Makura Gaeshi - The Map Project

This week I have been experimenting with my designs for a Makura Gaeshi , a Japanese spirit that steals your pillow in the night and moves it to the bottom of the bed. Only Children can see them, they are known to be mischevious and sometimes have a rainbow glow to their eyes.

The map project which I am doing at the moment focus's on maps, and I had chosen to do Japan and focus on its culture and folklore's and it's story telling. I looked at studio Ghibli for influence into storytelling and came up with a crazy idea that would appeal to children. This would give the map a narrative to aid the visuals . The idea is that a small girl is sleeping in her bed, finds that the spirit has stolen her pillow and has taken it to a location in japan.

The small girl wishes for magical intervention, she wishes she can fly but it doesnt happen immediatley, then she goes to the kitchen, makes a bowl of noodles and the noodles turn into a noodle dragon which takes her all over Japan to find her pillow, so as she can return to sleep.

The map will be interactive as it will be a web page on a childrens website. It will be educational as every location you visit will give information on that area or landmark.

Here are my designs for the makura gaeshi... 

"Makura Gaeshi - The Map Project-Japan"

Futher work for this project will be up soon!