Bookworks 2019

University of Portsmouth BA (Hons) Illustration

University of Portsmouth BA (Hons) Illustration

Bookworks

A collection of artists’ books created in response to a broad range of classic stories, from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to War and Peace, and produced in 2019. These books have been made by students of the Illustration BA (Hons) course at University of Portsmouth and are inspired by both the classic texts and also The Ministry of Books archive housed here within the university; an extensive and inspiring resource of artists’ bookworks.

To see more about The Ministry of Books go to;

www.theministryofbooks.blogspot.co.uk

University of Portsmouth BA (Hons) Illustration

Bookworks

Contributor Bookwork title Literary inspiration

Ahmed Idries Tagged Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare

Aimee Lee Seasons The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson-Burnett

Amy Brimmer Ocean 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Jules Verne

Amy Tainsh Alice’s Nightmare Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll

Amy Middleton Jungle Animals 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Jules Verne

Ashleigh Nicole How to be a Sonnets William Shakespeare

Happy Artist

Dan Leonidas A Study into the Hard Times Charles Dickens

Visual Aesthetics of Victorian England

Elizabeth Oakley Bloom Great Expectations Charles Dickens

Ellis Brown 1728 Murders The Tell-Tale Heart Edgar Allen Poe

Gavlyn Ess Through the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll

Wonderland

Isaac Slavage The Last Human I am Legend Richard Matheson

Artefact

James Williams Germany Calling The Hopkins Manuscript RC Sherriff

Bookworks 2019

University of Portsmouth BA (Hons) Illustration

Contributor Bookwork title Literary inspiration

Joel Spiers Ennui Much Ado About Nothing William Shakespeare

Katherine Duckworth The Sauvage Book The Sword in the Stone TH White of Magic

Katherine Swanson The Key to Intelligence A Study in Scarlet Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Katherine Turner Impossible Things Through the Looking-Glass Lewis Carroll

Maddy Ford Girl Power: The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood A Visual Manifesto

Mariah Cleall The Journey of Dracula Bram Stoker

Jonathan Harker

Max Hillbourne Sherlock Holmes’ The Hound of the Baskervilles Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Curse of the Baskervilles

Melanie Townsend The BugKeeper’s Captor The Woman in the Dunes Kobo Abe

Phoebe Hoare Zelus and Ōsus Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy

Prithy Paramsothy Choose Life Trainspotting Irvine Welsh

Serena Toovey Paint the Town Pink War and Peace Leo Tolstoy

Tara Magrun Chasing the Dream Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S Thompson

TAGGED Ahmed Idries

A handmade 3D model of a London Underground tube carriage. Made from wood and hard foam. The sides of the model are hand and spray graffiti painted.

This is a model of a London tube train carriage with graffiti text on the sides resembling the graffiti of the London underground graffiti scene. The words ‘Capulet’ and ‘Montague’ are painted in a graffiti style representing the feuding families in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The opposing graffiti represents the rivalry and conflict, also depicting the youthful nature and desire to be seen and heard by the community regardless of the law. In addition to the graffiti-style lettering of both families there is an insult written that is found in the original play, the same sort of taunting that would be found in the London graffiti scene. I chose to write these on a model of a train instead of making a traditional book because for graffiti writers, the trains walls and other objects they write on are essentially the ‘books of the streets’. The theme of the piece is rivalry.

Based on Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Seasons Aimee Lee

A hard cover glued concertina book which measures 150mm square. The front and back cover are wrapped in dark green book cloth and held together with a green card belly band painted with gold acrylic. The 6 pages are made of printed white paper.

Binding; Concertina, board, bookcloth, glued.

Production method; Printed from scans of original watercolour images

This book is a concertina which explores growth over the seasons. The first pages begin in a bare garden, which suggests it is lonely and quiet, whilst the final pages depict blooming flowers and a pair of robins, which connotes growth and fertility as the seasons progress.

Based upon The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, exploring the obvious themes of nature and growth, whilst also subtly suggesting themes of care and companionship.

