I have began painting in my final sketches with ink, which is taking a fairly long time due to concentrating on paying attention to detail.
Everything was going extremely well until I somehow managed to spill ink on EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY FINAL IMAGES?!
Problem Solving
Luckily I was able to use the bandage/spot heal tool on photoshop to erase my spillages, are for the more intricate areas, I used the picker tool and the brush to draw over the darker areas in a lighter shade.
During the final InDesign drop-in session, I also took the opportunity to experiment with combining my hand rendered processes with digital. However I realised that it would be more authentic to stick to creating everything by hand, also due to the fact that I am not 100% confident with my digital skills.
Problem Analysis
I came across a major flaw when testing some of my completed images in InDesign; I hadn't considered using a bleed or a margin prior to composing the images. Therefore this would result in them being cropped or warped within my book, so I went with the latter option and tried to include most of the important information.
Problem Solving
In the future I will think more carefully about working to dimensions.. and adding dimensions in order for the visual quality and efficiency to be precise.
Re-consideration of pages 12-13
Conceptual Development
When reviewing my final images I realised that I wasn't happy with pages 12-13. The composition didn't fit in well with the rest of the pages in the book and the whole image just looked very rushed and out of place.
I carried out the same process as before, just a little quicker, and produced a more suitable image.
Front Cover
I wanted the front cover to look simplistic yet effective, as a lot of temptations/judgements on whether to pick up a book are based on the visual appeal of the cover. From my rough sketches I thought that the best option would be to use the image of the plate with text above and below.
Using a lightbox I traced the outline of the plate including the detail small details in a 0.05 pen.
Practical Skills
Using photoshop, I converted the plate to blue by adding a new layer and filling it in blue ink using the bucket tool. Then I multiplied the layers using the 'screen' option, resulting in a blue and white plate.
After adjusting the levels to create more of a deep blue/navy tone, I then remembered the importance of saving the file as a CMYK as opposed to an RGB file, so that it is compatible when using InDesign.
Testing out typefaces- taking into consideration ancient Chinese theme/appealing for large target audience to read:
Problem Solving
After much deliberation, I eventually chose Perpetua Italic, however when I tried this on the front cover itself, I actually preferred the way that the plate looks on its own without text.
Back Cover
When it came to creating a back cover, I thought that mimicking the front cover would be an appropriate idea; fading out the shape of the plate and placing the poem over the top in a bolder tone.
Problem Analysis
However when discussing my finished book with my tutor (one hour before my print slot), she was confused as to why I had used digital type as opposed to hand writing the poem on the back. She said that it didn't tie in appropriately with the rest of the theme, and suggested that I try and hand write the poem and scan it in.
The first two attempts- unsuccessful!
Hand writing in fine liner was my best option to produce the clearest results. To add a finishing touch, I placed a picture of the two birds underneath the last line of the poem, to correspond with the first line 'two birds flying high'.
Inside Cover
Looking and drawing from observation at patterns within the plate:
Using Photoshop I pasted parts of each pattern to make a larger combination of patterns, suitable for an inside cover of the book.
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