another maladies

the very beginning of number three

[the model]

...and some more

A new direction for midnight's children

After conferring with Ramon and Gen, I agreed that the previous mockups for M's C had the wrong feeling--too textile-y, not simple, clean, or pop-y enough.
So here is the new direction:

new mock ups for second book

Having discovered Arundhati Roy's other books are non-fiction, I set about trying to find another couple Indian novels that would pair nicely with The God of Small Things. I decided on Midnight's Children and Interpreter of Maladies. Here are the first mock ups for Midnight's Children, which try to keep the pop-art, (60's) feeling of the paper star cover from TGOST. I still have a few other images I'm gonna play with, but many of them could work for Midnight's Children as well.

another illustration

Type Specimen Book Fifth Draft

after some minor changes,

mockups

The ideas below are what I'm working with, at least for the time being. Ideally, I'd like to pick one mock-up, or a combination of two and use it as a starting place. Eventually, it will be a template for the three-book series. All of the imagery below is inspired by motifs and themes from The God of Small Things, more and less directly.

• the moth is, quite directly, Pappachi’s moth
• the buttons are a simple illustration of kid-objects–the minor props preserved by our remembrance of things past. In the book, for example, Love in Tokyo hair elastics.
• the car is important as a marker of status and westernization; also it is a motif in the story and the setting for important narrative actions.
• the paper stars are not directly mentioned in the novel. However, they are a common sight in Kerala, especially in December. They are Christmas stars, and ready evidence of the large Christian population in the state. The Hindu/Christian split is a theme in TGOST.

My top contenders: picture # 23 from the March 4th post; the top mock-up from March 8th; and the mock-up from March 10th.

Another car-star mock up

Second round of book cover mock ups, part one

Book cover brainstorms

The first round of brainstorms, all revolving around the 'moth' idea. Very little consideration has been put into typography with these--it's all about the image--evidenced by the fact that the author's name is misspelled. Oops.

Type Specimen Fourth Draft

Probably not the final version. But possibly the last round of significant changes. Among others, the major changes:
(1) "Notes" messed up/misprinted using photocopies, ink, tape, and tearing.
(2) All MrsEaves body text replaced with Ehmcke HTF--in class, the former was described to me as being over-used and best suited now for "Martha Stuart Living."
(3) "...Hypnogogic Images" changed to Gravur Condensed Light
(4) "Adults" spread was totally reworked: less decay and mess, more playful; text box added; arrows added; type added to the illustration, etc.
(5) Left page of "Jet spread" reworked: created a "Lubalin puzzle" to match the right side; made the left side less heavy.
(6) Three columns under the "R" page; right side, "See Saw," reworked
(7) New Typography for "Get up you old cow"
(8) "Ex-posed" spread eliminated

Book Cover Archive (.com)

Right now I'm thinking most seriously about The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (which I've read), for the first book; and two others of hers for two and three.
Here are some things I liked from a quick scan of BCA's fiction section. I might try to work in one of these veins.

Regaliz Spread

A few changes:
(1) The paths for the text-on-path have been replaced so that they're all identical; they're closer together; they no longer spread on the right page; and they now intersect and 'fray' at the ends.
(2) mid-scale type, "to observe... to insult," is now in a smaller point size.
(3) Introduction of new four-part text box to mimic theme established in Bodoni spread (see earlier post).
(3a) Bottom text box among the four attempts to mimic the parallel lines of the "f" in "face."
Old:

New:

Bodoni Spread

I just redid the Bodoni spread from the type-spec book. I did a few versions of the illustration. Also, I'm wondering how the revised typography on the right page is working...





Close up of right-page typography:

Alternate Illustrations

I made different versions of some of the illustrations that appear in the spreads. I'm more definite about some of the choices than others.

Three versions of the 'boy-on-ride.' I used the black and yellow one with heavy grain.



Two versions of the scrunched paper sculpture, used in the 'punk' spread. I picked the less 'punk' of the two images, the one with lower contrast, rather than the more graphic, electronic looking version.



Each of these six is a different version of the image. Center-left is the one actually used--by far the most subtle.