BOOK LAYOUT - for PUBLISHERS, PROJECT SUBMISSION DIRECTORS & AGENTS
specifications are at the bottom of the page.
This page is a general layout of an art book proposal on my paintings and inkings of surrealism and fantasy. I have sized the color images to 300 dpi at 10" for the long dimension. Any smaller than that and the detail would not show up. There are 122 paintings, 3 details, 3 mixed medias (128 color plates), 46 inkings, 10 pages of text/inkings, a painting technique section that has 8 color images and 4 pages of text, and a drawing and inking technique that has 7 images and 4 pages of text that should be in the book. One of the inkings and a small block of text is the intro to each section or chapter that contains a series of paintings that fit within the context of that section. Followed by a painting technique, then a black/white portfolio section, a b/w technique and bio.
My layout format is as follows:
THE ORIGINAL COVER AND
TITLE:
THE SECOND PREFERRED TITLE:
Pages in order:
A black/white (frontispiece) inking (right facing page)
Publication info, copyright, rights, ISBN #'s, etc. (left facing page)
Dedication page (right facing page)
Preface with black/white inking of "Chain Reaction" (left facing page)
Names of chapters or sections (no page numbers) (right facing page)
(Introduction begins on left facing
page)
Introduction - Nine pages of text explaining the technique, inspiration,
symbolism and art styles with spot black/white illustrations (9 illustrations).
Each page has the text on the left column and the illustration on the right.
Each illustration is approximately 10" high and fits the space of the right
column. I have changed about 2% of the text in this section to reflect the new
title of 'Perceptions', and have printed up a few prototypes.
Chapter 1 begins on right facing page (heading and text flush to right)
Chapter 1 - Philosophy, small amount of text and black/white illo of
"The
Well"; text and 11 paintings of; *The Reflection, *Nevermore, *Evolution-Mixed
Media, *Evolution, *Behold the Sea God, *The Prediction of the Extinction, *Ascension, *The
Sanctuary, *To a Limited Extent-Indomitable,*The Rhythm, *Nautilus Progeniture
Chapter
2 begins on right facing page (heading and text flush to right)
Chapter 2 - Imagination, small amount of text and black/white ink
sketch of "Ripping the River"; text
and 10 paintings of; *Dawn, *Tribute, *Retribution-Mixed
Media, *Birth of the Stars, *The Tree of Life, *The Cracked Sky,
*Freshwater Urchin, *Stellar Plasma, *Transplanetation, *Nature's Games
Chapter
3 begins on left facing page (heading and text flush to left)
Chapter 3 - Carnality, small amount of text and black/white illo of "Desire", text and paintings of; *The Embrace, *Realm of the Witch,
*Demon Surrection, *Cloud Queen, *The Illusion of Susan, *Sorceress, *Sun Goddess,
*Emerging Woman, *Genie, *Ladyscape,
*Ladyscape detail sheet.
