The Secondhand Bookstore Around the Corner

bookspine The weather has been beautiful today, and while the birds have been chirping happily, I've felt a sense of loss as our local secondhand bookshop closed its doors for the last time. As I trawled through the shelves for a few last-minute finds, I stumbled upon a title called "The Adventure of Publishing". Despite the fact that this book was first published in 1949, its contents resonate strongly today. Chapters explore issues such as "Publishing Slump?", "Why Become a Publisher?", "Who Buys Books", and "How to Survive as a Publisher". While The Adventure of Publishing was first released in 1949, the issues raised and commentary throughout the book are still relevant in today's publishing industry. Basically it would seem that there has been little change in the industry during this time and its likely that publishing will continue to flourish, despite issues faced by publishers. The aspect of the publishing industry that does bother me is not how publishers will survive, but more importantly, how bookshops will continue to survive.

With so many people are turning to digital ebooks, publishers only need to change their publishing methods. But unfortunately these methods sever bookstores and ultimately retailers are left with no option but to close their doors.

In order for stores to continue to survive, consumers need to change their shopping habits. While shopping online is convenient, it just isn't as romantic as sifting through the shelves of a traditional retail store. Furthermore, we often forget that by shopping online, we also cut employee's out of jobs.

Today's store closure felt a lot like 'The Little Bookshop Around the Corner' in the film You've Got Mail, starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. But while 'The Little Bookstore Around the Corner' was swallowed up by retail conglomerate 'Fox Books', there isn't a retail giant to replace the small secondhand bookshop in our small rural town.

While I can't change the shopping habits of others, I'm going to continue to be old-fashioned and spend a few extra dollars on books from traditional retail outlets. Ebooks may be convenient, but they simply don't feel as warm and comforting as a real, printed book.

bookcontents

 

Interviews with creative people

A few months ago a talented Year 12 student contacted me to ask if I'd be happy to be involved in her Media project; a book showcasing a collection of local creative people in their workspace. She recently sent me copy of her final printed book and I was really impressed with her work. Here is my contribution:

How did you get into the creative field? As a student at school I knew from a really young age that I wanted to pursue a creative career. After completing Year 12 I was accepted into the Graphic Design course at La Trobe University in Bendigo. I completed my undergraduate degree there in 2005, then went on to complete an Honours degree in design. During my Honours year I focused on the creation and design of children’s picture books. After successfully completing my first picture book I then commenced a Masters degree in design in 2007. I finished my MA at the end of 2008 and during my Masters I completed two picture books and a research thesis. While I was studying as a student I also started working as a freelance designer for a few clients. I really enjoyed this type of work and I’ve continued working for the client base I’ve established.

How would you describe your works? I do a really broad range of work, from corporate design to creative illustration work. As a creative person, its often the less creative work that brings an income... Then I get to sink my teeth into my own creative projects after hours!
At the moment I’m teaching VCE Visual Communication & Design, and I’m also a Publications & Promotions Officer at Galen College in Wangaratta. My job as a Publications Officer means that I get to use my design skills to enhance publications, branding, advertising, marketing and the corporate image of the school. I’ve really enjoyed this job so far as it has allowed me to build new skills, and each day seems to bring a new challenge.
In terms of freelance design, I complete a variety of different projects. Recently I’ve been developing style guides for a regional bank, working on wine and beer labels, and developing logos and stationery for different businesses.
Sometimes I find that that all of the corporate work I do saps my creativity, so I’ve recently been experimenting with little illustration projects where I mix traditional and contemporary processes. So basically I manipulate hand-drawn artwork with computer software. I find that its really important that I work on my own creative projects as it replenishes my creative spirit! 


When do you feel most inspired? I often feel most inspired to be creative when I’ve had my hands tied for too long on boring corporate jobs! I love visiting art galleries and seeing the work of other creative people. After seeing a cool exhibition I generally feel inspired to go and start a new project. I’m also a bit of a ‘night owl’, so I often seem to end up working on my own creative work late at night.


What artists/designers/creators do you admire? And why?
 One of my all time favorite artists is M.C. Escher. I’ve always admired his work and while he is an amazing artist, he is an equally brilliant designer. I love the detail in his monochrome etchings and the way he morphs and warps perspective. At a glance his works look realistic, but upon closer inspection they really distort reality.

