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Personal Project: I printed my own personal "Artist Edition" style hardcover book to showcase my favorite commissions
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50 posts in this topic

5 hours ago, ESeffinga said:

Fwiw, one designer to another, I absolutely think you got it the right way around.

Ask an artist, not a designer, and you'll probably get my response. That's exactly how my opinion was changed - putting together a series of artist's books where the artist had final approval and I got scolded. All the prelims to the right, finished to the left. We "read" left to right but "flip through" right to left. Just how it is, according to that artist (and several of his studio mates) anyway. But now I'm inspired to ask Rick Berry if we ever hang in person again! Can't ask Jeffrey anymore but I consider Rick right up there.

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I can send you Rick and Sheila’s current contact info if you want it. We used to talk a couple times a year. Tho I think I owe Sheila an email for the holidays. Whoops. Thanks for the reminder!!!
 

I for one don’t have to ask an artist. I work with many artists regularly. It’s thankfully part of my gig. Thought for a long time I would “be one”, but at a certain point realized my talents lay elsewhere. Though I do still like to dabble.
 

You are correct people read left to right. Also the “odd” facing page is the initial impact page, which is why MOST creatives like to put their impact work there. Or to do every other spread, so one spread as drawings or text on both pages, and one spread as a single painting or groups of paintings, depending on layouts. But if there is a dominant piece of work it tends to the right. 
 

Your suggestion about Jeff made me curious, so looking though all Jeff’s monographs at hand, sketches, text and other lead in material is generally on the left. Full color splash pages are on the right.

In fact flipping through my artist monograph bookcases, I can’t find anything laid out the way you suggest other than an instance once or twice in a book where the orientation might be flipped? 
 

Tho to be fair, I didn’t dig out any comic “art” gallery monograph type books. They are mostly in storage. I mostly have books by painters, photographers, sculptors and the like in the bookshelves. Many of them designed by or in conjunction with the artists themselves, and purchased direct from their studios.
 

I’d love to see one laid out as you suggest. It’d be interesting, can you recommend one? I’ll definitely pick it up. Very curious about it.

But who cares ultimately. People can and should go with whatever floats their boat. Especially in this case as it’d be their own book, and that’s the beauty of that concept. It can be whatever they like. :) 

-e.
 


 

 

 

Edited by ESeffinga
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59 minutes ago, ESeffinga said:

I can send you Rick and Sheila’s current contact info if you want it. We used to talk a couple times a year.

Oh I have it but I prefer these rambling sorts of topics in person over wine :)

1 hour ago, ESeffinga said:

I’d love to see one laid out as you suggest. It’d be interesting, can you recommend one? I’ll definitely pick it up. Very curious about it.

Next time I bump into one, no doubt many on the shelves (er, rather The Stacks, formal bookcases long ago:: capacity exceeded), I'll drop you a line.

 

1 hour ago, ESeffinga said:

But who cares ultimately. People can and should go with whatever floats their boat. Especially in this case as it’d be their own book,

Oh of course. It just struck me when I saw the image and I doubted anybody else would make the comment...so I did. Nobody in Ohio listens to me, so why should anybody here!

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I guess my preferences were a consequence of my love of old scientific books, especially those with lithographic plates. There plates are always on the right side with explanation text on the left. I once hand printed my own artist book where the art appeared on one side, the right (with the left blank).

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Oh, my concern wasn’t with the site. It’s just that it is a print on demand printer company rather than an actual book printing company. They have a tendency to be hit or miss in print quality. Especially if the work is dark, or in the case of comic art, you want to hang onto subtleties, like shades of off-white. 


On demand printers essentially take what you send and they hit the print button. No one is doing anything to dial in the files for their actual print equipment, and that can make or break a great printing job 9 times out of 10. But print on demand is super economical, as evidenced by such a book at $150. And as was already explained this particular place also offered sizes not often seen in on demand sites. 

A non-print on demand company would be charging considerably more for such a print job. Even most short run book printers wouldn’t touch a 1-off book. It’s not worth the effort to them. I’m sure the OP’s files and scans were set up well, and his PDF was ready to go, so it really just came down to how well the color balances came out on this particular facilities equipment. And from what I can tell it looks quite nice. 
 

Hopefully that clarifies. I wasn’t impugning this particular site. I’ve not ever heard of them. Just reacting to the general scenario. Looks to me like the OP either lucked out, or these folks are better than most of their ilk. Most are set up to print general family photo albums, vacation books and things of that sort. Get away from that and like I said, it could be a gamble. Some art, maybe more than others.

FWIW...

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2 hours ago, Michael (OML)1 said:

I love this and would love to do something similar with my "One Minute Later" theme.  How many pages does your book run?  

And, I'd love advice from the board -- seriously - do I put the original cover on the left (as published) and the OML on the right, both 11 x 17?  Thoughts?

I read left to right and that's my bias. The story you are telling is original cover to one-minute later cover so original on the left and OML on the right seems proper.

The bigger issue for me is that I'd like to know about the piece and why you chose that cover to be OML'd and why you chose the particular artist to do it. To me, that's just as important as the artwork. 

If you agree, you have to decide where to place that text. As part of some Table of Contents? As something at the back? On the page with the original cover which would then be smaller?

Anyway, those are the thoughts I've had on this topic.

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2 hours ago, Michael (OML)1 said:

I love this and would love to do something similar with my "One Minute Later" theme.  How many pages does your book run?  

