Sohni, a charming girl was born to a potter named Tulla, who lived in Gujarat, Punjab. During that time, Gujarat, located on Chenab, was a caravan-serai on the trade route between Delhi and Bukhara. It is said that the shop of Sohni’s father was near Rampyari Mahal by the Chenab. Sohni would perform the task of giving her artistic touch to the pots and get them ready for sale. Enter Izzat Baig of Bukhara, a rich and promising trader who lost his heart to Sohni at first sight. Soon, Sohni also started cherishing the thoughts of Izzat Baig, and their romance took off on a high note.
As Izzat Baig took up the chore of a servant and herder in his beloved’s household just to see her, he acquired the sobriquet Mahiwal (one who herds buffaloes). But, even though the lovers were eager to marry each other, their parents played tricks to separate them.
Eventually, Sohni was forced to marry another man against her wishes, while Mahiwal renounced his home for good and took up his abode on the banks of Chenab right opposite to the village where Sohni lived with her husband. At night, Sohni would swim across the river with the help of an earthen pitcher to meet her lover. However, when her sister-in-law discovered the whole story, she replaced the baked pitcher with an unbaked one. During the nocturnal swim in Chenab to meet her lover, Sohni finally drowned in the Chenab when the unbaked pitcher dissolved into the water. In the end, Mahiwal also drowned while making an attempt to save her life.
As Izzat Baig took up the chore of a servant and herder in his beloved’s household just to see her, he acquired the sobriquet Mahiwal (one who herds buffaloes). But, even though the lovers were eager to marry each other, their parents played tricks to separate them.
Eventually, Sohni was forced to marry another man against her wishes, while Mahiwal renounced his home for good and took up his abode on the banks of Chenab right opposite to the village where Sohni lived with her husband. At night, Sohni would swim across the river with the help of an earthen pitcher to meet her lover. However, when her sister-in-law discovered the whole story, she replaced the baked pitcher with an unbaked one. During the nocturnal swim in Chenab to meet her lover, Sohni finally drowned in the Chenab when the unbaked pitcher dissolved into the water. In the end, Mahiwal also drowned while making an attempt to save her life.
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Chenab River, Punjab
The Chenab river is a major river that flows in India and Pakistan, and is one of the 5 major rivers of the Punjab region. This is where Sohni and Mahiwal both died. Heer-Ranjha, Sohni-Mahiwal or Sahiban-Mirza are three stories that have a connection to this river leaving beheld historical romances in the past.
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Traditional Artwork
I had some feedback which included to look into traditional artwork, although that may mean paintings i had a look into other forms of artwork. Some of these I already have access to at home such as the clothing.
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The Movie Adaptation
There's a few movie adaptations of the folklore's, all in which are pretty outdated and old. So could I possibly take some of the movies and put it within a picture book?
Although the movie is long, most of it has consisted of singing, however music can also be part of punjabi folklore depending on the story. |
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Traditional Artwork
Earthen Pots
As the story is based on a Potters daughter I looked at some pots made in South Asia. I could potentially use some of these patterns for my work. This is just a minor detail within the bigger picture.
How to handle Death
As my story ends tragically I was wondering how I'm going to do go about the ending, do i want to show exactly how the couple dies, make it a mystery or have a completely different route in which they separate without a tragic ending. I decided to look into cartoons and how children's movie's may convey death.
Sketchbook Scans
My sketches here are messy but I was more focused on writing down what I needed to include and see what designs would work with the story.
Children's Books
RANI’S REMARKABLE DAY BY ANOOSHA SYED
Syed is one of my favourite kid lit illustrators as she's focused on South Asian characters and has a unique style that shows the characters personality and how they're tied with their culture. Below I've shown her most recent work that captures details of south asian culture even in the smallest places such as as how she draws the beach towel for example.
Syed is one of my favourite kid lit illustrators as she's focused on South Asian characters and has a unique style that shows the characters personality and how they're tied with their culture. Below I've shown her most recent work that captures details of south asian culture even in the smallest places such as as how she draws the beach towel for example.
FASCINATING FOLKTALES OF PUNJAB BY CHAAYA PRABHAT
Prabhat is another South Asian illustrator that creates kidlit illustrations within her own style incorporating South Asian culture, below I've added the folktales book she worked on as I'm also going down this path. However, she also illustrates South Asian festivals and traditions in a fun way and educated way.
