The Tell-Tale Heart - a brand new giant project

I am starting a big new project! I want to do another book, something like John, only not quite so symbolic or research intense. I've decided on The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe because it satisfies my three requirements:

1. It's in the public domain. (read it here)
2. It's full of vivid imagery.
3. It's short

I anticipate that it will take me about a month to finish it all off. To start an explanation of what I'm doing, here are some of the images and inspirations going into it:



This is a calligraphy piece I did a few years ago. I think I was going for a vintage poster/label sort of look. The way the words are all misshaped and oddly layed out is how the entire book will be.This is a sketch I did of Sir Philip Sidney's Sonnet 39 (Astrophel and Stella). This is the font I'll be using for the majority of the text. The capital letter will be a mixture of Art Nouveau and Gothic fonts.

I like the black and white look of Frank Miller's Sin City, especially having the illustration in negative. There may be a whole lot of masking fluid going into this.

Vintage scientific instruments. I'll see if I can work any of this in, especially because of the imagery of the eye.

This story actually uses the image of a watch. Well, sound, to be more precise. Either way, it's an excuse to justify my steampunky tendencies.

These sketches are by an artist named Eric Freitas. I think they're incredible and the spikey, gothic feel with be prefect! I wish I could afford one of his clocks.


Death watch beetles. Only mentioned once, I think, but there will be plenty of these creepy crawlies all over the pages.

Possibly in machine form! At very least in spikey, scary versions.


This is an illustration by Vladimir Gvozdariki. It makes my drool just a little bit. I really like the handwriting in the background, and will likely use some of that. And the rest is just awesome.

I'm really into paper cutting lately. I haven't tried it yet, but there will be some around the edges of the pages, and possibly on some black paper in between the pages. This one if from etsy seller Artomanut.

M.C. Escher's drawings and optical illusions.
Vintage anatomical diagrams.