Final Book Project-Poem Visualization

The poem that I chose for my final project is titled Cloony the Clown by Shel Silverstein. I chose this poem because I wanted to do a child's poem, but it also has a feeling of despair in it making it relative to all ages. I did all of the textual work and images in Illustrator, and the typeface I used is Chalkboard. I took a couple of the words in the poem and made them look the way they sound. For example, I took the words "green and blue", and made them green and blue. I took the word "tall" and stretched it, and I took the word "shook" and used the tools to make it wavy. I then took images from online and made them look like cartoon images. I created two ellipses on each page and cut out the center to put in the clown nose. I glued the clown nose, hair, bow-tie and arm to the back of the book so it is always showing when you look at each page. I drew the face on the cover with pencils and the same face on the back. I did the front and back cover in foam board and covered the hair with fabric. I was overall happy with the turnout of my project, and I am glad that I was able to finally understand Illustrator.

Cloony the Clown: Poem by Shel Silverstein

I'll tell you the story of Cloony the Clown
Who worked in a circus that came through town.
His shoes were too big and his hat was too small,
But he just wasn't, just wasn't funny at all.
He had a trombone to play loud silly tunes,
He had a green dog and a thousand balloons.
He was floppy and sloppy and skinny and tall,
But he just wasn't, just wasn't funny at all.
And every time he did a trick,
Everyone felt a little sick.
And every time he told a joke,
Folks sighed as if their hearts were broke.
And every time he lost a shoe,
Everyone looked awfully blue.
And every time he stood on his head,
Everyone screamed, "Go back to bed!"
And every time he made a leap,
Everybody fell asleep.
And every time he ate his tie,
Everyone began to cry.
And Cloony could not make any money
Simply because he was not funny.
One day he said, "I'll tell this town
How it feels to be an unfunny clown."
And he told them all why he looked so sad,
And he told them all why he felt so bad.
He told of Pain and Rain and Cold,
He told of Darkness in his soul,
And after he finished his tale of woe,
Did everyone cry? Oh no, no, no,
They laughed until they shook the trees
With "Hah-Hah-Hahs" and "Hee-Hee-Hees."
They laughed with howls and yowls and shrieks,
They laughed all day, they laughed all week,
They laughed until they had a fit,
They laughed until their jackets split.
The laughter spread for miles around
To every city, every town,
Over mountains, 'cross the sea,
From Saint Tropez to Mun San Nee.
And soon the whole world rang with laughter,
Lasting till forever after,
While Cloony stood in the circus tent,
With his head drooped low and his shoulders bent.
And he said,"THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT -
I'M FUNNY JUST BY ACCIDENT."
And while the world laughed outside.
Cloony the Clown sat down and cried.