PICKLED: a collection of drawings PRESERVED in vinegar.

(click on image to enlarge)

Here we go......"PICKLED" is finally completed. *sigh*

I must say that this has been quite an experience for me, both good and bad. When I got the idea to put this book together I had no idea what I was in for. I did not know how much time and effort it would take to get this book finished before Christmas. Since I don't have any experience with self-publishing, it was a learn as I go process. It was interesting and challenging to figure out certain aspects of the book, like how I would add the vellum insert and have a page that would fold out like a centerfold. I would definitely say that the most challenging part of this book for me was figuring out how to bind it together. After building a few comps of the book with different types of binding, I decided that it would be best to go with staples and then applying a strip of paper to cover the staples along with the black linen book binding tape. I was happy with this simple but effective solution.

When I got the internal pages back from the printer, I was surprised to see that they had collated all of them for me, but I still had to cut out all of the pages myself. The printer had a couple of elderly women working in the paper cutting/book binding department and the printer felt that my imagery might offend some of those ladies. Thankfully, I was able to cut out all of the pages using the paper cutter over at Keech Studio. This allowed me to cut the books in groups instead of cutting them out one page at a time. Once that was finished, I added highlights with white charcoal to all of the front covers and then hand colored with prismacolor colored pencils all of the vellum inserts. I then stapled and bound all of the books. It took a good couple of days to complete all 35 editions.

I have already handed out a bunch of the books to friends and family as early Christmas presents. They seem to really like it, despite the subject matter I like to draw.

I might have a few of these left over after Christmas, so please contact me if you are interested in obtaining one and I will do my best to get one to you.

For laughs I thought that I would show the cover to the "sketchbook" I published back in 2002.



(click on image to enlarge)

Pretty scary, huh?

Jack