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P R O J E C T process book of Veronika Pažická
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Project Proposal
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Process Book
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Final Outcome in Context
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Final Evaluation
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Project Proposal
Project title: “Froth on the Daydream” Content: I am intending to create a piece based on Boris Vian’s book “Froth on the Daydream” (also known as “Mood Indigo” in some translations). Based on my trip to Paris and inspired by the places in the book, I will produce an illustrated “travel guide” to Vian’s version of the city, or rather a visual walk through Vian’s mind, working with illustrations and some collected ephemera. The result will depict the genius loci of the the imagined Paris. I want to, at the same time, challenge the traditional format and perception of a book, to stretch the imagination even further as the surreal and strange nature of the story deserves. I will create an interactive experience for the viewer, using foldout pages and 3D elements. The final piece will be printed using a risograph, with red and medium blue inks. Context and Audience: By working on this project, I will be fulfilling my dream to make an illustrated project based on my most favourite book. The book has never been published as an illustrated version in the 73 years of its existence but was instead made into a film – nowadays a more popular means of visual adaptation. I want the adult viewer to be physically immersed in the story, which I will achieve by producing physical copies that the viewer is able to hold and flip through, allowing them to truly experience the world. The final piece will be aimed mainly towards adults, as it is adult fiction book, however I want to challenge that by adding interactive elements, reminiscent of children’s leporello books. The book will subconsciously enhance the imagination and playfulness in adults, which nowadays unfortunately often stays unexpressed. Research: - Book and the limits of a book, illustrated book outside its norms – materials and execution - Surrealism, absurdism, existentialism, dreams - Paris in the 60s - Primary research – trip to Paris – typography, genius loci, atmospheres and visuals… - Illustrated book layouts - Travel guides
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Learning Methods: - I am in the process in re-reading ‘Froth on the Daydream’ to analyze, find a starting point and start creating visual responses - I will explore the V&A and UCA collections of artists’ books in order to get inspiration for book formats and techniques of bookmaking - I will travel to Paris to document the place, also visiting the area where Boris Vian lived, and I will make the final illustrations based on my observations - I will look into books and films, primarily ones focus on the combination of text and image, or have unique contents or execution – ‘La Jetée’, ‘The Futurist Cookbook’… - I will re-watch some of my favourite French films that show interiors and exteriors to be inspired by the mise-en-scene – ‘Amelie’, ‘Un Chien Andalou’, ‘Delicatessen’, ‘Triplets of Belleville’… - I will research travel guides and travel books – search for layout and content ideas - I will look into what I am personally drawn to in illustrated books by going through my own collection – books by Blexbolex, Daniela Olejnikova, Tereza Ricanova… Learning Outcomes: I have only worked once with fictional literature on the course (Norwegian Wood), but there were size and material restrictions and I could not create something more adventurous and ambitious. By illustrating my favourite book I hope to explore the possibilities of the relationship between a literary piece and image in a contemporary and unique way. I will utilize my skills I have previously gained through bookmaking workshops, but mostly I hope to create something more extraordinary in terms of the final execution. At the end of this project I will have extended my range of technical and conceptual skills.
Proposed timetable: - Week 1 (13 Jan-19 Jan): gathering initial research, writing the proposal - Week 2 (20 Jan-26 Jan): researching, idea generation - Week 3 (27 Jan-2 Feb): researching, idea generation and development - Week 4 (3 Feb-9 Feb): researching, idea development - Week 5 (10 Feb-16 Feb): researching, idea development, Paris trip, research sources - Week 6 (17 Feb-23 Feb): researching, idea development - Week 7 (24 Feb-1 Mar): researching, mockups, experimentation - Week 8 (2 Mar-8 Mar): researching, mockups, experimentation - Week 9 (9 Mar-15 Mar): researching, mockups, experimentation - Week 10 (16 Mar-22 Mar): researching, mockups, experimentation - Week 11 (23 Mar-29 Mar): researching, more defined mockups - Week 12 (30 Mar-5 Apr): researching, more defined mockups - Week 13 (6 Apr-12 Apr): researching, working on the final piece - Week 14 (13 Apr-19 Apr): researching, working on the final piece - Week 15 (20 Apr-26 Apr): final piece finishing/printing/execution - Week 16 (27 Apr-3 May): finishing touches, preparing portfolio
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Visual references
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21/01 2020
week one
workshop with Jane - although I’m creating illustrated responses to an already existing fictional text, I thought of a lot of ideas for my project. I specifically remember Jane saying: “you don’t have to create a whole story, you just have to make me feel something.” This sentence spoke to me, as I’ve been struggling with the text bit of the project and the fact that it’s literally a 200+ page book and if I want to stick to riso printing, I won’t be able to afford that. At the same time, I’m still not exactly decided on whether I want to create something more publish-able, or going the artist’s book direction. The session today gave me ideas to deconstruct and edit the chapters of the book - f.e. having only the first and last sentence of each chapter on one page and leaving out the middle bit, and creating an illustration which would sum up the story in between. I’m quite fond of this idea and I’ll definitely consider it in the later stages.
