Bookworks - Term3 Studio Final

Since Hiyaku Studio was created, I've had held great interest in bookmaking. I think it's because it allows the use of both design and illustration to be combined without being strictly traditional or digital. The fact that the work is being presented in book form makes for many design options regardless of the content matter (be it still life drawings, or whatever else). With my hobby of drawing manga, and my ambition to become a designer, any process which utilized techniques from both worlds (like bookmaking) just seemed to appeal to me naturally.

The first book I designed was for a Hiyaku Studio doujinshi entitled 'Engage' in 2007. It was the first time hearing about bleed and things of that sort, so it was a bit of a wobbly start. Of course, the design itself wasn't too spectacular, but seeing as it was going to be presented at Doujin Overload, which is an event based on nonprofessional work, I wasn't too worried about heavy criticism. The second book I design was, again, for Hiyaku Studio. This time in 2008, it was an artbook entitled 'In A Few Words'. This is where I first began experimenting with minimalist techniques which I've since grown quite fond of. This year, Simon did the design work for our artbook, which turned out great. Only me and Simon have design knowledge, so it's either me or him that does this stuff for Hiyaku Studio. However, that's not to say I didn't make any books for 2009.

During the third term of my second semester at uni, I had the opportunity to learn more about bookmaking for my Studio class. I gained a lot more technical knowledge regarding the subject, and managed to make a book of much higher standard than what I've previously created for Hiyaku Studio; though, given the materials and binding which was used, it's little surprize. This book was perfect-bound with double sided matte paper for the pages. It's still not professional enough to be considered shelf-worthy in my opinion, but it's a nice step up from the staple-bound stuff in any case.

This book is a one-off, and will not be sold. However, I did get another copy made because the bindery kinda messed up the first one and my instructor unleashed almighty fury on their asses. Haha, well that's kinda exaggerated, but he was not impressed and personally raised the issue with the bindery, insisting that they pay for a reprint (it's awesome having instructors that genuinely care for your work). So I've got two copies now and I'm thinking about giving the good one away. Maybe Hiyaku Studio can hold a contest or draw.. something like that. I dunno. It features artwork from the five members of Hiyaku Studio, both old and new. You can see more images of it below. Sorry for some of the blurred images, I couldn't really notice on the camera LCD screen.
- Cover
- Back Cover
- Spread 1
- Spread 2
- Spread 3
- Spread 4
- Spread 5
- Spread 6
- Spread 7