(That's an image from "Trial by Jury" Gilbert & Sullivan)
Well, you have to realize that with a project like this, a very complex, and I have to say- extensive, Illustrated Storybooks, when it finally goes to press, meaning; printing tens of thousands of books, it better darn well be right.
In this case; printing, say, ten thousand books, means seventy thousand books; seven books in the first series; Zach & Zebby's Grand Adventure.
I guess you can imagine that if I know there is an error, like a typo, a glitch in the artwork or an anomaly in the layout, there's no way I can let that slide. The latest issues have been with color balance. I made a mistake by converting the layout, which was created using RGB, and after conversations with a number of printers, I was led to believe I needed to convert my files to CYMK. Fine. I did that and it was ok, until I switched printers and went from Xerox to Canon for the on-demand printing.
The net result has been a difficult process to correct the color balance. That change effects the entire layout.
(New word; aeffects, that covers both situations.)
So here is is; I found out after researching the RGB/CYMK situation, that each printing press has it's own specifications, depending on the technology employed in manufacturing to press. So, the recommendation is to leave the layout imbedded with the RGB protocols and let the printing press convert it to CYMK.
Well, that seemed to have worked. The CYMK that worked for Xerox does not work for Canon. Leaving the layout in RGB allowed the Canon to properly interpret the color balance.
Goodbye six months trying to figure that out !
So, I'm making a few adjustments for density and color. Yes, density. Each press seems to have it's own interpretation of density as well.
I am sure I will have issues of this nature when the books go to press for off-set or web printing as well. Hopefully, I won't need to address that and the printer will match the layout I have already done.
On Another Front:
We are advancing into the next level of creating the finished artwork. It is rather difficult to decide how to proceed. My initial goal was to get all the sketches done, but we need to push Book Five aside for a while. That is unfortunate, because that hangs up our release of the books. But, we need to move into line drawings and watercolors for Books Four, Six and Seven, so those books will be finished. Those books take place in our current time frame, while Book Five is historical. What that means is that the look of the art for the historical portions needs to change. Maybe add a sepiatone or leave the art as grayscale, something like that. That's an interesting prospect! I might like to have The Gnomic Tales, as told in Book Five in sepia, while each Gnomic Take, as it's brown book, will have the artwork in full color. That way I can expedite the release of the Seven Book Collection AND delineate the historical portions of the collection. Humm?
Well, that's all for now.
AG