idea generation - I am currently thinking about the direction I should take with the outcome - a traditionally illustrated book or more of a unique artist’s book. I’m leaning towards the latter a bit more as it allows more freedom in terms of physical structure, which I would love to experiment with. Through secondary research I found bookmaking inspiration and references and the idea of exploring paper and its possibilities sounds exciting to me. I figured it could be a better solution as the story deserves a unique execution that the world of artists’ books definitely offers.
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monday _
tutorial with Iro, creating visual responses to the book, project proposal
tuesday _
p.p. deadline, creative writing workshop, secondary research on artists’ books
wednesday _ external briefs feedback, re-reading the book, secondary research thursday _
researching new topics, re-reading the book, first visual responses
friday _ researching new topics, visual responses to the book saturday _ visual responses to the book, concept idea development sunday _ visual responses to the book, concept idea development
27/01 2020
week two
secondary research - I dedicated last week mainly to secondary research - I read online articles about post-war Paris, livre d’artiste, independent publications, and also did visual research, mainly focused on interior design of 1940s-1950s Paris. At this point, research is the most helpful thing for me to do in order to get a grasp of the project, as I want to first truly understand the historical context of when the book was written and published. I want to understand the themes and concepts Vian writes about, so I can develop my own ideas based on what I find. This has always helped me to approach projects in a conceptually and visually stronger, more unique ways.
vincent darré - I found amazing visual and conceptual inspiration in the work of a Parisian polymathic decorator and designer Vincent Darré. He creates surreal worlds within worlds, and his patterns, furniture and the way he composes a space is extremely inspiring for my images in the project. I want to try to create imagery based on his compositions in interior design, inspired by a sentence he said in a video I watched: “I try colours, prints and new ideas like a stage director, not a decorator.” The eclectic designs could potentially lead to my creation of the apartments of the characters in ‘Froth on the Daydream’, if I choose to go that direction.
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Vincent Darré’s interior design reminds me of the visuals described in ‘Froth on the Daydream’. His bold and eccentric use of colour and layout will guide me during my own image-making and I want to try experiment with creating layers upon layers of images - I think this could be a good idea as there’s so much going on in the book that it’s pretty much otherwise impossible to fit everything in one page.
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monday _
continue research on vincent darrĂŠ, re-read the book, create visuals based on research
tuesday _
p.p. tutorial, find books in the library, con tinuous research and visual responses
wednesday _ idea development 12
thursday _
idea development, researching mise en scene, sense of place
friday _
idea development, plans for Paris
saturday _
leaving to slovakia, re-read and create visual responses at the airport
sunday _
take a break with the project - don’t be too hard on yourself
03/02 2020
week three
tutorial with Gemma - my tutorial resulted in booking tickets to go to Paris to gather visual references crucial for my piece. Gemma suggested many topics for research - production design could be a very important direction for me, as I haven’t yet decided on the look of the final piece and perhaps looking at the different ways of playing with a stage will guide me.
form and concept development - inspired by forms and formats of different publications I own, making mini mockups and prototypes helped me understand how different approaches to bookmaking would work. I have a clearer idea of the concept thanks to thorough researching and reference/ inspiration findings. I will have better content ideas once I’m back from Paris in a couple of weeks, as visiting the place and drawing from observation will allow me to start creating images and responding to the text and concept. I want to experiment a lot with materials, collage, textures, patterns and compositions before settling down with a certain aesthetic and I will be using found textures from Paris, drawings on location, old photographs from online archives, visual information from flyers and paper ephemera I’ll pick up. This is an area I sometimes lack in and I want to improve because delivering great visuals will be a major element of my piece, therefore it must be very well thought-out and planned out.
