Final Book

Here is what the final book I made looks like. I had a few problems with printing the dark blue pages and had to tweak them and reprint the whole thing with edited colours. The front cover is screen printed with metallic gold paint, and this almost looks better than I expected, the gold really stands out against the dark background.

The stitching was also a problem, I ended up doing it once, then unpicking it all as it was too loose and the pages were not as flush as I wanted. I decided to use two sets of straight stitching at each end to hold it in place, then do the wavy stitches afterwards which ended up being a good solution.

1930s Japanese Poster Design

These posters are very effective in using just letter forms (all be it much more pictorial characters than English) to create a dynamic and engaging composition.

I can almost see the image above as a double page spread, with one page filled with the intricate and very heavy black text, and the other with much more dense text. The composition is dynamic and the bold section really captures your attention even though it probably has less to say. If I want a reader to look at an image before the text I could employ this technique of having a very big and bold image paired with more delicate type on the opposing page.

The huge difference in scale of the characters (or components) create a clear visual hierarchy, letting the viewer know there are 2 or more sets of text to be read separately.

Eli Craven

These snippets of photos are quite ghostly, they almost look like they are coming out of the paper from inside. They are so effective in their simplicity, and something similar could provide a change of pace in my version of the book.

Mock Ups

I'm starting to think about how I am going to out the final book together and how I can create something special that people would want to buy.

The way I am approaching the layout is that the further through the book you get the more abstract and disjointed the images get, as well as the text becoming more spaced out over pages and eventually getting warped itself.

Here are some spreads:

I've decided to keep the images to a very limited colour scheme of black, white and blue.

I am thinking about case binding the book with a cloth cover (also in dark blue) to make it feel like a genuine object as opposed to just some stapled sheets. I want to consider all elements of the design and may leave the spine open with it stitched like below (or similar using blue thread). It seems a shame to spend time stitching the pages together for it to just be covered by a spine so I think making the stitching a key part of the outside design is a good solution.

I am also intending to screen print the front cover in gold on the navy cloth, again to give it a very finished and 'proper' feel. The design will be very simple with either just text, or text and a pattern. I want the cover to look like a contemporary interpretation of an antique book cover, looking back to when books were very valuable and collectible objects.

Sam Winston

An artist that uses text in a very abstract and expressive way is Sam Winston. He manipulates the words and letter to the point that is is more image than it is text. This would be a very interesting way of taking the idea of the text breaking down and falling apart to another level and creating a version of the story that definitely wouldn't have been done before.

Text breakdown

An idea I have had in my head for a while is that of the text gradually breaking down or becoming harder to read as the story progresses.

I thought it would work best if it wasn't the individual characters that were affected (by changing font face or size for example) but the body of text as a whole. The method I came up with was warping the lines which the text sit on in Illustrator and gradually making it more and more extreme. It forces the reader into the position of someone who is drunk, or bobbing in water, with the lines constantly fluctuating.

I quite like the way that it turned out and actually learnt a lot about Illustrator in the process. I would love to see how the whole story would look if I were treat it like this - the warping would be much more gradual, and it might be a few pages before the reader realises what is happening. The last three lines of the first paragraph are particularly off-putting (in a way I want) because they wave a small amount, to the point where the reader may question whether they actually are, like an optical illusion.

The major downside to this technique is that it takes a VERY long time. I have to manually edit every line the text follows and them paste the actual text in place. I may revisit this idea if I know I have more time that I thought, or if it is the best solution in my opinion.

Tracing paper

Using layers to build up images is an effective way of conveying time and also memory. I wanted to see how I could address the passage of time and loss of memory through the design of the text without using accompanying imagery.

I designed and printed the text so that the story is only on the right hand page. As you read the text you can faintly see what is on the next page, which creates some confusion as you are presented with three layers of text over each other. The page on the left is still visible but mirrored, as as you turn more pages gets lost in more text and buried under more layers of tracing paper.

The intended effect of this was for the page you are reading to be clear, and pages you are going to read or have read getting fainter and fainter the further from the point in the story you are at. This relates directly to the passing of time and memory of the main character. Memories of past events fade as you progress, only the present is clear, and even that isn't without confusion.

Portrait book mock-up

This mock-up uses some of the images I have created through my experimentation over the past weeks. This was mostly just to put some of the things from my sketchbook in a book format (and alongside text) to see how well they function as interiors.