Ocean Amy Brimmer

A concertina book showing the depth of the ocean, through different materials and shapes of sea creatures, cut out of a textured background of rolled ink. The ink gets darker and the centre materials get thicker, from clear plastic to foam, to show how the deeper you go the less light is let through. Text made with a label maker, labels the different layers/zones of the ocean and inspired by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.

Alice’s Nightmare Amy Tainsh

Handmade tunnel book

200 x 200 mm

Based on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, this is a hand cut tunnel book. The book consists of the covers which hold 4 hand cut pages, these are attached to a concertina fold that binds them together. Alice’s Nightmare conveys a child getting coaxed into a nightmare, the layers provide an immersive feeling and as one looks in, they are met with creepy imagery. Alice looks through cautiously but she doesn’t know there are some terrifying characters expecting her already and the heart hanging from the trees threatens a gruesome fate for Alice. The book aims to convey the theme of lost innocence by showing a situation which Alice cannot escape, but something she must face instead.

Jungle Animals

Amy Middleton

Bright coloured set of 4 tunnel books, length 83 mm by 138 mm. incorporating coloured card view finders in yellow, red, blue and green, with 5 layers of images within the accordion folds.

Production method – hand drawn fine liner images

Literary and visual analysis; this tunnel book is concentrating on what it is like to be an explorer in the jungle, with 4 sets of images that the viewer has to find. The original inspiration book was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, I pursued the theme of exploration and Charles Darwin’s exploration on board the Beagle inspired me to illustrate the story of what it is like to find animals in the wild.

A Study into the Visual Aesthetics of Victorian England

Dan Leonidas

Covered in a thin sheet of leather, these filthy pages visualise the aesthetics of Victorian England by presenting various marks, textures and prints that represent the dirty slums that the poor lower working class had to inhabit as well as the dominance of industrialisation and machinery that polluted the world. Featuring information to give the viewer a clearer insight, this book is a representation of a past society and way of life.

Production method: Lino ink and roller, acrylic paint, Indian ink (both thick and watered down), coffee (for the brownish stains), newspaper print, charcoal and lino prints.

Based on; Hard Times by Charles Dickens, a book that focuses on the concept of an education system teaching fact over fancy and crushing the imaginative minds of the young in order to create more hard workers for Coketown, the main setting of the story is of red bricked factories that churn smoke into the skies above. This is what made me focus on the concept of industrialisation and the effect it had on the many who powered the movement, since the factories and chimneys are constantly mentioned within the story. It may not be a theme from the main plot of the story, but it has been a theme that has provided a lot of imagery and research opportunities.

Bloom: A Guide to the Garden of my Heart

Elizabeth Oakley

Bound using Japanese stab binding, Bloom documents my life using floriography (the language of flowers) by representing the journey of emotions through meanings of flowers. The book is inspired by traditional field guides and uses detailed botanical illustrations combined with a more contemporary style to create a juxtaposition. Each image is hand rendered using colour pencils on 110gsm paper. To complete the piece, it is stored in a box covered using architecture grass giving it a fresh, radiant feel that reflects the positive feeling of the book. Original text; Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.

1728 Murders Ellis Brown

A hard back box, covered in inked Kraft paper.

Unfolding into a board game, the box reveals other enclosed items to help the player. The six sides are individually covered and placed on a flat plan that ties into a box. The box itself is bound with glue and string for extra support. Hand made library card pockets hold 3 decks of cards, and a book with long-stitch binding is included. The box, which is covered in dark ink and secured with string, has a handmade feel to it. Once opened and laid flat, the box acts as a board game of murder. The inclusion of the dice and 36 monoprinted cards, inspired by eerie Victorian illustrations, allows the player to visualise their murders and interact with the game. The dark marks on the cards reflect the dark motives of murder.

Based upon Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, exploring the theme of a perfect murder.

