Cover of "The Nose" by N.V. Gogol, presented at Diploma Festival, 2021
© photo: Roald Aron
Poster "The Nose" by N.V. Gogol, presented at Diploma Festival, 2021
© photo: Roald Aron
© photo: Roald Aron
Spread opening the third part of the book
Spread from inside the book showcasing decorated borders
Drop cap
„The Nose” by N. V. Gogol
Illustrated book representing my bachelor’s project, selected for Diploma Festival 2021
This project consists of an illustrated book (170x240 mm, 52 pages, hardcover) based on the text “The Nose“, by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol.
The short-story follows the tale of Platon Kovaliov waking up without his nose one day and his earnest pursuit of trying to get it back, at one point even meeting it on the street during a very anxious interaction.
I used different traditional Russian illustrations as a guide, especially Ivan Billibin’s work. To this I added, for a modern twist, different types of dynamic pagination borrowed from comic books.
The work contains a series of ornamental borders that aesthetically emphasize and add to the absurd of the story. The illustrations and borders are made using ink and watercolors with some marker strikes. These were digitally edited further on. Every part is announced by a decorated spread, which has the role of intrerupting the rythm of the layout. At the start of every section there are also decorated drop caps.
© text: Editura Polirom