I had a hard time choosing which illustrations to use as I could only pick 5 for this layout (an illustration every other spread). Because of this I chose to use illustrations that were created from one portrait - one that could be Ned. When I tried using some of the other photos it didn't relate to the text as much as I wanted it to, and felt truly random like I had just thrown images in here and there for no reason.

The illustrations look good next to the text and I like the fact that it is consistently black and white, if I were to add colour I'm not too sure how I would go about it. However, because of the very regular placement of the images (every other right hand page) and because they all the same portrait edited in various ways the pacing is fairly slow and it almost becomes predicable after the first few pages.

There are definite moments at which I want to surprise the reader and make them feel shocked or disorientated through the images to reflect certain moments in the story at which Ned finds himself questioning himself or finds out something isn't the way he believed it to be.

Glitches

One of the ways of degrading an image is through editing the code of the file and creating glitch art. These images are unpredictable and give a genuine sense of something going wrong as it is often unwanted and unexpected when we come across images that look like these do. Because of this I think these images are particularly successful in conveying the breakdown of memory.

There is also the contradiction of the time the story is set (and the era the photos were taken) and the very obviously modern and digital effects that have been applied. This adds to the confusion the images create. 

In the image above I especially like just how unclear the original photo is. I think my experiments have been most successful when there is just a glimpse of the original, and the rest is distorted or covered. All together they give lots of  hints towards the tangible reality of a photo, but what they add up to is still unclear - like a series of scenes in a film that give an overall impression of the place or atmosphere, but leave the story open to interpretation.

Memory experiments

I have continued to experiment more with how to visually represent Ned's gradually failing memory, but using photographic portraits of people from the 1950s (when the story was set). These people could be the various characters that Ned encounters on his journey, but they are confused memories of them, and therefore distorted in various ways. This gives the reader small snapshots as to what Ned might remember, and because they started as photographs it gives it a sense of authenticity and a definite place and era.

Stephen J Shanabrook

These photos are actually stills from a video piece by Stephen J Shanabrook in which he shreded photographs and dropped them through a clear oil solution. The fragments of images slowly drift down past the camera, overlapping with each other.

This is a very concise visual metaphor for memories, or small fragments of the past which have lost their place in time and are swimming around in our heads.

Anthony Gerace

These collages by Anthony Gerace are definitely a direction I would like to try with my work. They capture the disjointed and confused state of mind of Ned, and also relate to the theme of memory, as though he could only recall certain features of a person's appearance. When using the square pattern it also has the look of the tiles of a swimming pool.

The image above is also another approach, and I like the small sections of text that are out of place and context. This looks somewhat like an aerial view of fields, which links back to Ned being described as an explorer - this could be one of his maps with the forgotten details and jumbled text and directions.

Initial Juniper idea

This is just a quick booklet I put together to see how the images will work alongside the text and give me an idea of how many images I need to produce to balance with the text.

I used my initial idea of representing Ned's state though the Juniper plant, and also some of my experimentation using scanning and layering of paint and images to reflect certain points in the story.

Overall I am fairly happy with the way this looks, but it is definitely lacking something as the images seem a bit boring when paired with the large blocks of text; the pacing of the images is also fairly slow and regular. Because the images are all slight variations on one consistent drawing I think this also makes it seem slightly uninteresting. When I tried using various techniques to draw the Juniper branch it was slightly more visually interesting, but didn't relate as well to the text.

Tutorial 25-10-13

Having spoken with Rachel I am not entirely sure if I want the covers and interior illustrations to be the focus of my work this term, but rather visually responding to the major themes of the story which are time and memory. In doing this I might produce images that could be used as interiors, but I would also like to experiment with the way the text and image interact, or even just how the text could represent Ned's failing memory without an illustration alongside, which I wouldn't be able to do if I was just producing illustrations on their own.

I will still try to follow all the avenues of investigation that I had already planned to, but now I intend to focus more on how to represent time and memory than how to illustrate the story itself.

Memory

Another theme which as a lot of visual potential is that of memory and how Ned looses touch with reality and the events that have happened.

The drawing above by Evie Cahir is a very interesting way of showing how something has been forgotten, with a lot of detail put into something that most people wouldn't pay attention to with the main focus left blank.

