Creative Process: IDEATION

May 29, 2022

IDEATION

Ideate

Explore and illuminate the idea. Arrange thoughts, ready the experience, and preserve the idea. Organize photos, text, songs, sequence… for the book. Muse over the final look of the book.

This is the phase Edison was referring to when he said that creativity consists of 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”

This is the stage where the hands-on work begins; this is the phase when the abstract takes shape to give way to the concrete. It would be nice to just idle in the inspiration phase for a while longer but now is the time to discover the solution and make it clear.

This stage is usually relatively brief and involves a strong rush of insight in a short span of time. This time, my idea to gel, seemed to take an eternity! As an artist, one uses a ton of day-to-day reality or events to express themselves and their environment… I appreciate simple moments portraying our lives, whether sensational or monotonous... When an idea strikes me for an artists’ book, it’s because the life experience is fresh and the emotions are in the now. Since our minds manipulate our feelings and the fantasy angst to be portrayed happened 50 years ago, the challenge was to recapture the emotion or experience which was retrospective. The need to relive that teenage crush from afar created moments of self-awareness. The challenge was to relive how I really felt as a teenager and what I believed I experienced back 1968.

© 2022 Louise Levergneux. Sample of photos from personal albums.

© 2022 Louise Levergneux. Sample still images from streaming Lancer episodes.

As a result, I started to arrange my thoughts by organizing photos, text (lyrics of songs) and the potential sequence of the pages from chosen photos. The fundamental design had to represent fun, innocence, a sense of closeness, sensuality, and the complicated sentiments of an adolescent girl. You're just watching TV, minding your own business, when you suddenly identify someone on the screen who scrambles your brain and makes your heart drop to your knees — how to represent this experience? The conclusion is a narration on infatuation, a time of foolish love.

I started with words that to me defined the project: infatuation, dream, fantasy, reality, passion, desire, fascination, captivation, puppy love, celebrity crush, charismatic, attractiveness, allure-ment, enchantment, enthrallment…

While streaming the Lancer TV show, I captured appropriated images, I recreated blissful fiction scenarios utilizing my tool of choice — Photoshop. I wanted to rekindle my ability to implement Photoshop features by creating a new photograph with juxtaposed photos to re-frame my own subject-position and enter into the desires that celebrity crush can evoke in a young adolescent — her dream world.

© 2022 Louise Levergneux. I needed a font that would look like hand writing, after careful search I chose Modernline.

I experimented with text which included mixed lyrics — language of the soul — accompanying the images to prompt us on how memory coexists in dreams.

Prototype

Research content versus binding. Create maquettes of binding and structure. Choosing paper and material to complete the book.

“Infatuation” corresponds to a fiction — journal — and obsessively persistent romantic fantasy of a young female with the actor James Stacy’s persona of “Johnny.” It was a subconscious struggle to determine the proper and most effective design, structure and binding to represent this fantasy world. I was looking forward for all the puzzle pieces to fall into place.

© 2022 Louise Levergneux. The many phases of designing pages.

The page layout is the first step; it usually helps define the binding structure. I wanted the book to retain an innocent sensual feel. To bring this feeling into effect, adding red organza and strands of red thread became more poignant.

The threads could easily be part of a sewn book, the strands cut long to hang below the bottom edge. Black and white photos or coloured? Maybe add a colour LUT (known as Look-Up Tables in Photoshop to bring a cohesiveness to the pages) LUT's are used in order to apply specific and distinctive effects and style to photos. What about texture?

As for the structure, the first one of interest was the Accordion Binding for its playful pagination as seen below by Annwyn Dean, Alice Simpson or as in my artists’ book Conversation below.

© 2017 Alice Simpson. DANCING ! Unique double-fold, accordion. Original hand-painted paste papers, watercolor, shagreen paper, thread and beads. Against a double layered, paste-paper background; Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, Vaslav Nijinsky, Bo Jangles, Josephine Baker, Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Gene Kelley, and Michael Jackson dance with joyous abandon in an homage to iconic performers I have always admired on stage and screen.