University of Portsmouth BA (Hons) Illustration

Through the Wonderland

Gavlyn Ess

Seven page concertina fold tunnel book, 144 x 205 x 25 mm, consisting of colourful gouache painting and paper cut-out pieces layered together. The main theme was inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll but with a Japanese twist; with bonsai trees it made the scenery look more magical. Each page represents seven different scenes from the story. The first page, Wonderland, shows Alice standing to look through the Wonderland. The second page is Sea of Tears which was inspired by the second chapter of the book, The Pool of Tears, in which giant Alice cried until everywhere is flooded with her tears. The third page, The Caterpillar, is a colorful mushroom jungle where Alice meets the caterpillar on top of a mushroom. The fourth page is a grinning Cheshire Cat greeting Alice while his head is floating in the air. Next is the mad tea party, where Alice meets the Mad Hatter, March Hare and Dormouse having a never-ending tea party. On the sixth page, The Queen’s Rose Garden, the cards are painting the roses red because they accidentally planted white roses which The Queen of Heart does not like. The last scene represents the pagoda of hearts which is guarded by the Samurai card guards.

Robert Neville’s Time Capsule Concertina/ The Last Human Artefact

Isaac Salvage

Hard back glued concertina book presented in a time capsule/ lock box. The book is 178mm square and the depth varies throughout the concertina. The covers are constructed out of wood and metal and create a steampunk/ mechanical aesthetic to the outcome to portray the theme of post-apocalypse. The pages are made from brown paper and card and there are a total of 10 illustrated panels (6 on initial opening of the concertina and 4 on the reverse side).

Production method; Sculptural cover, line-drawings and collage.

This book uses illustrations and type in a way that portrays the hardships of Robert Neville in a very personal and close to home way as a first-person journal of Neville’s experiences. By illustrating and conveying Neville’s thought processes and reactions, from his mourning and grief of losing his family and dog companion to his untrustworthy encounters with supposedly other survivors, the concertina allows the viewer to step into Neville’s world and feel and see what experiences he was exposed to. Moreover, expose the idea of loneliness and not only the battle for survival but also the battle for his mental health as Neville continued his dangerous pathway, portrayed subtly by alcohol labels and depression tablets being collaged into the concertina.

My outcome is based on the story of I am Legend, by Richard Matheson. The theme my outcome portrays is the loneliness and the brutality of Robert Neville’s journey as he survives in the post-apocalyptic world. The breakdown of modern society is also one of the main themes portrayed through the concertina including showing the decay of Los Angeles.

Germany Calling James Williams

The book is constructed out of a mix of white and cream card, folded down into 12 pages and backed by two hard covers. An accompanying sleeve slots around the book which, like the front hard cover, has been printed with blue and red ink. The covers and seams of the book are bound together using glue. Implementing the concertina fold, the book stretches out to reveal an array of imagery highlighting the morally depraved character of William Joyce, a corrupt Briton who aligned himself on the wrong side of history. The typography and illustrations allude to his career of inciting fear. To capture the tone, the book utilises little colour with charcoal imagery as the primary medium, as well as contributions from letterpress and dip ink pen.

Germany Calling takes inspiration from the sinister political undertones addressed in RC Sherriff’s The Hopkins Manuscript, a story which highlights the dark traits of human nature. Published in 1939, the novel profoundly foreshadows the likelihood of a second world war, as greed and resentment takes over the sentiment of the establishment.

The Sauvage Book of Magic

Katherine Duckworth

The Sauvage Book of Magic is a plywood box, laser cut and stained, with metal hinges and pulls. It contains ‘magic’ items which explore the spells cast by Merlyn in The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White; including puzzles, origami and toys made from wood, metal fixings, paper and mirror. The first section of the box contains a spell book, containing circular pages, glued together and folded with a map fold. The book contains the instructions for how to cast the spells each item represents. The reader works through the magic contained by each item before discovering the extra compartment in the last drawer which contains their ‘destiny’ – and they can retrieve the sword.

The Key to Intelligence

Katherine Swanson

Leather bound hardback book. 180mm x 150mm x 50mm. Black distressed leather with title engraved and embellished with gold ink. Pages made from textured paper, with a box created from pages at the back.

Binding; Stitched and glued, with a leather cord binding the jacket to the book.

Production method; Hand illustrated ink drawings.