Chapter 4 begins on left facing page (heading and
text flush to left)
Chapter 4 - Magic, small amount of text and black/white ink sketch
of "In-Chanting"; text
and 6 paintings of; *Spiritual Waters, *From Petrogylphs to Life, *Weaver of
Landscapes, *The Elements of Creation, *Sortelegic Deluge-Mixed Media, *Nucleus
Omnipotence
Chapter 5 begins on right facing page (heading and text flush to
right)
Chapter 5 - Nature, small amount of text and black/white illo of
"Sun Flowers"; text and 14 paintings of; *The Impersonation, *Awesome
Power of the Sea, *The Jungle, *The Jungle detail sheet, *Cyclone, *Double Arch -
Utah, *Spires to the Sky, Grand Canyon, Arizona, *After the
Clouds have Cried, *Oasis - Sonoran Desert, *The Next Four Billion Years, *The
Anvil, *Above the Clouds, *Nature's Alchemy
Chapter 6 begins on left facing
page (heading and text flush to left)
Chapter 6 - Fantasy, small amount of text and black/white ink
sketch of "Uni-Horn";
text and 16 paintings of; *Stampede, *A Day in the Life, *Dolphins Delight, *Duel,
*The Archer, *Battle over the Blue Moon, *Power Transference, *Once Upon a
Sunset, *Conflict of Interests, *Nightwind, *Claudia the Conqueror, *The Castle,
*Under the Surface of the Sea,
*Under the Surface of the Sea detail sheet, *First Taste of Air, *Land of
Titania
Chapter 7 begins on right facing page (heading and text flush to
right)
Chapter 7 - Phantasm, small amount of text and black/white illo of
"Fossilized Butterfly";
text and 12 paintings of; *The Dragon Sleeps, *Still Life - Gateway to Meditation,
*Feel the Wind, *Five, *The Cosmic Wall, *Geometry, *Valley of the Moon, *Headwaters, *Vine Life,
*As the Dragon Breathes, *For Lack of Cohesion, *Aboriginal Roots
Chapter 8
begins on left facing page (heading and text flush to left)
Chapter 8 - Dimension, small amount of text and black/white illo of
"To Perceive Infinity";
text and 12 paintings of; *Water Falls, *The Great Oak Tree, *Birth of
the Lands, *Contraposition, *Cave Dwellers, *Terracing, *Global Quantum, *If You Believe, *Surreal Mirage, *Ethereal Manifestation, *Guardian of the Portal,
*Birth of the Cities
Chapter 9 begins on right facing page (heading and text
flush to right)
Chapter 9 - Chromaticism, small amount of text and black/white illo of
"Optic Sunset";
text and 13 paintings of; *The Path, *Domicile, *On the Way to OZ, *Keep Your
Eye on the Rainbow, *Citadel, *Floral Contingencies, *Digging for Fossils, *Atop
the World, *Dust Devil, *Everything Turns to Stone, *Cloudscape, *Earth &
Gold, *From Within
Chapter 10 begins on right facing page (heading and text
flush to right)
Chapter 10 - Intrinsicality, small amount of text and black/white illo of
"Surrender";
text and 10 paintings of; *Waiting for Nature to Hatch, *Pollination, *The Essence
of Flight, *The Plight of Christopher Columbus, *G.O.D.S. View, *The World's
Littlest Unicorn, *Harvest Moon, *Don't Forget to Water the Cherry Tree, *A
Canyon by Any Name, *Angel Fish
Chapter 11 begins on left facing page (heading
and text flush to left)
Chapter 11 - Landscapes, small amount of text and black/white illo of
"Symbiosis";
text and 13 paintings of; *Deciduous Transition, *Autumn in the Sky, *The Cloud
Makers, *Forces of Ethos, *At the Tree Line, *Pegasus, *Sea, Sand and Skin, *Little People of the
Forest, *Turquoise Castle, *Camouflage, *Night Bloomers, *Ecosystem I, *Sierra Vista
Painting
technique begins on left facing page
Painting technique - 8 steps to
show the wash technique and the development of an idea with a photo of each step to the finish, plus a design
element showing the layout. This section takes up 4 pages laid out in 3 column
page spreads with the finished image as a 2 column width.
Black/White section
begins on left facing page
Black/White
illustration portfolio - with intro sheet included, there are 22 illustrations laid out with the
vertical formats consecutively, then the horizontal formats consecutively. These
illustrations fill the page as best as possible without going over the original
inking size. These are 300 dpi grayscale jpegs. This format gives a slightly softer edge
to the linework (as opposed to a 1200 dpi bitmap) without having a bloated file
size.
Pencil and Inking Technique begins on left facing page
Pencil and Inking Technique - 7 steps to show the development of an idea and the
steps to complete it to a finished inking. This section takes up 4 pages in 2
column spreads with the last finished image slightly larger.
Bio - last page of book (left facing page - 2 column centered layout with mug shot).
The back cover: (there is a slight text change for the
Perceptions version but it would not be readable here)
the ISBN box can go in the bottom
left area.
NOTE: The Black/White section is last after the painting technique as it is more feasible to have those pages backed up to the first pages of the book which are also just black and white text and illos. It still depends on the publisher and the page imposition layouts. There are 15 black and white beginning pages and 27 black and white ending pages. There are also 11 black and white chapter intro pages.
