Sunday 30 September 2012

Blasphemy # 5 : HITCHHIKER'S

Bible burning?
(2B pencil on a 176mm x 102mm book title page)
 
Burning has always been a favourite pastime of the would-be blasphemer and so I thought it would be best to represent it here on this final piece in the project.

The reason why I chose The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for this project was because it tells the story of two men who bounce around the galaxy, getting into one extreme situation after another, whilst relying on a guidebook that's completely useless to them.


Thursday 27 September 2012

Blasphemy # 4 : MIDDLE-EARTH

Fuck you to infinity!
(2B pencil on a 196mm x 120mm book title page)
 
I chose The Lord of the Rings because it's THE template fantasy novel that is constantly referenced, borrowed from and blatantly plagiarised by other writers, film and game makers (funnily enough, religion has the tendency to do that too!). It's a book which is responsible for giving birth to the whole fantasy genre that we see today.


Sunday 23 September 2012

Blasphemy # 3 : DISCWORLD

The used condom always spoils things
(2B pencil on a 176mm x 101mm book title page)
 
I had thought of including a few used hypodermic needles in this image to add to the squaller of it, but a used condom pretty much does it on it's own. You could be in the most idyllic place in the world, happy and content with where you are for that moment, but as soon as you see a used condom on the ground, or floating past in a stream, then it all suddenly changes for the worst. It's the kind of cruel reality-slap that many people hate and which makes their blood boil for the disregard they perceive in others.

And the reason why I've used it here.

I could've gone for any of the Discworld books for this piece, as it's the idea of the Discworld itself that's being focused on here. A strange world that rests on the back of four elephants, who in turn, stand on the back of a great turtle flying through space, and is populated by equally strange characters. Yet it's a world many wish could exist just because it's so unusual. Probably one of the reasons why the Discworld books are so popular.

Wednesday 19 September 2012

Blasphemy # 2 : NARNIA

Profanity covered page
(2B pencil on a 198mm x 124mm book title page)
 
For this second image, I decided on the use of profanity, which is a common weapon for blasphemy. In this case, instead of just scrawling the words on, I chose to write each word down as an individual font that I made up. It's inspired by the old Letraset catalogues that I remember from college, which were once an essential purchase for all graphic design students and studios. The names of the fonts would be indexed in the catalogue in their own typeface, or bunched together as they are here in some design image.
 
Most of these swear-words are quite common. There's probably more I could've added, but I didn't want to cover the entire page in them. I've added words like clitconker, necrofelch, wankpiss and twatshite (have some fun by trying to work out what those words mean!) I've also re-introduced the word fadge as well, because nobody says it now, and it was such a good swear-word to use.
 
This example of the Narnia books was used here mainly because they're generally regarded as fairy tales. It may have been better to have gone for The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, but that would've been too obvious and would've focused on that one book alone, when it was the Narnia series as a whole that I was aiming at, so I chose Prince Caspian instead. Although, the story within this book of a magical land deciding to stick to it's old ways rather than that of the Telmarines, driving them back out to where they came from, is much more apt.

Tuesday 11 September 2012

Blasphemy # 1 : HARRY POTTER

It makes you want to throw up
(2B pencil on a 195mm x 123mm book title page)
 
This is the first image of a small project I've recently done using the title pages of various books. They're the largest pieces that I've ever done and are closer to the A5 limit of skav art rather than the A6 size which I'm more comfortable working with. Blasphemy is the theme which ties them all together. As you can see, this one depicts an individual vomiting over the page.
 
The reason why I chose this particular book's title page was because the story tells of how a young boy is destined from birth to be a wizard. He lives an oppressed life in the real world at the hands of his abusive relatives until his life is changed when he's introduced to the secret fantasy world of magic which has it's own unusual culture, people and education system, and one which uses the term "muggles" to describe those that aren't like them.
 
There's no denying that the Harry Potter books have been hugely popular, along with the later movies and merchandising. Securing it a strong (and almost religious) following from people from all around the world.