More Variations to Follow

WHAT I DID:

This week I took a stab at mapping out on my wall the different directions I could go with my book. I worked on addressing some other areas of interest beyond simply illustrating and writing a book. Because I have a similarly strong interest in graphic design and history as I do in illustration and writing, I decided to address the three-part project do on Tuesday. I decided to do a predominantly information/history based book; a book based on compilation of illustration, photography, creative writing, and information; and a book that continues with the illustration and writing for a children’s book.

WHAT I ACCOMPLISHED:

Something that I accomplished was settling mind on a direction (or rather three) that I can go. I was hesitant to continue in case I was leaving behind an idea that was worth pursuing. I am glad I have this opportunity to put thought into the other areas I have of interest.

Something interesting that came out of the week happened in my conversation with two other students who were “interviewing” me about my interests and directions in the integrative project. I found myself talking about the “informational” book mostly. I had an idea to explore the evolution of the hand written letter, to look at how it has evolved to email, facebook and texts. There is something lost in digital communication and I want to explore this sense of loss, this sense of disconnectivity with others, even though the digital age proclaims to help us be more connected.  What is the difference between quickly shooting out an email to a friend or sitting down and writing out a letter? What are the physical aspects of letters that fascinate us?

This spring when my grandmother passed away we found a large box of her love letters to my grandpa wrapped up with twine, and his love letters back to her. My grandma lived in Detroit and my grandpa in Toronto, so letter writing was their only real way of communicating. What does this mean to be able to hold tangible evidence of friendship and love? This is something that fascinates me, and I think I want to explore it more deeply.

I thought there was an interesting connection between my fascination with letter writing and why I want to create a book. There is something intrinsically lost when we digitalize a book, when we make it uniform and constantly accessible.  We lose that intimacy. We lose that personalization that gives the book a character. I wanted to share (since I currently have no photographs to show of my work) the short film that I saw over the summer that really inspired me to pursue making a book.

The Future of Print

(click link) 

ONWARD.

I am working on finishing a few spreads for the different three types of books. For the “information book” and the “compilation” book I want to have a spread or two, as well as some collected information/material to use in the books. As previously stated, the informational/historical approach is focused on letter writing, and for the compilation on the season of autumn (since much of my work seems steeped in that). For the illustration book I would like to have a few thumbnail sketches of several pages to see where the book can project. 

Research.

All photographs are details of Carol Schwartzott's artist books.

WHAT I DID: 

This week I did a bit of research. I was not convinced after last week's experiments if I want to continue with writing and illustration. I do enjoy the work, but I always feel at the end that I've created something trivial. So I decided to do a bit of research. I made an appointment on Tuesday to meet up with Annette Haines to look at the Universities collection of artist books. I spent about an hour and a bit going over different books in her collection and broadening my understanding of what a book could be. The one book I saw that really latched onto me was a series of four books. Each book was about a different season, and addressed the content a little differently. Each book had a poem somewhere in it, and often the materials would change a bit between each book. The things that resonated most with me were the tactilibility of each, the use of poetry and older illustration styles, and the small and personal size. I also really enjoyed the box they came in. 

Books chosen from my field trip to the art library: 

-A Day in the Country: Impressionism and the French Landscape

-A Writer's Eye: Field Notes and Watercolors by Paul Horgan

-Impressive: Printmaking, Letterpress and Graphic Design

-Jan Hendrix: Diario De Fatigas

WHAT I ACCOMPLISHED:

I didn't really accomplish a whole lot, other than being late in posting this blog post. I drew out a an idea map to flush out my illustration interests, and to map out some different themes and ideas that were floating unpinned in my mind. I also broadened my idea of what a book could encapsulate and different forms it could be found in. 

ONWARD?

I've come to wonder about using my illustrating and writing interest with more of a utilitarian goal in mind. I am really fascinated by history, and as I've spent the week agonizing over something to focus on for this class, I always come back to my love for history. I don't know as of yet what part of history or subject I would like to focus on. I am going to spend a few days pin pointing an area of history to look at. I am now thinking about using illustration, design, and writing combined with information (personal or otherwise) to create some kind of publication. 

