Nibbles – The Mechanics of the Monster by Emma Yarlett

 

The mechanics of this monster book were monstrous and mesmerising. I loved and despised the process of working out how this book was going to piece together. It was very much an enjoyable migraine (if such a thing exists!).

The main mechanics of the book are the ‘mini story books,’ the ‘nibbled’ die-cuts, the storyline and making these three elements integrate together as seamlessly as possible. Putting in motion these ideas for the mechanics of the book really came together with the finessing of the rough drawings and the precise (or not so precise in some places) execution of the artwork.

Creating the ‘mini story books’ was fun as it allowed me to explore different parts of my art style whilst also trying out some new things; such as illustrating in black and white in Little Red Riding Hood.

It was also fun to play with the physicality of the ‘mini story books’ and trying to integrate them into the page so they looked as three-dimensional as possible. Playing with shadows and optical illusions of thick tomes of books through misplaced back covers has become my new favourite thing.

I also enjoyed throwing in some little extras into these mini books like the author anagrams, and the angry faces peeping out the back covers of the books through the nibble die-cuts.

It was important to make sure that nibbled die-cuts in the pages all lined up and created ‘dual interpretations’ depending on which way the page holes were viewed.

This meant re-aligning and re-aligning. It also meant writing ‘interrupted text pieces’ that if uninterrupted would read as normal fairytale book blurbs (etc) but when ‘nibbled’ would read as though written about Nibbles’ nibbled interruption of the book instead.

Creating these things and working through the problems that they spewed helped me to get into the mad ‘World of Nibbles’ that you can hopefully see in the book. When creating this project I wanted to create more than a book, an experience that a child, teenager or adult could enter and interact with on multiple levels. It was my hope that it would be a book that you could keep coming back to and seeing things you hadn’t seen before… Fingers crossed we achieved it!

Huge thanks to Emma for sharing her detailed processes behind this hugely creative book, now go and grab your limited edition copy of Nibbles the Book Monster here.