NOTE: All color plates are 300 dpi CMYK compressed jpgs to eliminate bloated file sizes. There was no noticeable differences between tiff files or jpeg files. The camera used was a Nikon D-80 with 10.2 megapixel capacity. I used 4" x 5" transparencies of all paintings that are no longer in my possession. Do not judge the quality of the paintings by the web pictures as they are no comparison to the original paintings or even the images sized for the book. I will send any image at the book size (as a pdf) to any publisher or agent that requests one.
NOTE: The first book file I did (8" x 11") was 320 pages or 160 sheets. This book layout had an abnormal amount of book flipping to view the horizontal paintings upright, because 77 of the paintings are in horizontal (landscape) format. If there were only a few images then this would not seem like a problem, however it did not fit with my viewing preferences or a few other print people I inquired of. Therefore I believe that 11" high by 11.25" wide is the appropriate layout. The extra quarter inch in width is for the binding side margin which will keep text and images more viewable near the curve of the binding. I have measured the thickness of 100# gloss book paper and if that is the paper used, the spine thickness would be approximately one half of an inch thick. There are 184 pages or 92 sheets. There are no blank pages and each section flows directly to the next. A full size prototype is available upon request to any publisher. The prototype size will be an extra quarter inch wider because there is a vinyl/metal binding spine used to hold the prototype together. Only the cover needs to be printed with a bleed. I have laid out the entire book in InDesign CS (MAC OSX) as a reader's spread file for a hard copy prototype (from a laser color copier) but some publishers may wish their own in-house staff of graphic people to do the final layout process as I am unfamiliar with the press sheet sizes a publisher may have. My layout could easily suffice as the final file (before page imposition or signature spreads) as I have done other book layouts. My layout includes all the interior pages in proper order. I have done a separate cover file (with bleed) without the spine layout for the prototype and that layout can be modified for the final cover file with spine dimensions and the UPC box inserted (for a wrap-around paperback cover) as soon as the paper thickness is known (thickness times number of sheets) or if blank sheets are to be inserted between the cover and interior. Assuming a finish book size of 11" x 11.25" then the color plate pages will have an average image size of 6.67" x 10" as 95 % of the paintings are in a 2:3 format. There are a few paintings where I got involved with extra detail, these paintings could have a detail sheet after their main sheet. These detail sheets are also sized at 6.667" x 10" to eliminate the need for bleed pages in the interior of the book. I have the layout pages with a .5" margin at the tops and bottoms and the outside edge, leaving .75" at the binding side. This layout can also be used or easily modified to fit the publisher's requirements. All paintings are sized at 10" for the long dimension, whether they are either a horizontal or vertical format. The paintings run mainly together as horizontal format spreads where I staggered them to be; the left side facing is at the top with the text under the image and centered; and the right side facing is at the bottom with the text above the image and centered; the vertical format spreads have the paintings to the outside half inch margins with the text set to the spine side or the center of the book (there are three exceptions to this placement). This layout seems to give each painting its own space and leaves plenty of room for the text with adequate negative space for eye rest.. The text blocks are one quarter inch from the paintings. This layout uses the least amount of paper. Test layouts showed that verticals together and horizontals together seemed to have better flow.
NOTE: If a parent sheet size of 23" x 35" is used and that size is a capacity of the publisher's press then a 12 page signature with perfect printing may be possible. This size will leave plenty of grip and margin as there are no interior bleed pages. The cover will have obviously have to have other arrangements.
If you as a publisher, submissions project director for a publisher or an agent, wish to review a hard copy prototype of the book or some of the images at book size, please call: Michael at (928) 445-1132 or email.
If you as a publisher, submissions project director for a publisher or an agent are in possession of an original prototype, please note that I have considered changing the title from 'The Incredible Surrealism of Csontos' to 'Perceptions'. To reflect this change, I have re-written about 2-3% of the text in the introduction section. I have definitely changed 80% of the 'What is Art' section and also added the Pencil and Inking Technique section. I have also made an alternative cover title (see above). If you have considered the book for publication and wish to see a final 'Perceptions' prototype just call (928) 445-1132 or email.