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I’m scene gain gles
learning about mise en and production design, to some knowledge about anand how a scene/set is
constructed. This helps me to think about the possibilities of depicting the different scenes/places in the book.
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I have also started making initial mockups - so far it’s only small ideas based on researched publications and the possibilities of bookmaking. I’m looking into unique concepts that are big on tactility and original viewer experience.
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monday _
continuous primary and secondary research on the publication formats and concepts
tuesday _
exhibition in Slovakia - private viewing
wednesday _ more format development 16
thursday _
flight back to the UK
friday _
researching from books from the library - old French typography, set design
saturday _
sketchbook work - figure out the concept, make Paris itinerary
sunday _
sketchbook work - define the concept
08/02 2020
week four
collecting visual research - during my evening flight from Bratislava to I took photographs of the sky from behind the airplane window. I was super inspired by the pastel colour combinations, the clouds reminded me of froth and cotton, and the sun rays filled the window the same way as is described in ‘Froth on the Daydream’. Taking these photos made me interested in combining real-life textures and patterns and my drawings in the final piece, which I will be experimenting with. I will collect them during my trip to Paris - this will add a bit of the real world to the project focusing on surreal portrayal of Paris.
risograph exhibition - I actually went home because of an exhibition of risograph prints, that my own illustration was also a part of. The exhibition was the event of the year in Slovakia and I looked at a collection of 189 prints, admiring the textures and patterns. I’m definitely very inspired by these, and I decided I truly want to explore riso as much as I can. So far I have ordered and received a sample pack from Risotto risograph studio, which will help me make colour combination and opacity decisions. I will be looking further into the online catalogue of the exhibited risograph prints, to fully understand how layering textures in riso works. I believe this will also help my future career, since I want to work in a riso studio and become a professional in the field.
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18 I took the opportunity of being home to get some primary research done as well - I was invited to a riso print exhibition which my riso print was a part of, and I got a chance to look at the possibilities of printing in other people’s works. Looking at those prints gave me a lot of ideas in terms of aesthetical decisions. I also had a look through my illustrated book collection to find a lot of layout/wordless narrative ideas and concepts. This will be helpful when making my final publication decisions.
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monday _
uni London trip - Scriberia, Wellcome Col- lection, independent publication bookshops
tuesday _
Tate library visit, Mushroom exhibition
wednesday _ travel to Paris 20
thursday _
arriving in Paris, Museum of Decorative Arts, sketch and take photographs of streets
friday _
walk up to Montmartre to sketch the roof- tops, focus on the compositions
saturday _
back to Farnham, start compiling found ephemera, drawings, photographs, mockups
sunday _
begin visual experimentation with Paris material, collage, compositions
16/02 2020
week five
trip to London - I found our visit to the Buddhism exhibition extremely helpful and inspirational in terms of composition and form development. I could see how heavily illustrated concertina books work in real life, not just through the screen of a computer, and it gave me good ideas for my project’s execution. I’m very inspired by the smooth transitions between the different events depicted in the books, with no panels or borders separating them, creating a flowing narrative - something I definitely have been thinking about doing and will further explore this in my visual development. I visited Gosh! and Forbidden Planet as well, trying to find inspiration for unique 21 book forms, however with barely any luck. Most independent publications seem to use the usual stapled form, which however makes me wanna do something more elaborate even more.
trip to Paris - during my trip to Paris I collected a variety of photographs, sketches, ephemera, structures, textures and feelings. I found the trip to be very useful, because I got to experience the city again, and gain a fresh perspective and idea of the place. I am planning to use the collected stuff in my illustrations, as a basis for the fictional places, and I’ll be experimenting with the textures and ephemera as well. I want to try to riso print the different textures and see how they would work - and possibly choose to use them in my finished publication.
