Tyler Jimenez
Dice La Leyenda
Abstract: My thesis project will produce a 25–30 page graphic novel for children ages 8–12. It will be a perfect bound, 6x9, softcover book. Illustrated in a flat cartoonish style with solid shading. The book will consist of my adaptation of the Dominican folklore tales of “La Ciguapa,” “Galipotes,” and “Biembienes.” This project aims to provide Latinx middle school children in the U.S. with stories written by people with the same heritage and culture so that children of color can have positive and familiar role models. The project will also include a 1-minute frame by frame animation, depicting the mythical creatures and explaining their characteristics, and three 24x36 posters depicting the mythical creatures in the same style as they are shown in the book, one 48x36 poster with selected spreads from the book, and a t-shirt as collateral items.
Tyler's website: tylerjimenez.myportfolio.comDice la Leyenda is a book about the mythical creatures of the Dominican Republic, It aims to get Latinx children interested in cultures that they may otherwise not get exposed to, as well as providing them role-models that look like them and face the same challenges as they do.
This animation serves as a trailer for the book, it goes into detail of explaining the different mythical creatures in the book. In addition, it highlights the importance of love in community in the story.
Project Elements
Overview Poster
This 48x36 inch poster is an overview of the spreads of my book. It is divided into chapters and it is color coded based on the prominent color in each story. The purpose of this poster is to provide the viewers in the exhibition a quick overview of the book without the need to read the book.
Ciguapa poster
A 24x36 inch poster describing the Cigüapas, this poster’s purpose is to explain the physical characteristics of this creature as well as their personality traits.
Biembien poster
A 24x36 inch poster describing the Biembienes, focusing on showing children that things are not always like they seem, by explaining that this scary looking creature is actually kind and gentle.
Galipote poster
A 24x36 inch poster describing the Galipotes. This poster shows the different animals that the character turned into during the course of the book, and its main purpose id to differentiate Galipotes from other shape-shifters that children may be familiar with by providing the context of their origin.
Book Covers
Book covers have a section for each of the main mythical creatures, with the main character overlapping where all the sections meet as he uses his teletransportation. Each character is presented with a background related to their story in the book. The back cover consists of an image of the Forbidden Forest, with a short description of the book. The spine has a simple blue and green pattern alluding to the nature in the book with the title of the book and name of the author.
Bookmarks
These 6x2 inch bookmarks feature scenes from the book, and they feature patterns that were used throughout the book on the back. They have a description of the project allowing them to also be used similar to business cards.
Cups
These 2.5 x 6 inch cups have interchangeable sleeves. Allowing the children to choose their favourite. The sleeves consist of each character in an environment from the book, in addition to a sleeve with a design of the forbidden forest which is the main location of the book.
Shirts
These 5 shirts consist of each main character of the book shown with their name, displayed in a background that defines their personality. All the shirts have the title of the book on the back with a pattern.
Installation plan
This is a plan of how all the elements would be presented in an exhibition space. The walls would be wallpapered with a scene of the forbidden forest and the posters would be mounted on the walls in a way that resembles the panels from the graphic novel. The rest of my elements would be divided into pedestals. The animation would play on a desktop computer and share a pedestal with the shirts and my process book. Finally, the other pedestal would have the book, cups, and bookmarks.