The visionary world of Nicholas Beckett
….at the bookbinders a week ago.
I had a bunch of text blocks that had been lying around for months. So I pulled my finger out and made covers for the straya books. Fools and Pilgrims Progressive Rock are my own babies.
The rest are a bunch of bootlegs that I’ve formatted and printed and made terrible covers for. I’d feel bad if the authors weren’t dead.
…a crooked book on pedantry.
….write this book.
But I should have.
….why I ruin a good book with my rubbish drawings.
It’s not really a mystery. It makes me happy.
…..of bootlegging.
Making books I shouldn’t.
…so I’ve downloaded and formatted some fairy tales, and silly me decided to illustrate them all, rather than just concentrate on binding and making a cover. But I’m almost done and I suppose it will make me happy.
On to other things. I fucking hate all the computer companies. My photos on my phone are hacked by Google. Which means when I want to edit them, I am subject to endless tinkering. I just went to add my name in a watermark, or markup as it’s called on this phone, and they’ve added an extra layer to get there. Fucking computer companies, always tinkering, pretending they’re improving, except mostly I find they just add extra layers to get to the task I want to do. So they can keep charging for innovation. Tinkering is not innovation. I think I’m going to go back to my plastic sheet with my name and copyright on top. Always works. Always reliable.
…..as to how we got here.
A friend bought me this book while visiting him in Gothenburg. The covers had fallen off, but I noticed that it was missing a few illustrations, so I was wondering if it was worth it. I did an internet search , but couldn’t really find any of the illustrations inside.
Then I thought I could just make up the illustrations myself. I used the interweb to translate so I suppose I did some sort of approximation of what the hell happening.
And that’s what I did.
Restored and reimagined.
…..yumminess.
Page from a book I’ve made of an old exhibition. I will have this and more on show in April at The Watch House, Balmain. April 4-6.
….using old stories.
My intention is to make little illustrated classic books. But that’s just an idea.
Saint Beckett 