I have an announcement!
You may or may not know that this is my last semester before I graduate college with a BA in graphic design. (Finally! I’m excited.) This semester, I have to complete a capstone project, my senior book.
Basically, I have to write, design, and print a 56-page book on a topic of my choice.
Right up my alley. 🙂
As you might guess, I initially came up with a few book topic ideas centered around books and creative writing. One of these ideas is a more ambitious project which I may tackle later: an archaeologist’s sketchbook that tells the story of an ancient settlement and why it was suddenly abandoned. (Oooh… mysterious…)
But for now, I’ve settled on an idea that will be doable this semester, tentatively titled Your Painless Introduction to Shakespeare.
Why do I want to write about Shakespeare? Because I love Shakespeare plays, but I know a lot of people are scared off by all the iambic pentameter and Elizabethan vocabulary. The thing is, Shakespeare plays still appeal to today’s audiences and can be appreciated on multiple levels. People shouldn’t be hesitant to approach these plays.
I grew up loving Shakespeare because I had a copy of Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children by E. Nesbit, which has kid-friendly (but not dumbed-down) prose retellings of several of the more famous Shakespeare plays. Did I mention it was beautifully illustrated? I love illustrations. And of course, Marcia Williams’ beautiful comic book-style presentations of Shakespeare and other classic stories are wonderful too—and possibly more accessible.
So I’m going to create a field guide to Shakespeare’s plays. The book will have brief overviews of each play attributed to Shakespeare, background information, lines from the play presented in context, plus charcoal illustrations.
I’ve already started sketching layouts for the book…
If you couldn’t tell, I’m excited about this project.
The research and design is going to be a lot of work, so you may not hear from me on this blog for a few months. However, if you’d like to watch my progress on the book, sign up for my newsletter.
Off to go do some research *ahem* read some Shakespeare. It’s going to be a fun (and busy) semester.
(Oh! And would you be interested in reading this book when it’s finished? Are there things you’ve always wanted to know about Shakespeare plays? Let me know.)
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