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monday _
sign-up tutorial, PP presentation, mockup experimentation, career plan
tuesday _
coffee with Tom and Iro, peer group discuss- ions, more mockup experimentation
wednesday _ mockups, drawing and visual experiments 24
thursday _
mockups, drawing and visual experiments
friday _
mockups, drawing and visual experiments
saturday _
mockups, drawing and visual experiments
sunday _
mockups, drawing and visual experiments
24/02 2020
week six
sign-up tutorial with Iro - Iro’s suggestions to make at least 5 different format mockups helped me understand the way paper folding and paper size work. I used to be really bad with mockups but from now on I’ll be relying on them more because thanks to them I found out what type and thickness of paper my idea would work with. I’ll keep developing these further, to perfect it as much as I can.
peer reviews - I found these peer reviews the most helpful yet. I was torn between a few different ideas, but they helped me make up my mind - and I agreed. I since started playing around with the imagery and mockups to create a working relationship between the visual and tactical qualities of the publication. I’m currently combining photography, drawings and digital elements and playing around with collage to get a sense of the visual style I want in the piece. I’m still uncertain about the techniques used to create the drawings, and so far collage has proven to be a helpful tool to not take things too seriously and decide later. I’m planning on having the finished drawings for all the pages by the third week of March to be able to riso print them before the Easter holiday - this is something I need to consider further. I don’t want to rush, but I also don’t want to leave things to the last minute.
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monday _
career event
tuesday _
tutorial with Iro, more format mockups
wednesday _ applicant day 28
thursday _ final piece mockups, visual development, researching compositions friday _ visual development, researching composi- tions saturday _
visual development
sunday _
visual development
28/02 2020
week seven
Iro’s suggestions - following my talk with Iro, I realized that I’m still not set on one particular format for my book and it would be better to keep experimenting with paper to come to my final decision. I’ve been looking more into the shape of the publication and I’m now quite interested in making it a square - which I think would really fit the images I’ve created so far, and it also subtly feels a little bit like a CD/vinyl record - music being a huge part of the book. Thanks to Iro showing me examples of books with cut-outs, I admitted it’s better not to overdo the special elements and keep it simple. Previously, my ideas were probably too ambitious and risograph, being my choice of printing technique, allows limited possibilities, and I’d rather focus on compromising on the format, than to change risograph printing to something else.
paper talk - I gained a lot of useful information about the variety of paper types, which is very helpful for my decision making when it comes to producing the final publication. My choice of the paper for it has definitely changed after the paper talk - I now have a better and clearer idea on what paper would be most suitabl. Based on my physical interaction with the paper samples, I’ll take the opportunity to order samples from G F Smith, and will consider using their services.
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30 During the paper talk with GFSmith, I found this particular example and I became intrigued by the way it uses holes and pockets. I thought this could work in my case as well, as I’m trying to find a way to hide images and was thinking about pockets before. I made a few mockups using a similar concept and I’m currently in the process of perfecting it and trying to see what the best option for me would be.
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W P monday _
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visual development
tuesday _ final decision of the format, progress re- views wednesday _ creating imagery 32
thursday _
creating imagery
friday _
creating imagery
saturday _
creating imagery
sunday _
creating imagery
08/03 2020
week eight
final format decisions - after thorough considerations which take longer than expected and went throught a lot of changes, I managed to decide on the final format of the publication. Although I talked to Iro about possibly making it somewhat sculptural, rather than conventional book-like, I didn’t feel particularly connected to the idea. I agree with having something extra as a part of the project to enhance the idea of place, because without it, there’s very little information. I randomly thought of travel guides and how they present information about specific places and spaces, and I realized this could be the right way to go, as everything seemed to work in that case. I feel like this approach is more like me, it still has that element of excitement and interaction which I wanted from the very beginning and it works both in the material and conceptual ways. I must admit I struggled a bit during the decision-making for the final piece, however I’m glad I got to test many different options and then settled on the best one, rather than quickly choosing the first that came to mind. I think I was really confused with the entire direction of this project from the beginning, resulting in me being more focused on the narrative part of the piece, rather than conceptual.
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monday _
finishing the final illustrations, researching paper and bookmaking solutions
tuesday _
working on final illustrations
wednesday _ working on final illustrations 36
thursday _
working on final illustrations
friday _
working on final illustrations
saturday _
working on final illustrations
sunday _
working on final illustrations
15/03 2020
week nine
progress and finalized concept decisions - focusing on creating a travel guide-inspired publication allowed my mind to finally relax. I had been stressing out about not having the right concept for the piece, but it finally makes sense - even though it came much later in the project, I think it came at the right moment and still long before the hand-in. Therefore I’ve mainly been focusing on creating the final illustrations, however I keep pushing the possibilities further. Since I still have a lot of time, I want to implement some ideas I had at the beginning of the project and then didn’t keep them in my latter, more defined concepts. I think what’s really helping me at the moment are mockups which I continuously keep making, in order to help me with form decision-making. I’m at a point where I really need to start working with the paper I’m going to use for the final piece - and I need to order it ASAP, as I’m planning on printing some of the pages as early as next week.
