I find it pretty funny that I can quite literally call my book my baby! It really is! I wish I was able to get more copies, but I should just be thankful that I have at least 1 good copy.
I think I was pretty ambitious taking on this topic of pregnancy. Just doing a wiki of the topic brought up sooo many articles. At that point I was almost considering to change it! But I managed to stick with it. As a 4th year I've placed a tremendous pressure on myself to really put the effort into my projects. I can definitely see how my perseverance has paid off, especially with this book!
I can't tell you the amount of all-nighters I've had to pull these past few weeks, but let's just say that I would like to hibernate (ha mike!) for a month or so! Not to scare off the 3rd years or anything, I've just placed myself in a situation that could have easily been avoided. But anyhow...
When I finally started to design my book, I was still a chapter or so behind. So regardless of how great of a start I had with writing, that determination somehow deteriorated amongst the flood of other projects coming my way. Just the fact that I hadn't actually started designing, as well as being behind in my writing, was almost getting to me. Luckily I was able to find a printer that I was able to work with closely - going there several times just to get the colors right, just to test out papers, etc. And I believe it was the kindness of my printer and the support of friends that really pulled me through.
Overall, this has been a great experience. Like most of my fellow classmates, I can see more book projects in the future. Perhaps I'll take on my back-up topic of a book on Scrabble... I'm really happy with how my book turned out - despite only having 1 copy *nervous* ! I didn't expect the kind of responses I was getting from my friends, so it was really comforting knowing that others enjoy my book too.
The funnest part would probably be the illustrations. I was debating posting my 'sex positions' illustrations (vectored in illustrator) and discussing my enjoyment of doing them without sounding like a perv or weirdo... so I didn't. I decided to do them first because they made me laugh and would probably be a focal point of the book as well - so it had to be good! The success of those illustrations inspired me to keep going, and that I did! Ask my fellow all-nightress, Sam!
There are still a few spreads that I could have included illustrations for, but this is the best I could do (for now). I'm not sure if some have noticed or not, but the illustrations become more serious towards the end, showing the level of seriousness that grows as pregnancy goes on. The faded baby on the cover represents the conception of a baby, and the baby on the back represents the baby full in color and ready to go! I'm not sure how successful my running-sides (is that right?) are, mainly because of bleed issues, but I guess I'll have a better look when I get it back tomorrow!
Anyways, this post has become long! I could go on too! But I'll save that for a conversation with anyone who'd like to discuss it for another time =) Thanks for such a wonderful class Reg! I think your passion for books and book-binding has really shown through, only awakening our own love for books as well! I hope to learn more, and will probably continue creating books on the side. Thanks to everyone for a great class, it was fun! Being in a class full of so many creative younger years is sooo intimidating! I'll see you guys at gradshow!!!
