MEGA Update//Completo

At the moment I'm about 2-3 days behind on blogging. Normally that would't be a big deal but this project has been moving so fast that there are so many developments that I've missed out. I've been eating, sleeping and breathing books and caves. 

Development of Imagery

From the quite abstract paintings I had I developed it so the images ranged from small to larger, more complicated and darker (like walking into a cave) the final image was all black except a small about of white and red in the centre (an exit from the cave). Together the images are meant to tell a story of a journey though a cave. I scanned in all the images and corrected blemishes from the scan and the colour but tried to keep a fairly raw, handmade feel. I then put them all on indesign (which was surprisingly painless)

Title/Naming/Words

For a fairly long time in this project I've been worried about how to use words in this project. Once I'd put everything on indesign it looked fairly clear to me that words might ruin the effect of the visuals and in some ways they weren't necessary (?) Leaving no words might make it seem much more ambiguous? Hard to understand if you don't know what its about before you start reading it. However, I found the title one of the hardest parts of the whole final part of the project (maybe I left too much time on it, put too much emphasis on it?) but I wanted something that would make it clear what the meaning of the book was while not being too blatant. I very nearly went with 'Cavescapes' maybe didn't have enough of the feel? and I'd already used 'Cityscapes' in the zine I'd made (I find something about putting a word next to 'scapes' is quite funny). In the end I went with 'Belly of the beast' as it seemed to sum up the feeling of being in a cave also I like silly phrases like that (2 meanings?)

Cover

 I also struggled a bit for the cover. In my tutorial, Matt mentioned using one of the photos I took as the cover- as well as painting out area (which reminded me of 'the picadillies by Dieter Roth, where he painted out different areas of the same image from a post card of piccadilly circus multiple times.- see bellow.)

at first I scanned 3 images together (all of them wrong-overexposed, out of focus- but together they worked- maybe the darkness, nature in them worked well with the theme). I liked it but don't think it worked as a cover- so  I used it as the back cover). In the end for the cover I just painted out areas of a photo I took on Ilkley moor (in red, black and white- the colour scheme of the book). 

Printing

I did some test prints as I went along on indesign- but because of the format none of them worked as a booklet. Some of the test prints were so badly wrong they were quite interesting so I saddle stitched them (maybe if I was bolder I'd submit them as my book).

Mis-prints

 I wanted a weighty, fairly textured paper and was going to go to the digital print room but I didn't book a slot/have time. I printed on cartridge paper in the studio in the end and I like the texture and feel of it of it- but some of the colours (especially the darker ones) have come out different to how I expected; some look totally black where they had colour- mostly this is ok but theres probably about one too many pages that are too dark. I booked a digital print slot for Monday morning so I'll have a go at making it nicer- but I'm happy to submit it as it is (perfectionism strikes again). Some of the mis-prints were stapled but I'm also going to give saddle stitch a go with one of these finals as I feel like it might suit the feel of the book better (little things). It feels like this book has come together out of nowhere- from vague ideas at the end of last week to a fully formed book at the end of this week it almost feels like someone else has been doing the work. Its been a very fast moving, almost subconscious process. I'm happy with the work I've made and I've enjoyed the freedom and experimentation. 

Front cover

Back cover

Inside cover/first page

Inside