I would like to try replicating this effect to an extent, having some of the image clear and the rest either blank or just vague and out of focus. Printing techniques would be a good way of doing this, either badly printing a section of a lino cut, or monoprinting but not pressing very hard for the section I want to be hazy. I would also like to try a technique of transferring a laser print onto another sheet of paper using cellulose thinners to create a distressed and hopefully imperfect and unclear image.

I could also experiment with covering certain areas of an image or photograph with paint like the image above. This could either be done by putting paint directly onto the image, or by using layers of acetate or tracing paper, building layers of memories that can then be uncovered to see the complete image behind it. This also ties in with the vivid descriptions of water colours that are repeated in the story.

Thoughts and ideas

Continuing from my last post, here are some of the ideas I have as to how to approach the illustrations.

Representing Ned and his mental state through a visual metaphor.

I like the idea of using a plant, in this case Juniper because of its use in the production of Gin (the main alcohol drunk in the story) to represent Ned. Either in the way it is drawn or presented or the stage in its life it is at.

This idea is inspired by David Pearson's covers for the Penguin great loves series (shown above)  in which he uses purely botanical images for the covers of the love stories. This is very effective as a series of covers as there is a central theme, but also the images are very cleverly chosen and at first you may not see their relevance to the book, but when you look more closely they are representative of the themes or name of the book.

I am considering using illustrations that look as though they have come from an encyclopaedia, or alternatively from an explorer's journal (like the one I made shown above), firstly because I believe they will work well with text, but also because Ned often described as an explorer in the story. I can apply various effects to these illustrations, or use different processes to create them to reflect what is happening at certain points in the story.

21-10-13 Review

I have read and analysed the story and I have a few ideas as to how I want to approach the illustrations and also the key themes I wish to address:

Themes-

• Alcohol- From the first line of the story it is apparent how important alcohol is to the characters in this story ("...everyone sits around saying 'I drank too much'")
• Memory- As the story progresses it becomes clear that Ned has either ignored or forgotten some recent occurrences ("Was his memory failing or had he so disciplined it in the repression of unpleasant facts that he had damaged his sense of the truth?")
• Exploration- Ned is often described as an explorer or pilgrim and there are numerous references to maps ("He seemed to see, with a cartographer's eye","it had been on his maps")
• Time- Over the course of his journey the seasons all change, going from summer at the start to the "wintery gleam" near the end. There are also points at which exactly when events have taken place is unclear (he arrives at the Halloran's house in search of a drink only to find out they haven't had any alcohol for a long time "since Eric's operation. That was three years ago")

Exactly what is going on becomes less and less clear as the story progresses and the reader is drawn into Ned's confusion as he gets lost, loses track of time, gets more drunk and forgets past events. All of these combined make for a disorienting sensation when reading and I would like to try to give this feeling with my imagery as well. 

The idea of a series of related illustrations, with a central image, subject or motif, that slowly change is something that I would like to use to convey this gradual breakdown of reality around Ned.

I think it is important that my illustrations are not literal representations of scenes from the story (unless the effect of this is considered and purposeful, not just a default) but more conceptual ways of dealing with the themes listed above. I want the reader to have to think about the illustration's relation to the text, and hopefully because of this interaction be immersed more into the mental state of the protagonist.

Michael Porter

There are several recurring descriptions in the swimmer, one of which is the various things that Ned stands on or in. This immediately made me think of the work of Michael Porter, whose semi-abstract paintings are the representations of a place. Porter will go on a walk through woods, or along a coastal path and try to capture the essence of the journey though his paintings, which often look like an abstracted close up of the ground. 

The work above was painted on top of a digitally printed photograph, and I thought I might be able to use this technique of working over a photo to play with the ideas of memory and things that have been forgotten, one of the key themes of the story.

I think that these would make a series of powerful and evocative illustrations as they give an overall impression as the the location and atmosphere, but can also include fairly specific descriptions such as the colour of the water, what is underfoot, or the leaves floating on the surface of a pool.

Siobhan McBride

These paintings by Siobahn McBride perfectly capture disorientation in a domestic setting. The top images is particularly successful because of the overlapping of objects, making us question where they are in the scene. The muted colour palate is also effective in adding to the bleak atmosphere, making these scenes look very run down and long abandoned.

