|   I've
enjoyed drawing in the Peak District this spring but recently I've felt
that there's been a bit of a break in the flow of work. This is partly
because of the cool, wet weather we've had but also because I'm now onto
the next stage of the book; designing and writing it. I don't plunge into
that like I plunge into drawing. I need to think things out first.
I've got plenty of ideas for what I'd like to say, but I mustn't forget
that this is a sketchbook; I shouldn't get stuck on the words.
This afternoon I completed my first finished page (left), sticking
closely to the field notes I'd written at the time, but rejigging the
page to fit the printed format. Despite my experiments with handwritten
typefaces, I feel happier sticking with hand-drawn captions, drawn with
the same pen that I used for the original drawing.
 Format
The size of the page might seem like a technical detail but it affects
the character of the book; it changes the way that you tell the story.
In the winter, I started working in a pocket-sized A6 sketchbook and since
then, as I've expanded from details to the wider landscape, I've moved
on to a larger A4 size. But the book itself will be 234 mm x 156 mm, a
little over 8 x 6 inches. I need to get to work on designing text and
pictures to fit this format.
Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk
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