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38 My final idea came from my random flip through one of my city guides I have at home. I suddenly thought making my publication based on a travel guide makes total sense and includes everything I wanted from it. My next step is to start researching travel guides more, for layouts, content ideas and the overall concept.
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monday _
mainly working on professional practice, working on final illustrations
tuesday _
professional practice tutorial, more mock ups with new interactive ideas
wednesday _ working on final illustrations 40
thursday _
working on final illustrations
friday _
text bits for the publication
saturday _ working on final illustrations, finalizing the layouts sunday _
preparing files for printing
22/03 2020
week ten
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I have started working on the final illustrations. I don’t know if these definitely are the final ones, but I’m liking
the progress. I think I’m going to redo some of them as I don’t think they really express the feeling I am going for.
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W P monday _
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working on final illustrations
tuesday _ working on final illustrations, final reviews with Iro wednesday _ working on final illustrations 44
thursday _
travelling home
friday _
chill-out day after a day of travelling
saturday _
professional practice
sunday _
researching French/French-inspired fonts
29/03 2020
week eleven
final review with Iro - my final review showed I’m going in a correct direction and I can continue working on my final piece. I was recommended to change certain aspects to make the publication clearer to follow and understand, which I certainly agree with. As I’m good with time management and am definitely in a good place with the process, I decided to keep working on more pages for the publication, so I make most of the extra time we’ve been given. I think this is the right thing for me to do, because time is usually precious and I want to better the final piece as much as I can. I will be considering 45 including more places from Vian’s book, but I’ll also think about adding more interactive pages.
reworking some illustrations - at this point I’m starting to feel somewhat uncertain about the illustrations I’ve created so far, in terms of aesthetic. I think this stems from me looking at the drawings every single day and I’m getting tired of them - but I’m sure I want to rework at least one or two of them as I’m not overall happy with how they look. I do however like the overall look of the publication in my InDesign mockups and I keep adding visual bits to them, and the result keeps improving. I think I’d be much more keen if I could print the book on a risograph, as was originally intended, however I need to work with what’s possible and available at this moment.
Some of the pages I’ve created so far - not so sure about the combination of my illustrations with this specific font, also not sure about the layouts.
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monday _
adding typography, InDesign mockup
tuesday _
possible video call with Iro? possible video call with Tom? (if I need help)
wednesday _ working on the cover and interactive pages, making paper mockups with those pages thursday _
travelling home
friday _
chill out day
saturday _
scanning sketchbook pages
sunday _
scanning printed-out research
05/04 2020
week twelve
compiling research - last week I started compiling my research by scanning in all the pages of printed-out, annotated research, and putting them up on InVision, along with sketchbook pages. I’ve started focusing on the hand-in part of the unit because I spent the week worrying about travelling, and then actually travelling, and I wasn’t really in a state to make any new illustrations or work creatively. I think, however, that it was the perfect time to be productive with some of the less creative parts of the unit and I took advantage of that time. I’m thinking about spending the next two weeks mainly on Professional Practice, as I need to put everything I’ve researched and written 49 together, upload it online and finish what’s not yet finished. I think taking a break from the FMP will allow me to reflect back on what I had already done for it much more constructively and I’ll be able to look at the illustrations/concepts with a clearer mind. I think I’m in a good place with the project as I had started working on the final piece in advance, and I am not worried about running out of time, thanks to that.
