How much effort did editors put into polishing a book?
What ingenuity and creativity will they hide in the binding design?
How did the seemingly incomprehensible title of the book finally come to be?
(The editor who racked his brains for this reason is looking at the hair loss on the ground at this moment, and can't help but let out a sigh)
I believe that many friends who love to read will be curious about the story behind making books.
Everything you want to know about the curation of a wordless comic book about Modilo is here!
All the information in the following article is true and valid, and this is a "little secret" that was only heard under the soft and hard bubble of Tron.
These Q&A conversations with the editor's teacher (also known as fragmented thoughts) may give you a deeper understanding of Modilo's paintings.
Q1
When did you first get to know Modilo, and what made you decide to be his wordless comic book?
I had seen Modilo's comics in about the third or fourth grade, and at that time I put them in the same memory file as cartoons with round faces such as "Martin's Morning" and "The Adventures of Tintin".
Later, I started working as a book editor, and one of the sources of my selection of topics was to go back to my childhood memories, including the republishment of "365 Nights Story" and asking about the copyright of the original works of "Duck Detective" and "Little Mouse on the Prairie", but I never thought of Modilo's comics.
Until the unfortunate death of Mr. Modilo in 2019, I re-encountered his comic works in an official article, and I have to say that dna moved.
With the sensitivity of being a book editor, I found that the colors in Modilo's comics are very outstanding, and they are very strong in both artistic and commercial directions.
During that time, I happened to be re-chasing "Crayon Novel" and "The Adventures of Tintin", and regardless of the picture quality, the color management in these world's best animations was very mature. Considering the color of the cartoons that children are currently watching, I want to spread the color works like Modilo in a way that I can touch.
Of course, I later discovered that this project cannot be defined as children's books alone, but this is a later story.
Q2
How to obtain the consent of the Modilo Foundation and successfully obtain the authorization, in the process of contact and negotiation with the other party, did you encounter anything special?
We actually waited a long time for the copyright inquiry of Modilo's work, including the production of the entire project. From the beginning of 2019 to the end of 2022, it is close to two and a half years.
In the end, I think it is still based on sincerity.
Indeed, Modilo weighed heavily in my childhood memories. I also recognize and love the value of Modilo's work from the bottom of my heart. This is also the attitude that we repeatedly emphasize in our communication with each other. After all, something of value is worth our time and effort to wait for.
The more difficult part is actually the choice of manga works.
Because Mr. Modilo's main identity is an artist and cartoonist, and he is not a book author or picture book author, there is no original book file provided by a foreign party after the authorization of the general foreign version of the book. The Foundation's collection and archiving of all of Modilo's works is done in the form of art paintings –encoded and then archived. Therefore, the painting has no name, except for the simple theme division, that is, thousands of comic pictures under each theme, which cannot be searched or sorted by trick.
You can only browse one by one like a gallery to confirm whether it is included in the simplified version.
Another small partner and I spent almost 8 months looking for maps, of course, in the early stage, there was a communication with the foundation in what form to confirm the selected files and file transfer evaluation time, the later 6 months is to pick up the map outside the other book projects at hand, coupled with the speed limit of extraterritorial websites, and occasionally return to the home page of the fans jump, the whole process is simply a tower of sand.
After 8 months of picking pictures, we selected more than a thousand pictures, received nearly 20GB of image files, and finally entered the second round of creative production.
In addition, after the design and production of the entire project was completed, the plan was submitted to the Modilo Foundation for review, and then passed on to Modilo's daughter through the foundation for confirmation, which took about a month.
Q3
The title of "I Like You Laugh" is very straightforward and clear, how was it conceived, and what kind of core and value do you want to convey?
How to name more than a thousand wordless paintings with different themes is indeed a very difficult task. It's like planning an exhibition, but it's based on paintings from Modilo's lifetime.
Initially, I tried to use the theme of the painting as inspiration words, such as animals, love, color, movement, etc., but without success; later, I thought about starting from artistic techniques, such as humor, irony, fantasy, etc., but also failed.
One day, it suddenly occurred to me that this comic book was a selection of Modilo's life's paintings, so it was better to choose the theme words of Modilo's life, and finally chose the word "laugh", and then derived the action of "laughing", and finally completed into the sentence "I like you to laugh".
In my own mind, "I like you to laugh" can describe both Modilo's lifelong comic book reading experience, Modilo's artistic concept, and even represent a certain philosophy of life of Modilo.
At the same time, it is a blessing, a confession, a greeting of the kindest, a word that all those who create happiness for the world want to say to others.
Q4
Is there anything new in the planning and packaging of this book?
In terms of book form, I chose a square folio that is conducive to showing the image picture; paperback, so that there is no sense of stagnation, and it is lighter in the hand, which is the artistic atmosphere that comics should have. At the same time, the square folio also ensures the degree of paperback reading.
The book cover design invited Xiong Qiong, the award-winning designer of "China's Most Beautiful Book", and her design works have always been gentle, beautiful and exquisite style, perfectly realizing the idea that we want to have a "sense of gift" - the stars are full of stars, like candy; sitting together, silently reading the world.
Purple and gradient pink, romantic and poetic, like a book that should be opened in the warm night breeze. The reverse folding surface of the envelope and a small ladder to the moon not only extend the visual imagination, but also enhance the sophistication of the design, which makes people not abandon it.
The book unfolds and seals
Without destroying the wordless caricature style, we also deliberately designed a beautiful card.
On the front of the card is a cartoon of Modilo, and on the back is a record of his life.
It not only enriches the product vision, but also presents important information.
The front and back of the card
Q5
There are many paintings left by Modilo, what principles did we follow in the selection? According to what logic is each volume divided?
Quietly speaking, the original idea was to present more than a thousand pictures into a hardcover book with an oversized folio, and at the same time, attach a design - a rainbow-colored spine, a set of 7 volumes.
But it's inevitable that Modilo's comics will be shelved and collected, like a luxurious cruise ship with a symphony orchestra.
Just after I repeatedly flipped through the 2004 edition of the small square book, I suddenly had the inspiration to feel that this form was more suitable. Each volume has 100 pages, which is light and handy, and at the same time, during the flipping process, you can stop at any time and taste for three or five seconds.
In this way, it becomes a small boat played by harp and classical guitar, gently leisurely, happy and happy, sailing into the fragmented time of each of us in our daily lives.
As for the logical division, the first book is of course "love", which makes people happy love, which can best show Modilo's romance and light and spicy love; the second book is "color", pure and vivid vision, a colorful and enthusiastic South American gift; the third book is "Creativity", which collects Modilo's most imaginative and surprising humorous brain holes.
Q6
At present, the volume of three books has been produced, what are the considerations for the licensed comics in the future, and can you disclose what plans are there after that?
This is still planned. For Modilo's comic works, we hope to make a richer product, of course, this also requires everyone's warm echo.
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