The Toadstool Tale

Welcome to The Toadstool Tale

In this project, you will see world-building, concept art, as well as the progress that has been made on The Toadstool Tale children's book. 

Originally this was a concept for a game until the idea of turning this into a children's book came to my attention.

Character Design

Set in a world full of magic and mystery, The Toadstool Tale follows the story of the mushroom brothers August and Inky. Together, with the help of a few friends, they overcome the many challenges set before them.

It was my goal for each character to be simple yet memorable at the same time.

The Toadstool Town

The journey first takes August and Inky to The Toadstool Town. 

As the first location in the story, I spent a lot of effort refining the design. Taking inspiration from suburban Japanese architecture and Swiss villages, the results were unusual yet cosy. 

Using watercolour paints in combination with my digital art helps me view the designs from different outlooks. In the end, the final digital art piece is a perfect location for the story.

The Potion Shop

The next pivotal location is the Potion Shop, owned by the three evil mushrooms. 

This design was interesting since I had to fill the shelves with as many different objects as possible. This included the potion that would inevitably shrink our two protagonists.

The potion bottle had to be a very memorable part of the project, due to this I spent a lot of time coming up with the perfect version. I settled with a design that hinted at it's shrinking properties.

Inside the potion shop, the shop owners present the mysterious potion to August and Inky. Unfortunately August is a little clumsy and it smashes to the floor.

This shrinks them until they're the size of a large apple.

The Library 

On a journey to discover a cure for the potion's effects, our protagonists travel to The Library of Mycology. On the way, they meet Glim and Glo, some helpful mushrooms who eventually lead them beneath the library to find an ancient creature.

The Library also had many different renditions.

In the end, I decided to create this large towering structure. Intimidating yet obviously connected to the old and mysterious magic of this world.

Beneath the Library 

The library's staircase leads down into the depths of the world. Far beneath lies an ancient creature who might be able to help our protagonist's shrinking problem.

The staircase was a large focus of the design. My main aim was to continue the ink/art nouveau inspired shape language.

The Cluster

At the end of the story, the ancient creature gives August and Inky a riddle that will get them back to their original size.

This creature, also known as The Cluster, is a collection of many mushrooms that have formed into one being. The mushrooms that form this creature can be seen in each artwork, watching the story along with the reader.

While the formation of the children's book is still in progress, I am going to be starting a Kickstarter later this year to fund the printing. 

If you would like to follow the progress, I post regular updates on my Instagram

It was a joy working on this project. While each piece came with new challenges, each challenge was even more gratifying when completed. 

Hope you enjoyed my entry.