The Great Book of Feelings

Directed by Wiola Sowa, with a screenplay by Maciej Kur, based on Grzegorz Kasdepke’s "The Great Book Of Feeling"

I am the author of the visual design for the animated series "The Great Book of Feelings". My task was to create depictions of characters, locations, and props based on an already-made script. Each element had to be presented in surrounding views or shots.

"The Great Book of Feelings'' will consist of over 50 episodes. Here I present the results of work on the pilot episode of the series titled "Longing".

With time, as the series continues, new characters, locations, and props requiring design will appear with every new episode.

The main theme of the series is emotions.

Therefore, when creating the visual concept for “The Great Book of Feelings” series, I wanted the designed characters to reflect their personalities and be as diverse as possible in appearance, with colourful personalities and various features, making it easy for young viewers to identify with them.

I designed dozens of individual facial expressions so that the emotions expressed by the characters could be easily read by younger children. This project was created primarily with preschoolers in mind, so it needed to be both clear and visually appealing.

Location 1: Kindergarten and the playground

The action of the series mainly takes place in the kindergarten. My task was to design both exterior and interior locations. The environment is treated as an equal character of the events, hence the intense colours, multitude of details and environmental elements that catch the viewers’ attention. Wholesome, cheerful colours and bold, unique colour combinations are seen the most. The shapes are simplified and naive in children’s eyes.

Characters

The main characters of the series are a group of bright and quick-thinking preschoolers: Zosia, Rozalka, Grześ, Bodzio and Rafałek, who are taken care of by a slightly scatterbrained, young preschool teacher Miss Miłka and her “assistant” Pajacyk.

Supporting characters include Julka, a preschooler from the class, children’s parents, the headmaster and Miss Miłka’s boyfriend Kuba.

Bodzio

He believes he’s the wittiest preschooler in their group. He easily gets angry when he can’t find an answer to a question.

Location 2: Streets featured in the opening credits, which the preschoolers walk along to get to preschool.

Although the shots are seen only for a few seconds and appear solely in the show’s opening credits, I had to draw fairly long views.

It was a great opportunity to play with the details, introduce a bit of humour (posters on a bulletin board featuring: a recital by Michał Bajor, a leather clothing fair), and to reference the architecture of the city I come from – the tenement houses on one of the streets and the Batyskaf kiosk.

Zosia

She’s curious and acts slightly like a know-it-all. She doesn’t get along very well with the boys, she prefers the company of her girl-friends. She especially enjoys spending time with her best friend, Rozalka