What’s your favorite project you’ve done and why? One of my favorite projects would be my most recent picture book, ‘The Box Boy’. The story is about a boy who loves to collect things, especially boxes, and he turns the boxes he collects into amazing creations. To a certain degree the character in the story is a lot like me. I’ve always been a bit of a bit of a ‘collector’ (my family would probably say ‘hoarder’) and I love being creative, just like the boy in the story. While I was working on The Box Boy, I also developed a really distinctive creative style, where I mix traditional and contemporary illustration and design processes. I feel really proud of the story I wrote for the book and the illustrations that accompany it. 


How long do you usually spend on each project? In total, I spent about 9-10 months working on The Box Box while I was doing my Masters at Uni. This is a typical time-frame for a children’s picture book, they seem to take forever! When I’m working on paid, corporate design jobs, a project will generally take between 2-5 weeks. The time I spend on a project often varies according to the client I’m working for. Sometimes a client will know exactly what they want, and other times I have to develop several potential designs to give my client a choice about how the finished job will look.

What design process, if any, do you go through when creating works?
 I generally start a project by having a short meeting with a client, where I try and determine exactly what they want. After that I’ll go away and make a few rough sketches before working those roughs into finished designs on a computer. After I’ve developed some ideas I’m happy with, I email them through to my client and wait for their feedback. If its something like a logo that I’ve been working on that needs to go onto a business card, I’ll do about two more revisions before I send the job to the printers.

What are you working on right now?
 Recently, my time has been devoted to the Publications job I do at the school and freelance design work. However, after hours I’ve been working on several of my own illustration pieces. I’ve been trialing lots of different illustration techniques and have been developing my digital illustration skills. ...I feel like I’m ready to start on a new book project!

 

The Little Big Book Club - featuring The Box Boy during May

The Little Big Book Club are featuring The Box Boy this month to celebrate their theme of art and creativity in children's picture books. I was flattered when I found out that it was to be featured, and am very pleased that it is being used as a starting point for kids to go and create their own cool box creations. Kids can enter their creations online at The Little Big Book Club website and can go into the running to win a print from The Box Boy!

Keeping Busy at The Lemonade Stand

I've just realised that I haven't posted on my blog since Christmas last year... Things have been busy. After Christmas last year I headed overseas for a holiday in Bali. I spent most of my time in Ubud and really loved the experience. After returning home from Bali a week-and-a-bit into January, the work hasn't stopped. Work for me in 2012 started with a number of corporate jobs; annual reports and branding/identity work. After knocking over a few big projects, my usual gig as a design teacher started again for the semester. During Feb, March & April, I juggled full-time teaching work with freelance design work. ...And in the last three weeks I've been working predominantly in a new role as a Publications & Promotions Officer at the school I currently work at. I've well and truly hit the ground running. Its been very busy, but that's how I like it! I've also been doing a little writing about branding and marketing, I hope to have that ready to post here in the next fortnight. But for now I'll leave you with a little illustration I just finished; a cute little kid selling drinks at his little lemonade stand. I'm not sure quite what inspired me to do this one, but I felt compelled to create something bright and fun.

Here are some images to illustrate my process:

I generally always start an illustration by creating a rough. When I say 'rough', I mean really rough. While working at this stage in the process I like to work quickly, just to visually jot down my ideas. From this point I block in many vector shapes to add a little colour and start bringing my rough draft to life. For this illustration I was tinkering with a new, predominantly digital process. As I'm so busy, I really have limited time to create and working digitally gives me the freedom to quickly undo my mistakes and trial different ideas that I may not have risked working with traditional methods and mediums.

After this point, I continued to work in Illustrator, putting in details like the trees, little tufts of grass and the fence. I also decided to change the colour of the roof, as it needed a lift. This is shown below in the finished illustration.

To complete the illustration, I started work in Photoshop. Adding a really subtle texture to the ground, clouds and bark on the trees. The shadows were created with my trusty wireless Wacom tablet. I also enhanced the lemonade stand by adding a real timber texture to its exterior. At that point, I decided that my work was done... Although an artwork or illustration is never complete. I'm a perfectionist, and I could work forever on an illustration or design job, whether it be personal or commercial. Anyway, there's a little about some processes I've been tinkering with. I love reading about the creative processes of other creatives and I hope to share a little more of my here soon.

Now to finish off that branding and marketing essay, and the pile of work I need to complete before Monday for my day job...

Cheers, Mal