Art Books (Using Photobooks to create a record of your work)

My art group has finally restarted.  Unfortunately, I can't go.  My wife is too poorly to leave alone for 3 hours.  So the chin-wags I might have had at the art group have been relocated here. I've two things on the go at the moment, both inter-related.  My recent work has been quickish stuff...sketches and cartoons.  It's time I tried something requiring a little more time.  I've decided on a more careful drawing in what I've dubbed my 'blue sketchbook.'  Exactly what it says...drawings in blue, but more fully worked than my normal sketches. I'm having a stab at Captain Ahab, from Moby Dick.  I've already had a couple of goes and not thought them quite right.  (I don't want to copy a film actor who's played the role.)  I also need a front cover for this year's photobook (more later), if this turns out OK I'll use the new Ahab. This is as far as I've got... It's drawn with blue and black coloured pencils.  Still not quite there, but it's an OK drawing.  He needs to be a bit more manic.  It will have a background, but I've drawn it this way so I can copy it easily and do something as a cover for the photobook.  I know this isn't a sensible way to draw, it's better to work on the whole picture rather than 'finishing' one bit.  But nobody can ever accuse me of being sensible. The Photobook For several years I been making photobooks of my art.  I periodically have culls of my old pictures.  Some I keep, others, where suitable, I paint on the back.  I'm talking about loose-leaf pictures, sketchbooks go on a bookshelf. Photos are taken of everything, but in a previous forum we discussed that digital archives are far from 100% safe.  So a  book is a nice, convenient way to keep a record of my pics.  This year will be my seventh book. I use Bonusprint, but there are many choices.  You can download an application, and build up your book throughout the year...that's what I been doing.  Normally I have them printed just before Christmas, because that's when the best offers are going.  At the moment, the application is telling me it'll cost £60.99, has 40 pages and I've chosen the 'lay-flat' option (which adds to the cost)  I've never paid that much, usually there's a 50-60% offer around Christmas...so I wait for that.  Even though I'll need a few more pages, the final book will cost around £30.  I think that's great. It'll be A4 size in 'portrait' format.  The app offers layout options, but I prefer to make up my own full-page layouts myself.  Here's a page from this years book... I use photoshop elements for this.  You make the page up in 'layers'.  There's the background layer, the text layers, the image layers etc.  Everything can be easily changed and resized.  At the moment I'm going with a plain white background.  I may change my mind about colours and fonts...all easily altered. This is the time of year when I need to be ready for the big offer...so I'm checking through...throwing out some pics etc, etc.  What I haven't done is a cover.  You can have a plain textured fabric cover, or an illustrated cover. I'll be having a illustrated cover (costs a bit more).  Here's the cover for my 2017 book... You can have 'wrap around' pictures on the cover, add the odd pic, or leave it blank in whatever colour you want.  Decisions...decisions! Here's a couple of attempts at a cover using the Ahab pic. In my drawing, Ahab's hat is cropped...should have thought that through...it limits how I can use the pic.  Here's another fiddle... It may well be that I use the whole Ahab pic, when I finish it...or maybe something completely different.  It's fun messing around. I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks to all for your comments.  These artbooks began some time ago, I'd ordered a conventional photo album (family pics etc), liked the result and quality, and thought 'why not use these books for art?'  This is the time of year I start making sure I have everything ready to order a book at the best price. I find myself re-appraising pictures...do I still like that...do I still dislike that?  Some things are out, and, on occasion, a picture I disliked at the time I finished it, gets in.

Thank you Gillian and Linda for your kind words.   I continued working on the Ahab picture in my sketchbook.  I got it this far and thought I'd done enough... However, on reflection I thought I'd left too much light on the background figures and the block and tackle on the left.  This gave them too much prominence, I wanted the lightest whites to be on Ahab's face.  So I decided to tone them down a bit.  Here's the resultant image... I did this with a very thin wash of the colour I'd used on the sky.  The wash was applied very lightly and it's softened some of the water-soluble pencil used in the drawing.  This suits my purpose.  I prefer this version.  As I'd tortured this thin page on my sketchbook too much, I've decided to leave it at that.  Had I thought I might hang this on the wall, I'd have used better quality paper.  But I've developed a love of sketchbooks (they're like mini galleries), so I've no doubt I'll continue to take liberties with them. I tried this picture on the cover for my new art book.  But thus far I prefer the version with Ahab almost full page.  So for now I feel I have a viable front cover and will do something else.  This may change between now and Christmas if I come up with something else.  The complete Ahab pic will go in the book. Now I think I'll do another Shakespeare themed picture. 

Thank you George.  Yes Rob, what to do with a pile of work was what set me on this trail.  The photobooks come with many options to present each page, even if you choose not to make your own full page presentations as I do.