Thursday, December 31, 2009

Working on the Book

Well, I have started on the book. I have developed a format that I think will work. I spent part of the day developing color pallets for the different pages. I want very muted, soft colors. Almost monochromatic, but not quite. Lots of linen like colors. Also, greens, blues, wines, rusts and ochers. I want the pages to look like they are hand lettered in the calligraphic manner, like the monks used to do, on hand made vellum. I might even vary the value of the fonts in places, to make it look more like hand lettering. I have finished one page that has a fancy border, and a large initial cap, along with pine boughs tucked in here and there. I set the body copy in the font, and size I chose for that too.
I do not want to do a lot of illustrating on the pages, like some medieval works I have researched. Some of that work is really amazing. But I do want to give the pages a similar feeling of busyness.
I went online and found some really wonderful fonts for this project. Very fun. I spend most of the day yesterday choosing fonts for the different parts and pieces of the layout. Some of my ideas did not work the way I thought they might, but I found other ideas that would.
I also illustrated a new piece of abstract art for my etsy shop, called Singing under the mangrove trees. I started another today of a sleeping kitten. Very fun!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Hi,
Our newest project is a book. We want it to be hand-made, and to look like a Gothic or medieval style folio. My husband compiled a chronological account from the bible of the birth of Christ. He also included the prophecies given by God that for-told His coming.
I have been designing the book and doing the illustrations, which are mostly fancy initial caps. I'm learning the Adobe program InDesign, which is a great layout tool, for this project. I am finding the program Adobe Illustration helpful too, for drawing vines and scrolls. We want the pages to be 8.5 x 5.5. We think the cover and back will be hand made! (We may need to get others to help us with this part. There will be lots of cutting and pasting going on!) Sounds like fun to me!
We really want people to know what God did for us by sending His wonderful Son to us. Jesus Christ, lived, died, and rose again, to free us from sin, death, and hell!
Thanks for listening, and stopping by.
Hetty