Doctor Frankenstein's Monster Book

I decided that the first thing I wanted to make in my new studio was a book. Just something small, to get back into creating things. 

I've had an idea in mind for a Hallowe'en themed book for a couple of years now, for the BEST Hallowe'en Contest, and I finally had some time to make it. I want it to look a little like a twisted journal, with scraps of leather sewn together like Frankenstein's skin, to form the cover:

I tore up random scraps of paper for the book block. Considering all the different papers, and how I was none to careful tearing it up, it came out surprisingly uniform:

I was originally going to bind it with a Raven's Claw binding, because it will be open and visible, but then I realized that if I want this to follow the Frankenstein theme, it should look like the binding was unintentionally left open. I used a French stitch instead, and it actually looks a little like stitches:

I'm quite happy with it, and I'm looking forward to finishing soon.

New Studio

I have excellent news! I finally have my own studio here in Winnipeg. It's not much, but it's got plenty of room for all my toys, and more importantly, it's a place for me to work. I've hardly done anything in the past few months, between being in school and having no proper space to use. BUT that should change very soon, because now I have a dedicated spot, and need to justify the rent. So new projects/old projects I haven't worked on in a long time should be coming up soon!

How Doth the Little Crocodile - Cover

One of the things I want to ensure for this project is that I have done every bit of the designing for the entire book. For that reason I've chosen to make my own fabric pattern, and have it printed at Spoonflower. It's a great site where I can order custom made fabric. I have a few designs for sale there already. This design is only going to be for me, and only for this project. I'm going to order it in the cotton-silk blend, for that extra bit of luxury, and then make it into bookcloth. I'm going to do the spine in leather.

I wanted a William Morris style design, because it fits the time period of the poem, but adapted to the subject matter. I decided to use leaves in the shapes of card suites (hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs) for the background:

The picture above is of the start of the design process. I pulled some colours from a William Morris print (the little picture to the left), which you can see above. Originally I had a dark blue background, with darker leaves, but it just didn't work very well. Also, I want the spine to be in dark brown leather, so I needed more contrast. I changed the colours around, it ended up closer to the inspiration print:

The final design is of different papyrus flowers, buds, and leaves on a light background. I think it works really well. The only thing I have to decided now is what scale I want it on. I made it in vectors, so I can make the flowers and big or small as I want without losing any detail. Then I can order a test swatch and see what it looks like in real life!

How Doth the Little Crocodile - The Beginning

I have wanted make a book edition for ages. I even started planning one last year (Jabberwocky), but ended up making it as a one of a kind book, mostly because I choose a format that was much to elaborate to actually print with my somewhat limited space and equipment. And for that matter, experience. However, the idea hasn't gone away, and this time I've choose a better poem and format, and I've done several elaborate lino cuts over the past year, so I feel I will have much better success with this one. Also, I've discovered the website Kickstarter, and I intend to put the project up on there, because I want to see what happens if I do. 

Kickstarter is a really cool website that allows creative types to generate funding for their projects - many documentaries and video games get their start through it. Basically it works by people pledging a certain amount of money for the project, and if it gets it's base number, the project goes ahead. This is great for a book edition, because editions are much cheaper for people to buy, so it's more likely there will be a buyer than for my much fancier one of a kind books, I can set the amount of money I need to raise (so I don't have to buy materials without knowing there's a buyer), and I will know how many to make. 

With my project I'm thinking of offering several different items/packages to people who support the project:

Tentative Pricing

$30     A print of the title page of the book, which will be an elaborate lino cut

$80     A copy of the book (a max of probably 50)

$100   A copy of the book and a print

$500   A special edition of the book, including case (max of 5). More to follow about these ones.

Much more on all of that later, but for now that's how it stands. I'd probably set $750 as the minimum price to justify going ahead with the project, since that will cover all the materials and a good start on my time. (And lets be honest, I'm going to put a ridiculous amount of work into this whether I get paid or not, so I'm more worried about covering the cost of materials. But it would be really nice to actually have something to show for the hours too).

So, what is the actual book going to be?

I've chosen a nice short, well-known (public domain, of course) poem: "How Doth the Little Crocodile", by Lewis Carroll, from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Thanks for the suggestion Andrea!

How doth the little crocodile

Improve his shining tail,

And pour the waters of the Nile

On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin,

How neatly spreads his claws,

And welcomes little fishes in

With gently smiling jaws!

It's going to be a simple, traditional book style instead of some kind of fancy binding, because that is easiest to print, bind, and ship. The entire book will be hand-printed via lino cuts, some reduction and some traditional.

I've done a bit of research into Alice in Wonderland, and the poem specifically, in order to get some ideas for imagery. Here are a few things I want to play around with:

1. Contrasting scales

2. Things the look like other things, or are only defined by negative space. I'll do some MC Escher research for this

3. Puzzles. This will probably fit into the MC Escher influence

There also some images to include (besides the obvious ones pulled directly from the poem) to tie it into the larger Alice in Wonderland story:

1. Bees. "How Doth the Little Crocodile" is a parody of "Against Idleness and Mischief" by Isaac Watts, which begins with "How doth the little busy bee"

2. Suites of cards

3. Mushrooms

4. And I'm sure I'll think of something else soon...

I've collected a few pictures to get started designing the pages. I've been looking at a lot of Art Nouveau for the period, as well of flora/fauna illustrations, and plenty of other stuff, too, of course. Now to start sorting through it all! Here are a few things I've found:

Crocodiles:

William Morris designs:

Egyptian designs:

Antique fish:

Mushroom illustrations:

Any feedback is much appreciated, especially if you've done anything along these lines, because I'm just getting started on something completely unfamiliar!

The Sketchbook Project - The End

So. I finally made it to the end of the last page in my sketchbook. I didn't have any fabulous brainstorms for the final page, so I simply wrote 'The End' in the same style as the title page, to form a nice bookend (no pun intended).

So from there it needed a proper cover. I kept with the grey, of course, since that's the theme (or, mostly grey anyway) and did a quick watercolour wash. When it was dry I went over it in pen, simply following some of the more obvious lines between different shades and brushmarks. I've used this little method tonnes of times and it always turns out really neat. Here's the cover:

This it what it looks like rebound and finished:

And finally, do you remember when I said I found this boring, but had something up my sleeve? Well, this was the moment of truth to test my theory. First, I added a bit more colour throughout the pages, though, just to punch things up a bit. The real trick, though, was taking all the pages apart and rearranging them, so that all the pages had new partners. Turned out kind of neat, and definitely helped the interest factor. Here's what the new arrangement looked like:

And now it's all sent off, catalogued, and ready for people to check out. The tour starts next month, and unfortunately won't be coming anywhere near Winnipeg, but it'll be all over the States, a couple places in Canada (in the cool cities, not mine) and internationally. Check out the Art House Sketchbook Project's website for the dates.

The Sketchbook Project - Windows

More patterns. I don't have a lot to say on this one. I looked up some gothic windows and architecture, and used the designs I found. ummm, yup. That's it.

The Sketchbook Project - Moroccan Pattern

Freehanding patterns is HARD. Normally, and ideally, I would use a ruler for this type of thing to insure that everything is even. One of the most irritating things I think people say to artists, when describing their own artistic skills, is "I can't even draw a straight line." Neither can I. That's what rulers are for. However, I didn't really feel like it for this one, though, and was kind of curious what I could do by myself. So it's a bit off, but I don't think it's any the worse for it.