Illustration and design of the book by G.G. Marquez "Love in the Time of Cholera"

Koroleva Alina Yur'evna Student, Department of Engineering Graphics and Computer Design, Southern Federal University, Academy of Engineering and Technology 347928, Russia, Rostovskaya oblast', g. Taganrog, ul. Chekhova, 22 igkd@sfedu.ru

Abbasov Iftikhar Balakishi ORCID: 0000-0003-4805-8714 Doctor of Technical Science Professor of the Department of Engineering Graphics and Computer Design at Southern Federal University, Engineering-Technological Academy 347905, Russia, Rostovskaya oblast', g. Taganrog, ul. Chekhova, 22 iftikhar_abbasov@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction.

Today, printed books are produced in a variety of formats, collectible, pocket, softcover, hardcover. In the modern world, the book has not lost its importance and popularity. In fact, the form of information transmission is not so important as the information itself. To read a book, you first need to pick it up, and it will create the first impression with its design design. Of course, the sluggish content of the book will not be saved in any way by a colorful cover, illustrations, or excellent print and paper quality. In whatever form the book was produced, whether it was a paper, electronic version of the text or audio, and no matter how it was designed by the designer – one way or another, it is an important component of our spiritual life ^[1],[2].

And do not forget that the essence of design is not only to stimulate sales, but also to "embody" spiritual values. All works are unique. It is important for a book designer to emphasize the individuality, manners of the author of the book, his works, and his own individuality. The main thing is not to confuse readers with too subjective vision.

Choosing the subject of the book.

After the novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by the Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, his novel "Love in Time of the plague" became "the most optimistic". The optimism consisted in the fact that throughout their long lives, the main characters of this work indulged in small human joys, suffered from small human problems, but were bypassed by the big problem of those times – the cholera epidemic ^[3],[4].

All interpersonal and family troubles seem not very important compared to what could overtake the characters, but bypassed. They quarrel, reconcile, break up and find each other again, but their life is generally happy, good and carefree. The author had a tremendous talent for writing. The novel is interesting because of the special manner in which G. Marquez described this or that event, albeit not always significant, and sometimes completely ordinary. But every time emotions do not keep you waiting – then a ridiculous moment in the life of the heroes causes laughter, then a sharp plot twist in the fate of the same heroes makes the heart stop.

A novel in its genre occupies an honorable place, its theme will always be relevant. It is believed that the main theme of this work is love. But each reader perceives the work in his own way. The concept of love is quite relative. The characters explain the nature of their feelings in their own way, and feed them with illusions (Fermina Dassav of youth, and Florentino de Arissa throughout his life). The phrase "the measured life of different people with their problems and joys" is more suitable for determining the subject of the work. There is no struggle for a higher goal and self-sacrifice for its sake. But all the problems of the characters are relevant today, but the novel is interesting, and it would be even more interesting to see it in an illustrated version. I would like to note that, despite the seriousness of the plot, this work is imbued with a delightful sense of humor of the author.

This work is devoted to the illustration and design of the book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez "Love during the Plague". The object of the study is the design of the book, the subject of the study is the illustration and design of the book in the style of magical realism. As part of the development of the original layout, unique author's illustrations for the book will be created, featuring an original allegorical perception of the psychology of the book's characters, and a convenient format, high-quality cover will help readers delve into the plot of the book and understand the deep moral messages of the great writer. 

Review of the covers of G. Marquez's book "Love during the Plague".

Let's briefly consider some editions of this book: Russian and foreign. I would like to note right away that the whole creative note in the visual design of this work for many designers ends on the cover. There are very few books with illustrations, and this gives us an impetus to create an original gift copy with illustrations. Figure 1 shows the covers of the Russian-language and English-language editions. It is possible to note the graphic nature of the covers on the left and in the center, which are made in a rather restrained classical style. And the cover on the right is somewhat misleading, presenting an image of a completely different era, in no way connected with the plot of the work.

Fig.1. Covers of the book by G.G. Marquez "Love during the plague (El Amor en los tiempos del colera, Love in the Time of Cholera)", left, Random House - Penguin Publishing House, England, 2007, 368 p., center, AST Publishing house, Neoclassic, 2015, 544 S., on the right, Amphora Publishing House, 2002, 506 p.

  Justification of the choice of the style of the book.

To illustrate the novel by G. Marquez, a symbolic presentation style was chosen, based not on a direct depiction of the events described. This style is closest to surrealism in painting, and this will require more dedication from the designer-illustrator to visualize the psychological emotions of the heroes of the book ^[5],[6]. The work "Love during the Plague" itself, like all the works of G. Marquez, belong to such a genre in literature as magical realism. Magical realism is an artistic method in which magical elements are incorporated into a realistic picture of the world and symbols and images are often used, emphasized by contrast. The novels of Gabriel Garcia Marquez had a strong influence on the development of this genre in Europe in the 60s of the XX century.

