unique graphical identity flowing as story and illustration. The stories are designed to inspire young children of Pre-School and Primary-School age to draw and teach them about the subjects being Squiggled. I have written and illustrated three Squiggles to date:
Squiggle – The story introduces the Squiggle character and the drawing element. The line turns into people, animals, words, numbers, plants and objects on its journey.
Squiggle Recycled – As well as the drawing element, the line takes the child through all the things they can do and make to recycle at home. The story is illustrated with a green line.
Sea Squiggle – This story shows children many of the things that can be found in the sea.
Ultimate Frisbee Squiggle
Reaction to Squiggle & Future Applications
Feedback to Squiggle has been fantastic, the single line artwork has led to a commission for a children's drawing and colouring book. Two of the Squiggle stories were entered into separate categories of a local art competition; winning both I attracted the following written comments from the judges:
On Squiggle, “Totally original use of line drawing and a sure-fire hit for encouraging children’s imagination.”
On Sea Squiggle, “Ingenious, complicated, fascinating and an inspirational application of the Squiggle.”
I have had a number of creative ideas for how Squiggle concept could be developed:
As picture book layout (The Squiggles being black and white, or black and white with one colour, have a cost advantage over full colour picture books).
A concertina layout/wall paper border or height chart.
As part of an activity/drawing/colouring book.
As a join the dots book, where the Squiggles are revealed once the dots are joined.
As a puzzle with uniform pieces allowing a child to reorder the drawings and story in any way they like.
As line drawing animation.
As greeting cards
As T-Shirt designs
As posters
The example below is from Squiggle, clicking each of the images will enlarge it and show the text. If you would like to see the other fully illustrated Squiggle stories, please contact me on: Alex_Craggs@yahoo.co.uk.