I could use a similar technique in my imagery to unsettle the viewer and make them think twice about the scene they are looking on to. 

David Hockney

When I first decided on The Swimmer as the story I am going to illustrate my first thought was the way in which Hockney captures the movement and feel of water in his paintings. It is also useful that they are specifically of swimming pools. 

One of the things that drew me to Hockeny's work right away was just the variety of techniques and visual styles he uses to capture water in various states. The flat colours and shapes of the house, springboard and the rest of the water are a strong contrast to the energy of the brush strokes of the splash. Even within the splash itself there seem to be two approaches, the thin lines of flat colours either side, and the soft and textural tones in the centre.

In this drawing the overlapping of patterns and colours give a real sense of the depth of the pool and the surface of the water itself. The subtle grid of the tiles gives a three dimensional impression of the pool, and the flowing pattern over this describes the surface of the water.There is a simple beauty in which Hockney has conveyed this scene.

The Swimmer

For my BA7 project I have chosen to design and illustrate the front and back cover and two interior images for John Cheever's short story The Swimmer.

I first read the story last year for another project, and I was particularly interested in the way in which reality seems to fall apart around the protagonist over the course of his journey. It is written in such a way that as a reader it becomes harder and harder to tell the truth from Ned's imagination or memory.

I would like to try to capture some of this confusion in my illustrations - showing the progression his mental state through a series of illustrations. What these might be of and the media I might use is still undecided, but I will use a variety of techniques in my experimentation.

Tree of Codes poster

As a follow up to the last post, I also found poster versions of selected pages from the Tree of Codes. This just shows that the narrative can be shown just as well in various formats (with very different effects) and I should not limit my outcome just to the form of a book.

Visual Editions

Visual Editions is a company that specialise in creating books with a twist, playing with the form of the book and the typography in a playful and experimental way, but always to further the storytelling.

The image above is of the book "Tree of Codes" in which the author looked for a story within another story, and told it by removing large chunks of the original text to leave his own re-interpretation. The book comes printed with the holes already cut in the pages, which in turn allows for words to overlap between pages where you are able to see through, and may conjure up new narratives. Reading the book must actually feel like you are working out an elaborate code and discovering some hidden meaning.

Another take on pop-up

White Noise by David A. Carter

This pop-up book focuses not only on how the shapes and colour spring to life when turning the page but also the sounds that the page turn makes. There are parts of each page which interact with each other creating creaking, popping and whooshing sounds to accompany the text and imagery. 

I think that it is fantastic to see someone put so much thought into creating an entertaining children's book that all aspects of it add more depth, down to the sounds of the page turn. All in all it makes an experience for the senses, and really sets itself apart from other pop-up books.

Marion Bataille

Whilst looking at more unconventional ways of using the format of the book I found the works of Marion Bataille. She explores simple concepts using numbers, letters and pop-up in a very elegant way.

The example above is Bataille's book 10. The book both counts up from 1 to 10 and down from 10 to 1 by using pop-up and folding to switch certain elements of the numbers about, 2 becoming 9 and so on. The concept is very simple indeed, but it is done is such a precise way that it comes across as genius.

ABC3D is another of her books that uses similar techniques. In this book however the turn of the page is used to make each letter move, giving it more character. This emphasises the surprise of a page turn. The reader knows which letter is coming next, but they don't know how it will present itself.

Start of BA7 Research - Book Art Book Shop

As I am considering exploring the form of books for BA7 I went to the Book Art Book Shop in London for some preliminary research.

There were many different examples of ways the format of the book has been altered or exaggerated in order give further meaning to the contents.

The example above is a book that has been modified - each page has had the illustration cut around leaving a book of lots of small delicate and intricately cut out drawings, much like butterflies and moths in a museum display cabinet.

This hand bound book contained hundreds of bird sounds. I thought it was an interesting concept, and the small, very thick format was intriguing. It was also unusual to see a hand bound book.

This book cover caught my eye because of the bright colour scheme, but also because of the unusual design. The title is almost illegible and looks to be a distorted black letter font, contrasted with the very bold and modern type and lines on the rest of the cover. It almost reminds me of a cryptic puzzle that needs to be solved. The combination of the blue and metallic red print was also very striking, like an optical illusion.