Compositional solution, sketches for illustrations.

Marquez's work has many nuances that distinguish it from the creations of other famous writers. The compositional solution of illustrations always depends on the nature of the events taking place in the book, on the emotional state of its characters, the color of the time and place of the events described. Hot southern mores, in a difficult time for the people, where the poor suffer and die in unsanitary conditions, and the elite of society enjoys life, boiling in their little passions.

The first stage of creating illustrations was working on sketches (Fig.2). Sketches were made most often with a simple pencil on A4 sheets, then redrawn on a clean A3 format. All illustrations are made in the technique of painting, the material is gouache ^[7]. Then all the works were scanned and translated into electronic form.

       Rice.2. Sketches of some scenes

Creating illustrations.

To understand the meaning of these surrealist paintings, first of all you need to know the plot of Marquez's work "Love during the Plague". Since the proposed illustrations will be metaphorical, that is, allegorical, the reader himself must find the hidden meaning contained in them. But, since not all people have developed creative thinking and good imagination, we will decipher some symbolically transformed information. Figure 3 shows a plot with a flying parrot, on the back of which sits an old man, one of the main characters of the book – Juvenal Urbino.

Fig.3. A flying parrot with an old man on its back (Illustration 1)

According to the plot, an elderly man tried to remove a pet bird from a mango tree, suddenly fell off the ladder and died. His death was the impetus for the beginning of all the main events of the novel. Here death is replaced by flying on a bird that contributed to it. All the tragedy goes into the background and disappears altogether, and the feeling of the end is replaced by the feeling of the beginning of a new path. Man is unintentionally depicted as small – he is like a fragile and temporary being in this life – just a small grain in the sand dunes of humanity's existence.

In the second illustration (Fig. 4), the main thing is the image of a mulatto woman with a snake turban on her head. The main symbol here is temptation, coming from the main biblical plot – sin, which the Serpent in the Garden of Eden pushed a man into, acting through a woman. The main image is a female seductress. The red color once again emphasizes the passion that brought the hero of the book, the same Juvenal Urbino, to a great sin – adultery.

Fig.4. A mulatto woman with a turban-snake on her head (Illustration 2)

The third illustration (Fig. 5) depicts another and probably the most important character of the book, who most attracted the sympathy of the author of the work, this is Florentino Arissa.

This illustration rather depicts his state of mind throughout his life, defined by the author as love, which was like a living being inside its owner (for someone – in the heart, for someone in the head). But who is the owner – a person? Or is that something sitting inside, living as it pleases, the initiator of what is happening? It all depends on ourselves – if we feed this something (some feeling) all the time with our thoughts, it gradually turns from a tame pet into a master.

Fig.5. The hero of the book by Florentino Arissa (Illustration 3)

The illustration in Figure 6 tells us about the fate of the heroine of the work named Olympia Suletta. She was another lover of Florentino Arissa, who had more than six hundred of them in his entire turbulent life.

But she became special to him, if only because of the carelessness of our lovelace, the poor girl was beheaded by her own husband. In the cemetery where the sufferer was buried, the would-be lover planted a rose bush, which after a while grew and the cemetery began to be called Pink. The rose in the illustration symbolizes the image of this girl as a fragile, helpless and beautiful creature. The umbrella provided the acquaintance of our heroes and therefore is also present in the picture. Sunset is the sunset of the heroine's life, like a bright flash, fascinating, but fleeting...

Fig.6. The fate of the heroine of Olympia Suletta's work (Illustration 4)

Next, let's turn to Figure 7. This is an allegorically depicted death of an episodic hero at the beginning of the book. But his fate is quite interesting, and the mention of him adds a sad note to the whole novel.

He is an invalid who decided to commit suicide at the first signs of old age. The man poisoned himself, taking his beloved dog with him on the way. An hourglass is a symbol of passing time, and a broken hourglass is its stop. The main character was able to stop time, withering, suffering from his own inferiority by committing suicide. At least this was his conviction, to which he remained faithful to the end. The main thing in this illustration is the character's sense of freedom. He walks away along the seashore from the frailty of being on his already walking legs, eternally young, eternally drunk, eternally free, with his faithful dog.

Fig.7. The outgoing disabled person (Illustration 5)

It will be illogical to reveal the meaning of all the illustrations with the characters in Figures 8-11, let everyone draw their own conclusions, developing their imagination.

Figure 8. Illustration 6

Fig.9. Illustration 7

Fig.10. Illustration 8

Fig.11. Illustration 9

  Book cover.

