Book making project

Week 1

In the book making project, we will be making a book on the website 'book wright', which will contain our own contents. In preparation for this project, we have been doing research on book making, while also learning to use adobe photoshop and illustrator in the mac room. I will be using these programs to edit and make my own hand drawn work look more professional for a printed book. I have decided to base my project on a zine I made over the summer about the history of the paralympics (inspired by the Tokyo 2020/2021 games).

Above are a collection of images I took of books I looked at for research for this project. These books include typography and graphic design mostly, which is what will be most useful to me in making my own book, as i use a combination of images and type to convey the information.

Summer zine project

Over the summer we were set a brief to make a small collection of zines about any subject that interested us. This project would then lead on to what we would be doing when we came back to college in September. I chose a random assortment of subjects that interest me and things that I enjoy to make the zines. The first zine I created contained the true story of a paranormal mystery that took place in the Soviet mountains in the 50s. I had heard about the story in an episode of a paranormal/ true crime/ comedy podcast that I love listening to (below), and was compelled to tell the story in my own way with illustrations in my zine.

The third zine I created is about gin. I collect tiny taster bottles of gin of all kinds of flavours, as I enjoy trying new kinds, and I drew each bottle and included a rating of all those that I tried in the zine.

The final zine I created for this project was a zine about the history of the paralympic games. I was inspired after watching the paralympics over the summer to create something connected to it, especially as I feel the paralympic games don't usually get as much attention as the Olympics. Finding out the origins and history of these games interested me, so I thought I would share the information with others through a zine.

Mi wnes i ddefnyddio y darn hwn o fy zine i er mwyn arbrofi gyda photoshop er mwyn fy mharatoi ar gyfer creu y llyfr.

Ar ol i mi sganio'r gwaith a defnyddio photoshop ac illustrator er mwyn paratoi'r tudalennau, mi wnes i roi'r gwaith ar bookwright yn barod ar gyfer gyrru'r llyfr i gael ei brintio.

This bookmaking project has taught me a lot about the process of making and completing a professional product out of my own ideas, skills that I think are essential for my future as an illustrator. Before this project, I only had a small knowledge of how to use photoshop, but after weeks of being talked through the programme, as well as having the opportunity to experiment on both Photoshop and illustrator, I feel much more confident in using these resources going forward for my future projects on the course and in my future.

I had never used a book making software like 'bookwright' before, and I think that the chance to use the programme to create a professional book made of my own hand drawn illustrations and writing gave me the chance to see ways in which I could potentially work in the future. I found it challenging to find ways to format the book, and look at which ways my drawings look better and most successful in a digital setting. The opportunity to edit and change the illustrations digitally also gave me even more creative freedom, as usually my drawings are final once I've decided they are finished.