From A to ‘Zine
Illustrations, Design
Some time ago my friend, Nick Accettura and I were talking about creative, personal, projects and he mentioned that he wanted to write a book of poetry. I encouraged him to go for it and suggested a structure might make it a less daunting task - like writing a poem for every letter of the alphabet so he’d be done writing in less than a month. I should add that this isn’t an original idea, I was completely inspired by Harlan Ellison’s From A to Z in the Chocolate Alphabet. Nick agreed, on the condition that I illustrate the book. So the resulting project is a collaboration between Nick and myself. The words are his, the images are mine and the book is self-published and available for purchase.
Sample Layouts
I enjoy working in black and white and for this project I really wanted to embrace a loose, grayscale, aesthetic that would allow me to draw faster and create layouts that are playful and intentionally inconsistent. I was teaching, freelancing and getting a Masters while working on this so the style needed to be something I could produce quickly and without overthinking. The concept and design was heavily influenced by ‘zine culture, particularly those of NYC back in the late 90’s and early aughts. In the end, this project became a form of therapy for me, something I could escape into for a few hours at a time. A place to lose myself in the act of creation.