© 2017 Alice Simpson. DANCING ! Unique double-fold, accordion. © 2017 Alice Simpson. DANCING ! 17”H x 11”W x 1”D x approx. 9’. 5 open

Then the Drum Leaf binding which I enjoyed when creating my artists’ book “Shadow Me” also spring to mind.

Verification

Transfer the overall idea to the substrate, test the prototype, and evaluate the project, paper, presentation, sketches, and notes. Critique and seek feedback/opinions on already planned prototype options.

I thought the fun aspect of the accordion would present the project’s subject of infatuation in a delightful and colourful way. The narration could be seen in single pages or its entirety. But, after trying a few accordion models, I was unable to settle on any page layout design.

I created a sewn book layout template using InDesign. It was overly rigid of a structure and not useful for some of the images that acquired a need to spread along two pages. The fun was eliminated!

Coming back to the Drum Leaf binding, the structure offered me the opportunity to capitalize on spreads without any visual interruption and gave access to pages for reflection.

© 2022 Louise Levergneux. I thought this little sample was interesting, I could make in a drumleaf structure with an accordion. Great!

With more reflection, I knew that a mixture of structures would pop-up in my mind’s eye. Next month I will share my Storytelling Development and Option Development. “Let ‘er buck”!

On my side, I started a book for the monthly #areyoubookenough challenge on Instagram. This month I was inspired by the "sprout" theme.

This kind of short challenge is perfect for trying new techniques. I don't have too many thoughts or readings for this book. I'm taking the opportunity to try out pop-up folding, which has intrigued me for a while now. At first I tried to figure out the folds, made some, watched some, and see how to get inspired. Beautiful exploration.

In my photos, I show you the roots I would like to print, calligraphy words and a piece of pop-up model.

I too am in the layout stage right now. Each background of the double-page spreads will be inspired by the explorers' notebooks with drawings and texts, as they used to do back then. I am just beginning the realization of the book. Next month, I will be able to present it to you because it will be finished. One month is really fast. — Guylaine Couture

Book Arts Collection in Texas

January 21, 2018

As I travel, my on-going goal is to promote my artists' books. After a few emails to book arts collections in Texas, I scheduled two appointments.

My first rendez-vous was with Shā Towers, Curator of the Book Arts Collection, Art Liaison Librarian, and Associate Director of the Central Libraries at Baylor University. Since 2007, the artists’ book collection of The Crouch Fine Arts Library has grown to over 800 works representing many artists and presses. The collection functions as a teaching collection for both studio artists working in the medium and various disciplines outside the arts. The collection includes a wide-ranging representation of everything from single-page constructions, complex forms, sculptural book-works, fine press, letterpress, photography, handmade papers, textiles, collaborative works, and more.

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, the Jesse H Jones Library, one of the central libraries at Baylor University in Waco, Texas

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, the Jesse H Jones Library entrance to a very friendly staff

I arrived in Waco, had a pleasant visit and exchange on the Library collection with Shā. Following my artists' books presentation, I left re-energized. It’s nice to talk with someone who has an understanding, interest and creates artists' books.

I'm thrilled to say my artists’ books: Conversation, Decades Apart, Traverse, the Texas and New Mexico volumes of City Shields, are now part of the Crouch Fine Arts Library.

© 2006 Louise Levergneux, City Shields, New Mexico volume

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, door in downtown Waco, Texas

My second consultation was with Rebecca Pad, Humanities Liaison Librarian for the Fine Arts Library at the University of Texas.

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, Oak trees around the Doty Fine Arts Building

Examples of Artists' Books can be found in Libraries and Art Collections across the University campus. The artists' books in these collections contain illustrations by artists, livres d'artistes, multiple-copied and inexpensive produced booklets, limited-edition, and handcrafted books.

Rebecca Pad, three other colleagues and I sat and reviewed my books. I took pleasure in seeing my ideas and concepts experienced with amusement. I’m fond of bringing a smile to the reader, part of my artistic statement and philosophy behind my work.