Now I'm worried about the proof-reading on a certain KS book because of this: :) 

On 12/23/2020 at 6:15 PM, PixelPusher said:

 

Design notes:
Cover: 11.25 x 17.25 Hardcover, Full Color, Full Bleed
Interior: 11 x 17, Full Color, Full Bleed, 156 pages
Scanner: HP OfficeJet Pro 7740
Production: Images edited in Photoshop, Book Assembled in InDesign

 View more images here: https://imgur.com/a/xo4zdUf

Edited by alxjhnsn
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3 hours ago, Michael (OML)1 said:

I love this and would love to do something similar with my "One Minute Later" theme.  How many pages does your book run?  

And, I'd love advice from the board -- seriously - do I put the original cover on the left (as published) and the OML on the right, both 11 x 17?  Thoughts?

Left to right for sure. If it were OMB, I'd say the opposite

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The real issue is where/how are you getting the original covers? Are these pieces you have the OA for in your collection?

The sketchy bit of the whole thing is technically the copyright for the art lies with someone other than ourselves.

In the case of the OP, the commissions were done for him, but presumably the copyright really belonged to the artists that drew those pieces. I personally have no moral issues with someone doing a book like this for their own personal enjoyment. To me it’s not any bigger of a deal than having a website, or even putting the pieces up on CAF.

Legally speaking though, it is a bit of an issue for a printer presumably. It’s kind of like the issue people used to have getting Kinkos to allow scans or copies of comic art, and being questioned by those employees on whether they were the artist, etc. Going by the letter of the law, many places would reject printing this kind of book. Factor in reproducing recognizable IP such as Marvel or DC covers, and it becomes easier for the layman printer to know they are getting into a legal area they might want to avoid. Them taking money to reproduce an unauthorized copy of something someone else owns a copyright for... it’s gonna get dicier. Especially if it’s color copies of the comic covers.

So there’s that potential issue.

From a pure layout standpoint, if it were my project using your awesome commissions, I’d do small, reduced size cover reproductions on the left page. No more than 5” or so high,  with formatted text underneath the image indicating the book published month & year, perhaps original art team. Then a secondary block of text to the bottom right side of the left page, with formatted credit for the artist on the OML piece, and the OML being full page on the right. Hopefully that makes sense?

It’s one of those fun things to plan out, but I couldn’t say how easy it’ll be to get made. They may go for it, but depending on content and who at the company sees it, they could very well balk too. Just wouldn’t be surprised if they did. I know our company has had to turn down projects when people want to include artwork they don’t have any rights or permission to use. 
 

Easier for the OP to do it with his book being all commissioned works, than potentially printing a book of previously published work.

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4 hours ago, alxjhnsn said:

I read left to right and that's my bias. The story you are telling is original cover to one-minute later cover so original on the left and OML on the right seems proper.

The bigger issue for me is that I'd like to know about the piece and why you chose that cover to be OML'd and why you chose the particular artist to do it. To me, that's just as important as the artwork. 

If you agree, you have to decide where to place that text. As part of some Table of Contents? As something at the back? On the page with the original cover which would then be smaller?

Anyway, those are the thoughts I've had on this topic.

I like the way you think - Original on the left a bit smaller with some text on why I chose to OML it and the OML in full glory on the right...

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On 12/30/2020 at 4:17 PM, ESeffinga said:

The real issue is where/how are you getting the original covers? Are these pieces you have the OA for in your collection?

The sketchy bit of the whole thing is technically the copyright for the art lies with someone other than ourselves.

In the case of the OP, the commissions were done for him, but presumably the copyright really belonged to the artists that drew those pieces. I personally have no moral issues with someone doing a book like this for their own personal enjoyment. To me it’s not any bigger of a deal than having a website, or even putting the pieces up on CAF.

Legally speaking though, it is a bit of an issue for a printer presumably. It’s kind of like the issue people used to have getting Kinkos to allow scans or copies of comic art, and being questioned by those employees on whether they were the artist, etc. Going by the letter of the law, many places would reject printing this kind of book. Factor in reproducing recognizable IP such as Marvel or DC covers, and it becomes easier for the layman printer to know they are getting into a legal area they might want to avoid. Them taking money to reproduce an unauthorized copy of something someone else owns a copyright for... it’s gonna get dicier. Especially if it’s color copies of the comic covers.

So there’s that potential issue.

From a pure layout standpoint, if it were my project using your awesome commissions, I’d do small, reduced size cover reproductions on the left page. No more than 5” or so high,  with formatted text underneath the image indicating the book published month & year, perhaps original art team. Then a secondary block of text to the bottom right side of the left page, with formatted credit for the artist on the OML piece, and the OML being full page on the right. Hopefully that makes sense?

It’s one of those fun things to plan out, but I couldn’t say how easy it’ll be to get made. They may go for it, but depending on content and who at the company sees it, they could very well balk too. Just wouldn’t be surprised if they did. I know our company has had to turn down projects when people want to include artwork they don’t have any rights or permission to use. 
 

Easier for the OP to do it with his book being all commissioned works, than potentially printing a book of previously published work.

If the copyright isn’t registered, then the holder would have to prove actual damages. Here, I don’t think there would be, as no one was in a position to buy it, thereby resulting in no loss to the copyright holder. Adding an actual printed cover to a comic may change things if the copyright for the cover was registered (and if the publisher gave a dam’n). 

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