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.