How I created a poetry artbook

Back in at the very beginning of February, my brain began to itch with a new idea: a fusion of artwork and poetry. I protested the idea for a few days... it seemed too far fetched, I felt too inexperienced, it was too vulnerable to put something like that out into the world.

But my brain gets obsessive, and again and again the thought occurred to me, what if? What if you tried it? What if you were brave?

So a few days later, I did a small test of the concept. I grabbed my kitchen scissors and cut apart some junk mail and faded construction paper. I assembled those pieces into a little mosaic and scanned the image with my printer. Then I found a untouched poem I had written over a year ago, and I overlaid the text on top of the scan.

And I stared at it for a while.

Looking at this first page, my idea didn't feel so crazy anymore. Suddenly, my idea felt very real and tangible. I could do this. I could create an entire book full of paper collage images and poetry. It could be pretty. Hell, maybe it would even turn into something beautiful.

And so I began to make more artwork.

I gathered more paper scraps from my junk mail, from my neighbors, and from the recesses of my unopened "crafts drawer." I began to pick out poems and create art for them.

It took a substantial amount of effort, and I was overwhelmed with uncertainly and insecurity for about 70% of the time I worked on the book. But do to a handful of lucky factors, I didn't give up.

And so today, I'm happy to announce that my book, All the brooding flowers, is officially published.

The Artwork

All of the artwork in my book began as scrap paper and was cut and arranged by hand to become the artwork that you see today. I used recycled and repurposed paper to make the project as environmentally conscious as possible. Even one of the earliest proof copies of the book was cut apart and re-used to make more art for the book.

Similar to what I did for that very first page, most of the artwork was scanned using my printer/scanner and uploaded into Canva, a online platform that helps with visual design and document creation. In Canva, I made minor adjustments to the artwork (such as erasing some stray glue marks) and I added in my poetry.

In the beginning, I was creating busier, single-page artworks and placing my poetry on top with text boxes. However, I found myself unhappy with the way the book was looking. It felt like the art was "competing" with the poetry, rather than enhancing it. So about 10 pages into the book, I decided to re-do everything in favor of a more "minimalist" style, which used the artwork to "accent" the poetry, rather than take away from it.

The best example of the artistic change can be seen in the two versions of my poem, Sea Glass. The poems actually used the same scan of artwork, but the in the second version I erased half of it digitally in Canva:

I didn't love "killing my darlings" and deleting the pages I created, but I think the change was necessary to stear the project in a more cohesive artistic direction. Once I changed the style, I pushed forward with the project with a better sense of confidence.

And I do really love the minimalist art style of the final book:

But don't worry, I did reuse some of the original artwork on "non-poem" pages such as the bio and acknowledgements.

The Cover

One of the most intimidating things about creating the artwork for this book was the realization that I would have to also create the cover. The cover is the first thing people with see (and judge) about your book, so it was a higher pressure work of art. If you can imagine, the cover took the longest to create out of any art piece in the book, taking me around four hours to create the background image alone:

And because this piece was the most textured, it didn't quite scan correctly with my printer. So I ended up taking a picture of it on my phone in order to better capture the colors and details (very professional, I know).

After I had a digital copy of the background, I pulled it into Canva and I overlay the title of the book. Then I digitally adjusted the image to give it a slightly more purple hue.

The Role of Vocal

I'd be remised to talk about this book on Vocal without also mentioning the role of Vocal in it's creation. I'm not the first person to publish Vocal poetry in a book (there are others who have already done that, like Paul Stewart), but I'm more than happy to join the club!

While I don't tend to put all of my poetry on Vocal, there are a few poems that I wrote for Vocal challenges (or published just for fun) that did actually make it into the book!

My favorite example is my poem, When I Saw You, which was written for Vocal's "From Across the Room" challenge (and even netted a runner-up prize)!

Here's the original poem, as it was published on Vocal:

And here's the artwork I created for it for my book:

And I won't spoil the artwork for every poem in this book, but I will tease that that the following Vocal poems ended up in the final version of the book!

• Gatekeepers of the Soul
• Laugh Easy
• Ruminations
• Belladonna

So cheers to Vocal, for being the first home for several of the poems in this book, and helping me gain confidence with putting my poetry out "in public."

The Takeaway

As I sit with my computer on release day, staring at this article, it's difficult to formulate the proper words to talk about this book. It was difficult. It was outside of my comfort zone. I felt so uncertain for so long, wondering whether this book would really blossom into the thing I wanted it to be.

But I did it.

I took my brain's silly little idea and I turned it into a real, tangible thing I could hold in my hands.

And I'm someone who really struggles to feel proud of myself, but god damn, I did it. And I can sit outside on a lovely summer day and feel the sun shine on my face knowing that I did something purely to be creative. To make myself happy in this world. To live and keep living the way my little brain wants.

So my message to you, reader, is to do that silly little thing that your brain wants you to do. Even if it's scary. Even if it feels impossible. Because the sun feels so good on your face on a day like today.

So do it!

The Thank Yous

If you're interested in checking out the book and supporting my writing and art, you can find it at the link below:

And as always, if you have any questions about my process, feel free to ask about it. I'm always happy to share both my mistakes, triumphs, and plain old advice.

And since you made it this far, thank you for reading!

Truly - thank you!