Studio Brief 1 - Illustrative book analysis

 Cigarette Girl - Masahiko Matsumoto

• This form of alternative comic art is known as 'Gekiga' in Japan.
• Originally the comics were published in Japan during the early 1970s, but then modernised for the English language in a book form.

• The cover design for Cigarette Girl is shown in reverse (back cover shows title and author, while the from shows the information about the book).
• Being a Japanese book, this layout is appropriate for the context as traditionally Japanese writing is read from left to right or from top to bottom.

• With limited colour use, the book shows red to be the most prominent colour. This could be because its contents is largely devoid of anything other than black and white.
• By using black and white in the content the stories can be interpreted differently by each reader and some colours may have added importance to certain characters or scenes in the book.

• As explained on the rear cover of the book, the stories show the characters to have money troubles, shyness, pressures of tradition, sexual anxiety and other issues. This explains the use of the same facial expression of each character in the book. By using this startled expression for every scene, the reader is reminded of the problems the characters face.

• Within the book there were several chapters that would show a single word to explain the next story, this would then be accompanied by a small illustration.

A Child of Six Could Do It, Cartoons About Modern Art - George Melly / J. R. Graves-Smith

• This book was primarily about the most influential artists of the modern era, dating back through the last century. However the aesthetic of the book is relative to the title, as the famous pieces of art are shown to be simple, hence the term 'a child of six could do it'.

• The opening pages showed the text and imagery separated on different pages. This could be so the reader first looks at the cartoon strip on the right before reading the information.

• The pages of the book then changed from white to a pale peach colour as the photographs were added more frequently with limited amounts of text.

• By showing the images on the pages together in this way the reader can see the similarities between the different art works and their messages. By simplifying the imagery in this manner the book shows similarities with children's books, as they are mostly picture based with limited text.

Lines of Attack, Conflicts in Caricature - Neil McWilliam

• Lines of Attack is an illustrative look into the ways in which artist and the media can portray political figures or political ideas in an ironic way. Many of the illustrations included in the publication are based on American politics and people who were in power during the early 2000s.
• From first glance at the cover of the book, it is clear that the themes are political, as the recognisable style can be seen throughout the media even today. The title Lines of Attack is appropriate in this instance as the illustration on the cover is shown as a line drawing. The subheading Conflicts of Caricature is also relevant as the figure in the illustration is holding a weapon (therefore relating to conflict).

• The contents page of the book shows small previews of the illustrations included, with a brief description of the page and the artists. 

• This book was clearly more informative about the artwork and political messages, that other illustrative books. This shows that it is more likely to be targeted at a mature audience, with an interest in politics and art.

• In each section the pages would show subheadings at the top right-hand corner, with a line separating the text. This was also appropriate to the title of the book.

• Toward the end of the book several related illustrations were showcased next to one another, so that the reader could see they were reflective of the same political messages.

• The back cover for the publication was very similar to the front cover, as it included the same typeface in the same place and displayed an illustration in the middle of the page. The similarity with the front cover makes this book easier to spot from different angles.