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monday _
professional practice
tuesday _
professional practice
wednesday _ professional practice 52
thursday _
professional practice
friday _
professional practice
saturday _
professional practice
sunday _
professional practice
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19/04 2020
week thirteen and fourteen
taking a break from the project - as I had stated in my previous entry, I spent the past two weeks
focusing mainly on professional practice because of the approaching deadline. I had successfuly finished what I had wanted, and I’m good to continue working on my FMP again. In the past weeks I had a chance to think about my project and reconsider some decisions and plan some changes. I’ve realized I’m really not as happy with some of the pages, and combined with the fact I won’t be able to use a risograph anytime soon, I’ve come to the conclusion I will be reworking some, if not all of the pages. I don’t want to make major changes, but I’d like to make the illustrations prettier for the viewer, since my last ones were primarily made to be printed on the risograph - meaning they don’t look as nice in their digital form. I’ll be trying to find a way to adjust them slightly, but so they give off a better effect than before. I have also had a thought about adding more elements from my actual trip to Paris, to make the world in the book more believable. I am going to experiment with using some of my collected ephemera and editing it in a way that it looks as if it were a part of the world. I think this will add to the excitement and viewer’s experience while reading the publication.
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adding Paris,
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ephemera from the adding fictional
real bits
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monday _
professional practice
tuesday _
professional practice
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wednesday _ professional practice hand-in, reflective journal entry, experimenting with ephemera thursday _ reworking the illustrations, experimenting with ephemera friday _ reworking the illustrations, experimenting with ephemera saturday _
scanning research pages
sunday _
reworking the illustrations
26/04 2020
week fifteen
secondary research - I felt like the illustrations weren’t surreal enough/didn’t evoke
a fun, bizzare enough feeling in the viewer. I decided to do some research into French films and old surrealist films, to find elements that make the scenes in such films so weird yet fun. I am going to attempt introducing more elements like that into my illustrations adding them to my older ones, and creating new ones with more of that feel. I was really hesitant and unsure about my project this past week, as I started disliking the illustrations I’ve done. I tried to come up 57 with an idea of how to start all over again, did a few illustrations, however I ended up not liking them at all, and realizing I’m actually quite happy with the original ones. I think my unhappiness stemmed from me not being able to see the finished riso-printed result as the digital version is extremely different. I was planning on using off-white paper, which with its structure and colour is hard to immitate in a digital form and the texture of a riso print is completely unique too. I’ve decided I’m not in a place where I can take risks, three weeks before the hand-in, so I’m going to continue working with what I have - just trying out different layout concepts, getting rid of the text bits, and adding more fold-out pages. I now have a good idea about the cover illustrations and it made things easier for me, as choosing the right cover was something I was scared about since the beginning.
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One of the new concepts I tried, but I really hated.
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monday _
layout experiments and decisions
tuesday _
reworking some of the illustrations, better- ing what I’m not happy with
wednesday _ working on more illustrations, researching zine and publication layouts thursday _
working on more illustrations
friday _
working on more illustrations
saturday _ more layout experimenting with new illus- trations sunday _
a break from the project
03/05 2020
week sixteen
finishing - I am currently in the final stages of the project, only having to
finalize the layouts and compile all of my research/upload it to InVision. I must admit I’m not overly happy with how this project went and there’s a lot of reasons why - these are all explained in my final evaluation. Obviously, the coronavirus situation has affected everyone, in all kinds of ways, and I know I would produce a better quality piece under normal circumstances. This is, however, not my excuse and I am aware I should be able to deal with things like this. I think when I play around with the layouts and overall look a bit more, so that the message comes across in a more clear way, I’ll be able to change the overall feel of the publication. I will be focusing on that the upcoming week. I mainly dedicated last week to finishing the illustrations, count of which I’ve left to quite low as I didn’t want to overdo it - I think less is sometimes more and I wanted to focus on a good message delivery instead. There’s still plenty I need to do in terms of this - for example the final mockup for hand-in and I need to truly start focusing on that right now because time is running out.
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monday _
finish two more illustrations
tuesday _
more formal things - finishing project prop- osal, uploading images to InVision...
wednesday _ playing with the layout, compositions 64
thursday _
playing with the layout, compositions
friday _
playing with the layout, compositions
saturday _
experimenting with adding text if needed - i it makes the overall experience better
sunday _
a break
10/05 2020
week seventeen
last tweaks - I managed to come up with the final overall design this past
week, so the next week will be dedicated to finishing touches of the final outcome. I’m not particularly happy with how I transformed the concept into the final piece, as I think it’s lacking something that would explain the topic a bit better, however I was really struggling with the project towards the end. I wasn’t in the right headspace, which made it hard for me to come up with a more effective outcome. I am happy with the way the images are very lightly connected, and I truly wish I could see it as a risograph concertina publication, because it would definitely change my overall perception of it to more positive. I went through a lot of ups and downs when creating the final piece, and I still feel like I’m gonna go back to it eventually and tweak more things to make it more to my taste, but I feel like I my mental health sadly needs a small break from this particular project.
