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TWO FOR ONE
I've always admired those illustrations that were comprised almost entirely of black. Where key elements -- usually rendered in white (or the color of the page) -- and the outline shape define everything.
I was able to incorporate such an illustration into "A Place I Don't Belong." And this was a stroke of luck for the book layout, too, as I had been struggling with what exactly to use to illustrate this section of the poem. It's the point in the story when the movie director tells of the character of the movie's leading lady so that the composer might write a song about her.
The movie director character has been more or less defined on the left hand page by the images and context of the verse. The facing page needed to be a "back story" or the classic-comic-book: "Meanwhile..." Design-wise, I had thought early on this could be accomplished by giving the page a slanted "torn-out-of-the-book" look.
But what to use as the illustration or illustrations?
Initially, I thought "traditional comic book in panels style images." But the action here is simply dialog. So, it seemed to make more sense for it to be one simple image.
Then the idea came. Both the director and the composer are dressed in black suits and ties. The white of their hands and shirt cuffs, along with shirt collars and head shapes and a hint of the white keys of the piano become the defining elements in the black shape of their poses against the black grand piano with its lid opened.
Yes, it was two for one. I got to render one of those illustrations I've always wanted to and I solved the design problem of this spread.