Figure 12 shows the final version of the cover of the work. Unlike the illustrations, the cover was made in a mixed technique, as some of its elements were drawn in gouache (hands and sky), and for the background in the form of old letters written on it, it was used as a texture.

Fig.12. Cover to the work of G.G. Marquez "Love during the plague"

  Color scheme, fonts.

The color scheme was chosen quite rich and diverse. All the heroes of this work are representatives of the hot Colombian people living in a warm, sunny climate ^[7]. Throughout the story, love and domestic passions boil between the characters. All this prompted the use of a large number of warm shades. Where the episode with the sea is described, there is a cold blue gamma. Where the episode of passion is red, orange.

2 fonts were used in the design of the book, the SchoolBook font was applied to the main text, the Lazy Crazy font was applied to the title on the cover ^[8],[9].

Symbolism in the form of a parrot.

Both in the work itself and in its illustration, the image of a parrot is most often repeated, in our case, its image is used on each page of the book near the numbering and in two illustrations.

The parrot is widely considered a messenger, an intermediary between the human and otherworldly worlds, this symbolism reflects the ability of this bird to imitate human speech. For the same reason, parrots are endowed with the gift of prophecy. In India and Central American countries, they are considered capable of causing rain. The parrot is an attribute of the Hindu god of love Kama. In Chinese folk tales, parrots inform husbands about their wives' infidelities. The Indian erotic god Kama, the son of the great goddess Lakshmi, flies a parrot, which for Hindus is often a symbol of poetry, and from time to time he shouts the names of lovers interspersed with the names of the gods. That is, one way or another, this bird, according to the conviction of many people, was somehow connected with the love and fate of a person, and the book of Marquez is no exception ^[3].

Figure 13 shows a graphic element present on each page of the book being developed. Images of a parrot alternate, when turning pages, lowered and raised wings create the effect of movement, flight of a bird.

Fig.13. The image of the parrot in the page numbering

  Preparation of the original layout.

To prepare the original layout, the following operations are required: text preparation, selection of material for illustrations, font selection, layout, printing the original layout. In turn, the layout process itself includes: the choice of format, the creation of a modular grid, fields, design elements, as well as the choice of materials for the production of a book ^[10].

The compositional arrangement of text blocks and illustrations plays a key role in the reader's perception of information and the readability of the book. Despite the surreal nature of the plot, the illustrations are enclosed in a strict rectangle shape ^[11].

All the images in the book are divided into horizontal and vertical, this in particular explains the almost square format of the book we have chosen (235x245mm). Also, the square format attracts the attention of buyers, standing out against the background of the standard size of other books in the store. Such a form suggests that the book itself is a carrier of very unusual information, born of non-standard, creative thinking of the author. And, as you know, everything creative attracts consumers like a magnet ^[12].

For the correct arrangement of elements from the point of view of composition, a modular grid was developed, which is shown in Figure 14.

Fig.14. Modular grid of the book spread

The X-variable is a unit module and is equal to the line spacing in the text. The text of the work was initially found via the Internet, then inserted into the Notepad program, and then transferred to the program in Adobe InDesign. Text editing in this program was carried out in several stages:

- creating templates for pages with headers and footers, frames for images and text, additional graphic elements;

- creating text styles (paragraph styles);

- binding the text to the document grid;

- editing of hanging lines and hyphens at the end of blocks;

- insert illustrations;

- creating a cover taking into account the margins for gluing.

For example, Fig.15-16 shows some spreads with illustrations.

Fig.15. Book spread 1

Fig.16. Book spread 2

Coated paper with a density of 80g/m2 was selected for printing the book block. Laser color printing, chroma 4+4, CMYK. After printing, the sheets are bent, collected in notebooks and sewn with threads. Then they are trimmed to the required format, forming a book block, which is inserted into the binding cover. A cover with a glossy polymer coating was chosen for the binding ^[12].

Conclusion.

This book will contribute to the creation of a "new look at familiar things" among readers through the graphic design of the book of the famous classic. Everything new attracts people, and design is interested in this, both from a commercial point of view and from a spiritual and cultural point of view. Classics are eternal, which means that the designer "product" produced will not have an expiration date, which increases the efficiency of its development, its expediency. Once sensational in literary society, Marquez's work "Love during the Plague" is no less valuable now. The topics covered in it have always been and will always be relevant.

As a result of this work, the original design of the book by G.G. Marquez "Love during the plague" was developed. The surreal bias of the illustrations, the non–standard format of the book itself, the arrangement of the text block in two columns, the graphic element in the form of a "flying" parrot - all this improved the perception of the novel as a great work of the Colombian writer. This created a completely new original design of the book with picturesque emotional illustrations, which distinguishes it from its predecessors. Such a work as the novel "Love during the Plague" is simply created to stand out on the shelves of a bookstore.

There is no conflict of interest.