I keep returning in my mind to a little book I found in a small-town shop just on the cusp of this last summer. It was a book called "Look and Cook," a children's cook book that utilized old 1920's-50's illustrations and graphic design. It was charming and I'm sorry I didn't buy it, but more importantly I appreciated the use of history, personal and cultural, and illustration to create something that is useful and also visually interesting. 

The Nine: One Wednesday Morning

"It began like every other Wednesday morning. Cold toast and jam at eight, teatime and the paper to follow. I am a man of regular habits, you see. Being a tad late, it was with haste I hopped on my bicycle and rode down the hill towards the weald."

{Illustration and writing a section of work from my story. }

WHAT I DID:

As you can guess, "The Nine" is a reference to the nine days I had to work on my first project for IP. To be honest, seven of those days were spent in the mire of fear and indecision. I feared committing to a particular project in case it meant I had to continue with it for the next seven months. Indecision came from not having a thought about what I wanted to do in IP, excepting knowing I wanted to create a printed publication. On Tuesday I addressed the concern to Stephanie and Jim about what this nine day introduction project was for. Jim said something that resonated with me, that part of these nine days was to see what you don't want to do. Since I had made an oddly resolute and unfounded decision against writing and illustrating a book, this is the first thing I decided to do. It was by no brilliant move on my part, just a decision to go against my first instinct and try it. I had a fear if I didn't address it, I would always wonder if I had. In my class presentation of my previous work people tended to respond more towards my illustrations rather than my design work. This and other factors enabled me to set out working on a spread for an illustration. Based on a previous work that dealt with thought trails, I chose a portion of the thought trail, a little sentence that delt with an area of ancient english forestry, the Weald, and the inspiration it lent toward writers like Kipling and Milne. "Amidst the sunken lanes and paths the soft-fall pitter-patter of Pooh Bears' feet slow the steady pace the ramblers and cyclists seek to set." The new writing is essentially a story told in a letter about a fanciful man's travels to work on his bicycle, and about the spotting of the peculiar stuffed bear. The end would reveal A. A. Milne to be the author, and the letter one to his publishers/editors.

So, what I did was write. Illustrate. Research. Design.
Tuesday-3 hours spent on deciding on a project to address, research, a bit of idea collecting.
Wednesday-About two hours of sketching and ditching random ideas for the book. probably about another hour and a half of writing. 3 1/2 hours spent on the sketching, inking, painting and scanning.
Thursday morning-15 min of designing.... just preliminary layout.

Total: 10 hours.
Notes: short 2 hours, probably should work on spreading out my work.

...

WHAT I ACCOMPLISHED/DISCOVERED and Such

As stated, I accomplished settling on an idea, doing a bit of writing and illustrating, and basically completing one page of the book. I am not sure weather the lengthy description of what I did belongs in  the previous section or here in what I accomplished, I presume whatever I did I accomplished.

Previously most of my illustrations were made on heavy cardstock, which allows for a smoother image when scanned in and used in a document. I used not only a bad scanner, but watercolor paper. Altogether a bad combination.  I also discovered the close integration of research, narrative, and illustration. When my research was lacking (this being based in a real place and on real people and events) my script was lacking as well... I'm thinking that the veracity of the story is a little thin. Milne was not inspired from a fantastical ride to work to write Winnie-the-Pooh, at least not in any of my research.

...

ONWARD!

I've found myself lost again in the paths and scraps of description, and in love once more with the art of illustrating. I am not ready to rule this out as an IP project. I must still do battle to decide weather I ought to pursue what I want to do or what I think I should do. For now, I plan to perhaps hammer out more of a complete script. I want to also get in contact with Annette Haines to see her collection of artist books. I might work on a few illustrations as well and exploring other vains of story plots, thinking of a projection for a piece.



I expect this is probably the longest post I shall have on here.