Literal

My Subject/Source:

Notes Taken From Recording:

The Edge Notes:

Thomas’ story as he approaches the edge

A man and a woman looking over the water

The woman is meg, the man is Thomas

The man wakes up from a nightmare

The man is disgruntled

He has a son called Jeffery that shows him a cliffside

He has a work colleague named Ned

He kills Ned in his dream on the clifftop

Hes in debt and goes to a loan shark

He has the dream again, but this time with his son and he pushes him off again

His wife is afraid that he will kill them in real life

He sees a psychiatrist (sounds like David Tennant?) and he threatens to fire him while he has sick pay, and tells him to get it sorted before coming back

He has the same dream with his daughter Devina.

He sees a man named sims who offers him a trade, he gives him some “stuff”

He picks up Devina and she asks where her mother is, Ned doesn’t tell and says he’ll take her and Jeffery on a “walk”

Meg is frantically looking for Devina, she returns home and sees nobody is home. She then finds a note and it reads that Ned is taking the kids on a “walk” to the edge.

Thomas arrives to the edge and takes the children up to the cliffside. The kids are frightened as he clenches their hands and takes them closer.

Meg arrives to stop him, as Ned cheers for her to join them.

Thomas realises what he’s doing is wrong and jumps down to the depths below in his own way to stop his nightmares.

Edward De Sousa is the man in black/narrator of the story

For this task, We have been given MP3 audio files to listen to, this is integral to the task as it'll be a frame of reference to the illustrations I will be creating.

My mp3 file contains of a story about a man named 'Thomas' who slowly begins to lose his mind, unwillingly putting his family in danger as he is tormented throughout the day of a re-occurring dream where he throws his victims off the edge of a cliff. This audio drama depicts the edge of a cliff both metaphorically and narratively as he finds himself re-enacting the nightmare in real life as a means to cope with the torment, but eventually finds himself plummeting to his death instead.

This has been taken from The Man In Black: collected stories' series. Told by Edward De Sousa as The Man In Black.

Requirements:

My task is to create 4 illustrations to fully develop an idea of a book based on the stories we all have been given. One book cover illustration, a book-spine illustration, a chapter heading, and one full page illustration.

In preparation for this, I will be considering different media, and paying close attention to books that make use of these types of illustrations.

Cover Image:

Spine Image:

Full-Page:

Chapter Heading:

The Purpose Of Book Illustration:

Book illustration has been a staple of literature for many centuries. They can add imagery to accompany a rich story, and help you imagine what the narrative of the book is trying to convey to you, as the reader.

They feature some finer details in including an index menu showing you where the chapters are, numbered pages, and of course; Illustrations to accompany the story.

How it can help enrich the story that is written, is by giving the front cover a eye-catching visual to tease the world that the narrative is taking place in, as well as what is to be expected if you choose to pick up the book and read it.

The spine can also be just as impactful as the front cover to making sure the book can be caught to the reader's eye, as there can sometimes be a small illustrated picture to detail the side of the book when viewed on its side on a shelf or casing.

There are also instances in books where a whole page will be put on display, often halfway through the story, to update the reader on a visual cue or certain element in that chapter that the author may have wanted to reinforce the image they had in mind for that scene to the reader. These are usually visually rich in colour and detail.

Then we have the chapter heading illustrations that are most effective In black and white and can also help picture the oncoming chapter that the reader is about to read. These are simplistic in style, and can make use of pencil textures on smaller scales.

Cover Illustration Research:

Spine Illustration Research:

Chapter Heading Research:

Full Page Illustration Research:

Tutorial Material:

Book Illustrator Examples:

Lewis Carrol

Robert Giusti

Pam Smy

Arnold Lobel

Nick Gucker

Books on Book Illustration:

Before starting my own idea experimentation, I felt it was very important to look over other professional illustrator's work, and se how I can match the same level of professionalism.

It's also quite important to look at compilations and collection books of these illustrators and perhaps even learn techniques or specific methods from books that talk about the industry standards.

Ideas & Illustration Components:

Idea Planning:

My plan for 'The Book Illustrations':

Book Cover - A cliff side resting against a set of clouds in the background, with a silhouette of a man standing on the edge looking down. This illustration will be done with Adobe Illustrator and then later mocked up with felt/cloth texturing in Photoshop afterwards.

I have been given free choice to specify what colours I wish to go with, but they can only be two solid colours. The book's cloth will be a light blue, with the foreground having a darker grey colour to silhouette the edge of the cliff. The title also must be called "The Man In Black: Collected Stories".

Book Spine Image - A middle angle of a man's torso, dressed in a black business suit as he adjusts his tie. Will be positioned on the upper area of the spine, along with the authored text and title of the story. This will also be done in adobe Illustrator, and given real felt treatment later in Photoshop.

Full Page Image - Thomas walking with his children (Devina and Jeffery), as he grins evilly, looking up as his head hangs lower while his kids look up at him with looks of fear and horror. His wife (Meg) is running with a hand reaching out towards them, in an attempt to stop them.

This image will be drawn in analogue methods, with pencils, watercolour paints, and refined in a coloured pencil finish. It must be left open for a 3 mm colour bleed edge, 300 dpi resoloution, and be presented on the right page. With stock text, the page number, and the chapter heading all taking space on the left page.

Chapter Heading Image - Wide shot of Thomas driving crazily as his kids are blissfully unaware in the back seats. This chapter heading illustration is to be done in black and white/greyscale, be 300 dpi, and can be treated as a open ended vignette styled image, meaning no specific borders can be bound to the illustration, but not to the point of obscuring any text or elements on the page of the book.

Development Process:

To get a better feel for my characters, I felt that designing some potential concept artwork for them might help on understanding where to place them and how to create my upcoming pieces.

Methods/Tools Used:

Watercolour Paints & Drawing/Colouring Pencils:

- Chapter Heading
- Full Page Illustration

Book Cover & Spine (Digital Softwares):

- Paint.Net
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Photoshop
- Clip Studio Paint EX

Tools/Methods Used:

- Clone Stamp Tool
- Tapered Texture Pen Brush
- Perlin Noise
- Colour Saturation
- Duplicated Layers
- Opacity

Typeface:

Initial Ideas:

Initial sketches that I had done to generate ideas before creating the thumbnails.

In these doodles, I had decided on going with a 1980s setting, set within Britain as the characters spoke with northern English and one Scottish accent.

Book-Cover Illustration: