One of my New Years resolutions was to enter more competitions. It is always a challenge, interesting work for a portfolio and a bit of a thrill. The first of the year is the House of Illustration and The Folio Society ‘Getting Inside The Outsider’ illustrating a binding and three scenes from The Outsider by Albert Camus. I started re-reading the book and trying to really ‘get inside’ the story of Meursault, not thinking of the scenes I was going to illustrate but rather the book as a whole and the experience of reading it. Written in the first person The Outsider is a detailed account of the everyday life of an individual, in other words, it is a personal Journal, a diary of sorts. It certainly felt as if I was reading a real diary and I wanted to recreate the experience for my design.
The story is set in 1930s/40s so I felt the illustrations had to reflect that and be as period accurate as possible.
The name of the author and title only had to go on the spine of the book which worked nicely for my idea. This is a rough sketch with the blue of the Mediterranean sea the protagonist loves so much and the lines of the leather as the waves:
Part One, Chapter I ‘Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure. The telegram from the Home says: ‘YOUR MOTHER PASSED AWAY. FUNERAL TOMORROW. DEEP SYMPATHY.’ Which leaves the matter doubtful; it could have been yesterday.’
Inside cover, clippings and bits of paper including a telegram and a cinema ticket which will be important in the story later on.
Part One, Chapter I Pag 15 ‘A bit later, for want of anything better to do, I picked up an old newspaper that was lying on the floor and read it. There was an advertisement of Kruschen Salts and I cut it out and pasted in into an album where I keep things that amuse me in the papers.’
Researching Kruschen Salts ads from the time, I came across ‘The Smile’ campaign featuring a smiley bearded man and a very long text. I thought the idea of an open display of emotion such as an honest smile would have interested and intrigued Meursault enough to keep it, the way people collect exotic butterflies so I went with that idea for my illustration.
Part Two Chapter II ‘One day, when inspecting my straw mattress, I found a bit of newspaper stuck to its underside. The paper was yellow with age, almost transparent, but I could still make out the letter print. It was the story of a crime.
The first part was missing, but I gathered that its scene was some village in Czechoslovakia. One of the villagers had left his home to try his luck abroad. After twenty-five years, having made a fortune, he returned to his country with his wife and child. Meanwhile his mother and sister had been running a small hotel in the village where he was born. He decided to give them a surprise and, leaving his wife and child in another inn, he went to stay at his mother’s place, booking a room under an assumed name. His mother and sister completely failed to recognize him. At dinner that evening he showed them a large sum of money he had on him, and in the course of the night they slaughtered him with a hammer. After taking the money they flung the body into the river. Next morning his wife came and, without thinking, betrayed the guest’s identity. His mother hanged herself. His sister threw herself into a well. I must have read that story thousands of times. In one way it sounded most unlikely; in another, it was plausible enough. Anyhow, to my mind, the man was asking for trouble; one shouldn’t play fool tricks of that sort.’
Over 4,000 people (professionals and students) have entered the competition, the winning entry will form part of a Folio Society commission for a book which will be published in August 2011, for which the winner will receive £4,000. Five runners up will each receive a cash prize of £500.
I really enjoyed the whole process and will definitely develop this idea into a book with more illustrations and maybe hand writting for the whole text instead of type setting. Quentin Blake is one of the judges, I used to love his illustrations as a child, just the thought of him seeing my work is very very exciting!.
Also a few weeks ago I entered the V&A 2011 Student Ilustrator Award with my book illustration project ‘Tattoo’ here’s my entry.
Wish me luck!
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