User:Thijshijsijsjss/PTMoMNBM/Pen Plotted Illustration Book

What is it?

An illustration book telling a story in about 12 spreads, handbound and all pen plotted.

Why make it?

I find illutration books to (try to be) be intimated experiences. However, their mass production and particular materiality often creates a distance for me that inhibits me from fully experiencing this intimacy. Glossy pages, hard covers. The illutration book becomes a pristine object that cannot and should not be damaged. Should not be interacted with in playful ways. All the while, often the the stories they portray allow for a sense of curiosity and wonder that text-based books sometimes lack. There is a dissonance between the playful attitude of the content, and the static pompousness of the format.

A pen plotted illustration book can provide a more harmonic outcome. While there is cooperation with machine, there is still a handmade quality to pen plots. And due to the quirks of plotting, every plot is unique. As a method, it embraces playfulness (and seamfulness). 

Finally, such a book could highlights many techniques of pen plotting, and in that way also serve as a nice overview for someone interested in this practise.

Workflow

1. Make the story
   1.1 Create a narrative
   1.2 Create concept art for characters and environments
   1.3 Create a storyboard 
2. Make some decisions
   2.1 Decide on the method(s) of illustration
       -> For example, multicolor crosshatches, stippling, vector outlines, ...
   2.2 Decide on the binding technique
       -> For example, stapled, thread sewn, glue binded, ...
   2.3 Decide on the issue size
3. Illustration files must be made
   -> This can include drawing and coloring by hand, and converting this to pen plottable illustrations.
4. Pen plotting
5. Binding
6. Distributing

Timetable

Yet to be determined.

Previous practice and Rapid prototypes

I have a previous practise both in pen plotting and in storyboarding for illustration-based stories. I will pull from this to provide this proposal with prototypes.

This project is supported by three prototypes:
1. A storyboard prototype. This storyboard I made in October 2022 and might serve as a basis for this illustration book.
2. A pen plotting prototype, to see what some of the pages might look like. For exampes for one specitic technique, see for  examnple this page.
3. A binding prototype. For this, I don't have a prototype currently.

Storyboard for an illustrationbook featuring a snowperson and a scarecrow

Two methods of pen plotted illustrations I have made before

Relation to a wider context

This projects relate to the wider practise of pen plotting, and the multiplicity of methods and results they invite. There are few pen plotted publications, and a publication for pen plotted illustrations is, to my knowledge, novel.

Additionally, we live in a society of fast paced consumption. In some ways, this behaviour is already being taught at a young age. Projects that cater to children should be aware of this.

Choices made

- story or 'fragmental'?
- with or without text?
- aimed at children, or not specifically?