Prabhat is another South Asian illustrator that creates kidlit illustrations within her own style incorporating South Asian culture, below I've added the folktales book she worked on as I'm also going down this path. However, she also illustrates South Asian festivals and traditions in a fun way and educated way.
HOLI HAI BY DARSHIKA VARMA
Verma is someone i recently found out about, similar to the style of Syed. Her work is colourful and engaging. Holi Hai is a book based on the festival of colours.
Verma is someone i recently found out about, similar to the style of Syed. Her work is colourful and engaging. Holi Hai is a book based on the festival of colours.
HAIR OIL MAGIC BY ANU CHOUHAN
Chouhan shows a story of how traditions can be passed down, oiling hair is something South Asian's have been doing for generations, it creates a bond between mother and daughter as well as using self made remedies to nurture the hair. Now it's using coconut oil. The way Chouhan illustrates seems to be simple, less background work and rather the connection between the characters.
Chouhan shows a story of how traditions can be passed down, oiling hair is something South Asian's have been doing for generations, it creates a bond between mother and daughter as well as using self made remedies to nurture the hair. Now it's using coconut oil. The way Chouhan illustrates seems to be simple, less background work and rather the connection between the characters.
Making a children's book
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Page layout with type
As the text is as important as the illustration I looked at existing pages of children's book to see how other illustrators tackle the subject. I will need to make sure to look into the type of font that would suit my illustration and what size would suit best. As most of my text is relatively short It would be best to have it a little large around 12-14 pt with emphasises on certain words to captivate the audience (children).
Thumbnail based on original script
Although the script works well with the amount of pages I have, I did notice the words in it are far too complex for a child to understand. I will need to move forwards by dumbing it down and re work into my ideas.
Book Research
I looked in the Uni's library to see what books they would have on South Asia, most of which show traditional art. I also looked into the book on how to illustrate a children's book to refresh myself on what needs to be added.
Script re written
Page 1: Half Title Page
Page 2: Title Page
Page 2: Title Page
Page 3-4: Introduction
Page 5-6: Meeting Izzat Baig
Page 7-8: Parents' Concerns
Page 9-10: Forced Apart
Page 11-12: Secret Meetings
Page 13-14: Tragic Discovery
Page 15-16: Sohni's End
Page 17-18: Mahiwal's Fate
- Text: "In a village by the river, lived Sohni. She helped her father, Tulla, a potter, make pots."
Page 5-6: Meeting Izzat Baig
- Text: "One day, a trader named Izzat Baig came to the village."
Page 7-8: Parents' Concerns
- Text: "But Sohni's and Izzat Baig's parents worried. They wanted what was best for their children."
Page 9-10: Forced Apart
- Text: "Sohni had to marry someone else. Izzat Baig left the village, heartbroken."
Page 11-12: Secret Meetings
- Text: "But Sohni and Izzat Baig found a way to meet. Sohni swam across the river every night to see him."
Page 13-14: Tragic Discovery
- Text: "One night, Sohni's sister-in-law discovered her secret. She replaced Sohni's baked pitcher with an unbaked one."
Page 15-16: Sohni's End
- Text: "When Sohni swam with the unbaked pitcher, it dissolved in the water, and she drowned."
Page 17-18: Mahiwal's Fate
- Text: "Izzat Baig tried to save Sohni but drowned too. Their love was eternal."
Colour
During my thumbnails i struggled to visualize what colours i wanted to use, I want to make sure the palette is coherent through the story but also doesn't hurt the eyes. I'm more used to warm toned illustrations but I want to explore more colours as I did with my editorials. South Asia has a colourful culture which would be perfect to experiment with. I looked into two of my favourite kid lit illustrators and prefer the colour scheme of Anoosha Syed as it's less saturated.
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Digital Development
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Text size and placements
As my original book size is pretty large i wanted to figure out how the text would fit better with the size. I printed out a variety of sizes and made a quick sketch for the first page. The smaller sizes are not as readable. I quite like sizes 16 and 18 and think they would work best for the size i'm working on as they're more clear from afar as well.
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Final size text placement
Taking my piece back to digital i realise the sizes i printed out were actually way smaller on the screen so I've made it larger to size 24. I haven't fully finished this page's illustration but i will decipher the font of the text once fully completed as i want the text to fit naturally into the scenes.
Cover
Page 3-4
Page 7-8
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Page 11-12
Page 15-16