At the end of our session, the Fine Arts Library acquired Ambivalence, a flip book from the Outside of the Studio series entitled Earth.20 and my last published book Shadow Me.

© 2012 Louise Levergneux, Earth.20 from the Outside the Studio Series

Shadow Me is a documentary that exemplifies solitary moments after the loss of unconditional love of a devoted companion. Rebecca was touched by this book, I’m glad it's now part of the collection.

In the past, I wasn’t keen on talking about my work, but Texans have a way of welcoming you, what can I say Y'all made me feel at home!

Flip Books and 3D Printing

January 31, 2016

I found one thing I miss from living in Utah, the Sundance Film Festival in Park City. I took this photo in 2014 on our annual–go see what it’s all about—visit. We had the opportunity to say hello to Sam Shepard and to Gilles Marini.

© 2014 Louise Levergneux, Sundance Film Festival

Getting back to the work at hand. It’s difficult to keep the processes and steps straight with three projects on the go, no four!

I’m waiting for an order of paper to finish the last two copies of my book entitled Conversation. After two months, finishing these copies with my notes might be a challenge!!

Meanwhile, I’m tinkering with Tinkercad for my second book entitled Finding Home. An emotional project that tackles my experience of living in Idaho while still rooted in Canada... I will discuss the many changes and end product later.

I am learning the ins and outs of 3D printing and enjoying the sculptural facet of the process. A third print is happening today and will take nine and a half hours to print over 497 layers. Fascinating!

I thought it might be fun to sit and take photos as my object was printing till I saw this timelapse video of a Ultimaker 2 printing a deer. Have you ever heard the expression “it’s like watching paint dry”!

The binding and slipcase for my artists’ book Xtraction is also in the queue to be 3D printed, hurray!

While we wait for paper and prints, lets look at the steps it took to create the flip book for Xtraction. The idea grew from this X-ray. In this instance I used a mix of stills and video taken with my Sony D-SLR.

1. First, the stills are manipulated in Photoshop and the video manipulated in iMovie

2. Next, I import the frames from the video into layers in Photoshop

3. Once, the layers are all chosen and sequenced, they are resized into another Photoshop template, I number all the pages—yes, number, it makes it easier to sort. Have you ever had 120 unnumbered pages fall to the floor and not knowing the sequence? I have! FUN! FUN! FUN!

4. All the adjustments in the next step is great fun for people with OCD, as all the layers have different opacity between bottom and top layers for each group of images. The flip book has 120 pages counting the colophon

5. Shown are 13" x 19" sheets of pages in Bridge ready for print

6. My printer co-operated, thank God! This does not always happen, everyone knows that! I start the cutting phase after the sheets rest for 24 hours. This time relaxes the paper and removes any curling from wet ink. Dried ink allows the paper to be handled without concerns

7. Each page goes through a five steps cutting process, this ensures perfect placement of image on each page. The time taken in properly cutting each page properly gives a smooth action when flipping pages. I know these steps by heart after cutting pages for 156 flip books in the last 3 years. First cut is done by dividing the sheet in half.

The second cut is done by following the cutting lines for the top of each page.

Making sure that all the pages are trimmed at the exact same place on the right edge is the third cut.

The fourth step is to properly cut the bottom of each page by using a straight edge that will not move.

The last and fifth cut is the left side with a pre-determined length for the flip book.

I sort and stack, then punch holes through the pages to receive screw posts

A small binding with cloth over boards is usually cut and assembled to finish the book. Xtraction has a 3D printed binding so this step is omitted

Voilà, one finished flip book. I will have photos of the completed project next week.

The fourth project I mentioned above is the image manipulation, printing and cutting of the last volumes of City Shields. Forever!

This will take more than a week, need to get going.

Welcome Bienvenue

Hello, my name is Louise Levergneux, I’m a book maker. This blog is where I share and reflect on the approaches and structures used in my creative process, artists' books, photography. and more...

Your comments and stories are welcome.

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