17 May 2020

Codex Sonora Volume 1 - Book Cover

It's been a childhood dream of mine to make an illustrated book. Pouring over Richard Scarry, Rien Poortvliet's gnomes, Moebius, and the older books; the ones that had talented illustrators doing etched plates, I thought to myself, "Drawing is a job, these people do this as a job, I want to be one of those people."

I've been producing prints for the last 5yrs, selling online and locally in tourist stores and galleries. It's an experiment that pays for itself. I make $20 a piece on them. I've sold nearly a thousand and I've made second editions of the earlier ones that have sold out. My art biz has it's own bank account. I've used this money to travel to the Getty Museum in L.A. for a 3 day workshop and to Colfax Washington for a week to attend a book making seminar, both put on by my artist hero Timothy Ely. Ink on paper sent me to learn, hang, and drink beers with him! I also put the money into printing new pieces. Now I will put the money into producing a book.

Since the illustrations for the inside are done, I thought I'd set the tone with the cover. There is only one of my prints that has a tiny sliver of the Gulf of California in it, so I pictured that on the back cover. The seaside desert landscape is pretty surreal. Cactus in the sand leading down to beaches with tidal pools and dolphin pods riding by every 30 minutes. I'll never forget the image of a bleached out whale skull sitting on the beach.

The book will contain writing in my custom font "Quotasoon". Most spreads will have a page of illustration and a page of descriptive writing. I'm trying to psyche myself for that writing. I think this last step might take me through the summer to complete.

See Tom's work at patterntology.com