Calling all artists and writers and creative persons out there! I may have stumbled upon a creative gold mine this week. For those of you not as familiar with the Bee’s Knees, it is a weekly special here at Comic Booked where I take a look at some of the different ways people have combined words and pictures. This week I’m taking a look at the relatively new field of e-books and online reading, and some of the more creative approaches used to give readers the fullest experience possible.
In the war between print and e-books, I usually publicly side with print books despite my private devotion to my Kindle. Artistically speaking, nothing beats art made with books, whether it’s spine poems, book sculptures, or any of the many other ways people have found to make books speak. This week I decided to take a look at something different: the world of e-book art.
Yes, it does exist. Largely, e-book art has so far been confined to the realm of educational books for young children. The ability of online writing to have soundtracks and to allow young readers to interact has given it a sizeable amount of attention in the educational arena. Many textbooks, including the one on the right, have also been adapted to e-books to allow for a fuller learning experience, with videos and highlighters among other study tools.
But what about art? Obviously, it should be easy enough. With so many digital tools at our fingertips it should be easy enough to create the ultimate online reading experience. Some publishers such as Electric Type have gone the extra mile to blend the best in digital and literary art to make their stories, such as Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, come to life. Others, such as graphic novel publisher Madefire, have paved the way to creating a different medium entirely through words and pictures. Surprisingly enough, however, very few artists and writers have picked up the new trend, and there is still a lot of room for experimentation. If you’re looking for a unique way to add to the world of words and pictures, this option is one certainly worth looking into. There are mounds of potential, and so little of it has been claimed! It’s a gold mine.
And that’s the bee’s knees for this week! Please join me next Friday for another way people blend words and pictures to create all-new forms of art. In the meantime, feel free to tell me in the comments section if there’s something you know of I should write about. What do you think would make for the ultimate online reading experience? Could the world of literature as we know it be totally transformed by digital book art? Please share!
Always enjoy the Bee's Knees write ups. It is just stuff I probably would never see otherwise.
I can definitely see this gaining more traction years from now. It's a great way for both artists and writers to get their work to stand out.