A mysterious heavy, leather bound book engraved with golden lettering on its worn leather jacket. The book is locked shut with an old padlock, the key is contained within the first of many puzzles on the hard cover beneath the leather jacket. The pages contain gloomy images filled with subtle clues and hidden messages. Its appearance is hefty, but the book contains a secret locked box which adds to its weight and presence. Some pages are textured and others appear torn or burned. The book feels aged, worn and fragile, with some of its pages damaged. Can you solve its mystery?

My bookwork is inspired by Sherlock Holmes - A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, exploring the theme of mystery, intelligence and observation.

Impossible Things

Katherine Turner

A white infinity mirror box containing three small mirrored books 270mm x 220mm. x 65mm.

A handmade box with an infinity light mirror in the lid. Inside, there are three mirrored books containing different illusions and unconventional book binding techniques at a size of 76.2mm x 76.2mm. The pages are made from 140gsm white paper.

Binding techniques: Concertina, Flexagon and Jacob’s Ladder

Book 1 and 2 have been printed using laser printer onto 140gsm paper and acetate. The third book has been hand-drawn using black and red ink pen. The mirrored covers and the box are handmade.

This interactive artist book aims to create an unusual experience for the reader by showing ‘impossible things’. Nothing is what it seems, creating a sense of mystery and wonder, and allowing the reader to explore and discover new illusions. The use of mirrors reflects the idea of an unusual world and tests the perception of reality. This bookwork is inspired by Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll which explores themes around ‘the impossible’ in a strange mirrored world.

Girl Power: A Visual Manifesto

Maddy Ford

Initially inspired by Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Girl Power: A Visual Manifesto is a collection of collages, hand-lettered quotations and illustrations aiming to encapsulate what it is to be an empowered woman in the modern day. The message of the book is to acknowledge the past, take inspiration from the present and work towards a future of complete freedom and equality.

The Journey of Jonathan Harker

Mariah Cleall

A hard-back stitched A5 sized book with a worn down maroon faux leather fabric cover with a belt strap to hold the book together. There are 25 pages including pop up sections, drawings of architecture as well as maps. The paper is a 250g paper tea-stained to make it look old. There is also a pocket in the back of the book that has letters and envelopes in. The book is long stitch bound to make it more secure to hold the pop ups and pocket in place.

For the production method of this book I used a range of different mix media. For the maps I used water colour to make them look old. I used ballpoint pen and ink for the architect building. For the pop up I worked digitally. I chose to do mix media because it gives the viewers something different to look at when they look through the book, instead of it being the same media.

This book is long stitched bound showing the journey that Jonathan Harker and Dracula took from England to Transylvania. This is shown through maps and pop ups.

I started looking at Bram Stoker’s Dracula. From this I got the themes journey and gothic.

University of Portsmouth BA (Hons) Illustration

Sherlock Holmes and the Curse of the Baskervilles

Max Hilbourne

A hard backed glued pop up book, red fabric matt cover wrapped on greyboard. Three coffee stained A3 pop up pages stuck together with PVA and double sided tape to ensure maximum flexibility.

Binding: Glued and stuck with double sided tape to ensure the right spacing and flexibility for each pop up per page.

Production Method: Paper fold, coffee staining on card, fine liner and ink.

This book is a series of pop ups utilising large spaced folds and delicate drawings to expand the narrative. The story is a sequel celebrating the boldness and iconography of the Sherlock Holmes’ tale The Hound of the Baskervilles. The reader must look for clues within the pop ups in order to solve the mystery of the Hound.

Based on Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the book explores themes of fear and its effects on stretching the truth.

The Bug Keeper’s Captor

Melanie Townsend

A box within a box containing an A6 size book. The cover design is screen printed and the inner pages are made of white cartridge paper. The book is Japanese bound and the images on the pages are hand drawn with a brush and ink. The inner box is produced with a laser cutter and glued together before applying hinges and a lock. The outer box is hand painted.

My piece is based on the novel The Woman in the Dunes by the Japanese author, Kobo Abe. The main character is a bug collector, who on his journey to find a rare beetle, becomes trapped in an impoverished village. Collectively, the piece is a physical representation of the ‘layers of entrapment’ shown in the novel. As the protagonist captures insects, the village traps the man, and the village is stuck in poverty by the society they live in. This is portrayed by the walls of the box that contain the other elements and the cover of the book encasing the interior images.

