The Tale of Herbie Hiccup

In publishing, there is the concept of ‘galley proofs’, a basic print out of a manuscript, using the correct typeface and sizes, in order to check it’s length. In the case of Herbie Hiccup, I already knew that there were 12 pages of manuscript, but I needed to visualise the layouts. So, in InDesign I started planning out covers, title pages and spreads, using scans of the original manuscript as the artwork and typing up the text.

Originally, I’d intended to use the left hand page (or ‘verso’) for the text, and the right hand page (or ‘recto’) for the illustrations. However, this started to feel too large, and it was obvious that some spreads could share the artwork for better effect. Such as the one where Herbie has tried soap, and moved on to lotion.

After just under an hour’s fiddling about, I had a rough version of the book, and could see how it would all fit together. I could then start making decisions about how best to split up the paragraphs on each page, to help the flow of the story. You can download the Stage 1 PDF here.

For now, I’ve set the book in Bembo, but that doesn’t feel right yet. The next stage is to decide how I’m going to approach the style, which could be traditional or modern. The former would fit well with the manuscript’s origins, but the latter is what would fit my illustration style best. The right typeface will lead on from that choice…