Saturday, March 21, 2009

Trashy Romance Novel Fat Book

If you don't know what a fat book is, i'll tell you. It is a collaborative work, where assorted artists provide pages to be bound together by the hostess, and returned to each participant. Each book ends up containing dozens of pages of art. The more artists, the "fatter" the book.
A traditional fat book is 4" by 4". Pretty small. But if there are 30 artists involved, then you have to do 30 pages. Some leeway is granted - in that you can make colour copies of your work. But hand applied embellishments are encouraged.
My friend Marie is hosting a fat book swap with the theme of "trashy romance novel". The pages are to be 4 1/2" by 5" - more closely resembling the dimensions of a novel. Because she did not get as many artists as hoped, and the fat book was in danger of being too skinny, she suggested we each do two or three pages. With 10 artists participating, we'll still end up with a book that is 20-30 pages thick. For my interpretation of the theme, i went with a wanton woman, who is a nightclub singer and a heartless dame. I searched for images to use, and decided someone like marilyn monroe would be a good choice, since i could easily find multiple poses by the same actress. You can see i toyed with the idea of colouring her in, but i did not like the pen marks on the dresses.My pages ended up with a "less is more" method. Perhaps a tad too clean and neat? not sure. Because the pages will be spiral bound - you have to leave a 1" border on the left edge. Of course you have to remember that on the back the border is on the RIGHT edge!The only adornment is a dab of red lipstick and some glass glitter jewels. I love their graphic quality. I'll be sure to post images of the completed book once i get it back!

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