Zelus and Ōsus

Phoebe Hoare

A hard back glued pop-up book 220mm square, covered in handmade yellow corduroy bookcloth. The 5 pages are made from Kraft card, and the pop-ups from a variety of different cards. The book uses a concertina fold as a second spine which holds the pages and is glued to the cover on the inside. The pop-ups have been cut by hand by primarily using a cutting knife, and fixed together with glue. The book acts as a visual metaphor for being consumed by jealousy, interpreting Shakespeare’s coined term ‘The Green Eyed Monster’ as the creature which haunts the characters, Zelus and Ōsus. The names are significant as they are two parts which make up the Latin word zelosus, which was an early word for jealousy. The theme of jealousy was taken from Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina, in which it plays a key but destructive role.

Choose Life

Prithy Paramsothy

Concertina book; 150mm x 200mm x 5mm, consisting of 8 pages, covered in brown card with a map and title which has been screen-printed.

Within the concertina book is continuous but random imagery, to illustrate the journey Renton experienced throughout the story of Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh, from the highs and thrills of taking heroin, to its repercussions, including the death of Tommy.

To make my book I started out by testing different types of paper and card to see what would work best with screen-printing. I decided to go for a brown card, and screen-print maps onto it. Initially I wanted to letterpress my title onto my cover but the ink wouldn’t hold onto the type of card I had chosen. Instead I decided to also screen-print the title. The inside consists of folded pages, with drawings printed onto them. I’ve also inserted a letterpress which can be read as an introduction to the concertina.

From the text I initially started looking into the themes of addiction, friendship, waste & decay and rebellion. I focused onto the theme escapism because I would have more freedom to explore different forms of imagery.

Paint the Town Pink Serena Toovey

A concertina book with belly band. 210mm, x 135mm x 15mm. The 12 pages are made from cream card, the bellyband is made from black craft paper. The book is illustrated with pink Promarker pens and the title on the bellyband is written in white gel pen.

This concertina fold book features illustrations depicting the issue of gun violence, as well as other weapons such as grenades, in an abstract manner. The negative space of the guns suggests that not enough is known about guns and the safety surrounding them, hence why the space around the guns is so chaotic. The images remain blank with no annotations to redress this. This also leaves a lot open to interpretation by the viewer, in the same way that gun regulations are seen so differently by so many. The neon pink pen used to draw the guns adds a dark sense of humour, as you expect guns to be black and scary, however in the media they are often portrayed as being cool, especially when they are customised. Some of the guns illustrated include rifles, pistols and shotguns featuring a Type 56 and an M16A1 M203. The book is based on the classic text of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. The theme developed from looking at Russian militaria, to the stark contrasts between beauty and decay, and finally to the portrayal of weapons.

Chasing the Dream

Tara Magrun

An 86 page flipbook, 145mm x 168mm x 20mm. Bound by binding screws, 240gsm paper covers feature a screenprint of the title Chasing the Dream in red and tessellation pattern in blue. The pages are printed on white cartridge paper.

Production method: Inkjet printed pages, Screenprint, drill + screws

This flip book depicts the basic storyline of the classic cult story Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Using animation, motion and psychedelic visuals it is an interpretation of how the pursuit of the American dream is depicted in the story. The theme revolves around finding joy/happiness (The American Dream) almost instantaneously through the experimentation of drugs, in this case LSD, which is a heavily used drug in the actual storyline. But like most things, what comes up must come down, with the imagery coming full circle to remind us that dreams are just dreams. ‘Living’ the dream is shown through the act of gambling here where the player is winning and gaining money but loses just as quickly.

The flipbook is based on Hunter S. Thompson’s book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas exploring the theme of the realism of the American Dream.

University of Portsmouth BA (Hons) Illustration

A catalogue of artists’ books by BA (Hons) Illustration second year students produced by Nicola Hay and Lee Shearman

Bookworks 2019