Aesop's fables print made folding book

Illustration Through Processes 3

2ILL521.1

For my printmaking project I chose to illustrate through etching and mixed media the tale of ‘The peacock and the jay’. My aim was to create a folding book which accentuated the moral of the story ‘It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds.’ I chose this story not only because beautiful imagery and colours came to mind when I read it but because it is important that beauty is skin deep. The cover is a deep blue/ indigo colour with some gold leaf and gold text to signify the colour of a peacocks feather, the fact it is on the cover also adds something as the inside is the real self the outside is a ‘cover’ a ‘fine feather’.

The audience I had in mind was children and the younger generation as when I was young I used to read Aesop’s fables and they are aimed at young people, they are educational about life. So I wanted to keep it quite simple but use a combination of print and different materials to add texture and more substance to the etchings which alone would probably be quite bland. The way I have chosen to portray the story and message of it is by giving the jays warm, nice natures, the red hearts signify warmth and caring whereas the blue hearts show the opposite of this. As the story unfolds, with each turn of the page you see the |jay character loses his warmth and becomes cold, only to get his good heart back when the peacocks attack him for his stolen feathers and he is once again a ‘good’ character. I also wanted the hearts and nature to be a main part of the folded book as the story is based on human nature, so I wanted to give the characters some human qualities which I hope my imagery show this.