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Making this really helped me visualize the publication as a concertina book, because until then I had no clue. This was a point where I decided on the final way to connect the individual images and the overall concept. The finalized version truly gives off the feeling of going on a walk through the author’s mind.
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W P monday _
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K A
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finalization
tuesday _ finalization, make physical and digital mockup
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wednesday _ check if I have everything and everything’s uploaded thursday _
print out physical mockup, take photos, upload on InVision
friday _
a break
saturday _
a break
sunday _
a break
Final outcome in context
I have created mockups for different situations - firstly, to present how the publication would look as a physical object, and secondly, to show the publication in real-life situations. I have drawn a set-up for the piece at a possible exhibition, and also how the poster would look up on the wall. My publication is meant to be a self-published piece, possibly sold in different (art) bookshops - for example Xaoxax in Prague, 82 Book and Design Shop in Bratislava, or Shakespeare & Sons in Paris.
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Closest suitable mockups I could find for the publication - this is what the non-risographed spreads would look.
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The finalized publication format mockup - described in more detail on the next page and in my sketchbook.
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The finished physical book would be a concertina-type of format, but glued in an enclosed book - therefore can’t be spread out as a real concertina. This element is used to create the feeling of connection and flow between the individual scenes/illustrations. On the inside parts of the front and back cover would be glued pages same as the front and back cover, but with a hole where the head is - to suggest that the individual scenes are in Vian’s mind = head. The viewer can play around with these and position them on top of any page to “reveal” the illustration in the shape of a head.
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A very rough idea of how the book could look at an exhibition.
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- a simple table/ stand - the A3 poster on the wall behind it - 2 copies of the publication on the stand - one more intended for display, one to touch and flip through
Final Evaluation
To me, this final major project was a genuine rollercoaster. Throughout the project making, I kept having extreme highs and extreme lows in terms of my satisfaction with the progress and concepts. I think this is very visible in the final outcome, and it describes it perfectly. To be specific, I think there are good ideas in the concept, but I am not happy with the overall delivery and execution. I now realize it was very tricky to illustrate something based on a book I know super well, as I did not want to disappoint myself and I kept thinking I would not want to disappoint the author, Boris Vian, either. This had caused me being too hard on myself, hence why it took a long time for me to develop the final concept idea. However I kept having doubts and new ideas kept coming throughout the making of the publication, but it was too late for me to change things, so I stuck with the original final idea and ended up with, to me, an average project outcome. I think the coronavirus situation worsened my feelings about the project too, as I was dealing with a lot of stress when trying to get myself back home - this had caused more than two weeks of my complete absence from working on the project, as I could not focus at all. It surprised me, because this had always been my dream book to illustrate, and suddenly I had very little passion for it when I came home. I think combined with the reasons I have described earlier, plus working on commissions, I felt very disconnected from the project. On the other hand, I am very happy with the quality/amount ratio of research I have done, as I thoroughly enjoyed doing that. My Paris trip was definitely the highlight of the project and I genuinely think it had a great impact on my project concept. It is a shame that the execution did not meet with my expectations, but that does not change the fact that I think I did a lot of important research there. I managed to get a grasp of the genius loci, which I subsequently injected into the illustrations.
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Something else I am happy with are the mockups I have done. I think I truly thought in depth about the form and format of the final publication, which I honestly surprised myself with pleasantly. I tend to have a very clear idea in my head from the very beginning, which makes me a bit skeptical about doing them (which is really weird and I do not know why I am like that), but this time it worked because I had no clue if my original ideas would work when riso-printed, therefore I needed more options. I ended up with a very different format to what it was supposed to be in my head at the beginning, and it makes me kind of proud of myself because I can get quite scared to experiment/change things. Overall I think I learned a lot about how difficult, or nearly impossible for me, it is to create a good project in such a short time - good in terms of both concept and execution. I think in the past I had leant more towards the quality of the final thing and maybe some of my development was not entirely complete, but in this case I think it was the other way round. I believe I have a lot of good research and idea development in case I want to change the final piece in the future, which I think of as a positive. The final piece did not work out well this time, but there still is place for improvement and amendment in the future - because I truly just think it needed more time.
2020