Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Birb Goes Twerp - A mini picture book - Part Two

If you haven't read the first post about my self-published mini picture book Birb Goes Twerp, you can read it here.

If you have, then you are in the right place.

As I was playing around with what style to use for the book I stumbled upon an amazing children's book in the used book section of Taylor Books in Charleston, WV, while on the way to Thanksgiving with my extended family.

Near, Far by Silvia Borando

The book was Near, Far by Silvia Borando, published by minibombo, an Italian children's publishing house (and published in English in the U.S. by Penguin Random House). The bright colors and simple illustrations were mesmerizing to me so I attempted to copy, mimic, steal, borrow, imitate, and pay homage to the genius of the style in my book. I'll let history decide how close I came.

Full disclosure: when I first bought the used book(s) at Taylor Books I was planning to use the internal pages for covers for the upcycled note pads I make from packaging paper and other sources. And I did. But between reading the book and cutting it up (I know, I'm a monster), I decided to imitate the style for Birb Goes Twerp. And to be fair, the inside pages of the book made some amazing little note books with peek-a-boo inside covers in some cases.

Upcycled note pads with Near, Far internal pages for covers

An adorable peek-a-boo hippo. Other covers included a snake, a hedgehog, a bird and other creatures.

I make upcycled note pads/books under the name catchpenny books

I also ended up buying another copy of Near, Far and a number of other minibombo books by Silvia Borando. I even sent a copy of Birb Goes Twerp to Silvia in Italy as a kind of thank you for the inspiration. I don't know if she has gotten it yet, or if it will even make an impression, but I hope it will.

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