(no subject)

[ellenmillion]

Book muse is as good as art muse. :)

You get the page set up just so - and it practically sings to your eyeballs when it's right.

Some of the pages, it's like pulling teeth from a wild animal very attached to their teeth to get there... the pictures want to compete instead of compliment, there's too much text. There's too little text. The words are the wrong length, so the paragraph looks jumpy. Then, some pages go together like inspiration, drag in three pictures, resize them each once, copy in the text and everything's already there, exactly where they should be... it's funny, it's punchy, it's easy to follow through the page, and all the art is playing nicely together.

The last page went together in the former manner, and that's a nice feeling. I'm through Weird Fruit, Gearworld, Pink Lizards, My Little Things (though I'm leaning on Ursula for another one, because the page doesn't really sing yet), Ads, Squash Kachina, and the bio, and now I'm poking at Donkeys and wondering how to open into the big-nosed guys.

A few stylistic questions for you in artbook preferences:

[Poll #734241]

Feel free to comment below, or email me, or use the contact form at any of my sites.

Comments

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

You can't edit polls? How embarassing. Option 5 of the checkbox bit should read: I'll be scanning the book and putting it online anyway. Though of course, none of you will be checking that one anyway...

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

*Peeks*, *peeks*, when it's a "sneak peek" it's *peek*, as in I'm *peeking* at something, not as in I'm standing on the peak of a mountain!

(Ahem. People get that wrong all the time. Drives me crazy. Even if I know probably 90% of the reason to get it wrong is it's much easier to type sneak peak than sneak peek, because your fingers are in the eak groove!)

[almeda.livejournal.com]

Bothers me just as much as (and similarly to) 'baited breath' and 'born up on the breast of the wave'. Et multi (alas) alia.

[ursulav.livejournal.com]

I'm linking this from my blog so Ye Olde Readers can make suggestions!

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

....it is apparently a day for spelling things wrong, because I just misspelled Azeazel. Not that it's an easy word to spell right.

Also, I lust hopelessly after such a book, but get the feeling that my sad, pathetic little budget isn't up to it.

[delphinapterus.livejournal.com]

I had to look mine up, and then couldn't really pick just one.

[renatus.livejournal.com]

You know what I chose about text, but I wanted to add that while most of Ursula's pieces stand alone just fine, the descriptions are in their way art, little stories in miniature. They are companions to the art, so they should be presented in text big enough to easily read, but at the same time shouldn't compete with it - while they could practically stand alone themselves, the book is about the pictures, after all. :)

[redrob.livejournal.com]

In response to the second question, "The text compliments the art" I'll leave out the fancy art criticism, as I have to get to work, but the text should be present, but not pushy. If I want to just flip through the book and look at the pretty pictures, I should be able to without being distracted by giant text boxes with large, wickedly cool fonts that sometimes drape across the image. But the text is funny, and would greatly enhance the enjoyment (and thus sales) of the book. So it should be readable. No 4 point type! Some editing/cutting of text is OK, but don't go overboard.

Alex

[roooof.livejournal.com]

bugger - i forgot to go back and write in the piece before I hit submit.

IMHO, Angel of Babylon must be included ... along with a whole bunch of others obviously, but that one I adore.

UV Radiation

[(Anonymous)]

Please include text as Ursula Vernon sees fit! Her commentary is just as important as the art (in my opinion). She has me breaking up into giggles with the verbal twists she adds. I think that no matter what she chooses to include, it'll be perfect. It's about her vision; her avid viewers and readers can take from it what we want. :)
Cheers