ILLUSTRATING Children s. Everything you need to know about book finishes. Grab some books off your bookshelf (any will do), and tell me:

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1 Week 4 make art that Sells ILLUSTRATING Children s B o o k s online course with lilla rogers & ZoË Tucker the skinny on books #5 Everything you need to know about book finishes Look out! Book geek alert! The Skinny topic this week is all about book finishes and as you can imagine, for a designer like me, this is a favorite topic. Understanding why we pick one finish over another, or what the technical limitations are, will empower you to make better decisions as you design your pitch. Of course, you can leave all this to the designer and not worry about any of this techy stuff, but if you can, familiarize yourself with a few of the terms below. What is a finish? Grab some books off your bookshelf (any will do), and tell me: 1. What do you feel? 2. What do you see? In simple terms, the finish is how the book looks and feels. Every single book you see in the shops has a finish of some kind, even the ones that don t look like they do someone has decided to make them look unfinished! This includes the book cover, and the paper stock inside. This board book is printed on thick cardboard, with rounded corners. The finish is water varnish and spot UV. Stick Man s First Words. Published by Alison Green Books The Skinny on Books Book Finishes :: 1

2 The designer is responsible for the finish and, together with the editor, they decide what to go for. And it s not just how gorgeous, shiny or tactile it looks. We have to consider some practicalities too, such as: Where will it be selling and when? E.g. Christmas books require bling! Who will be using it? Baby, toddler, teen etc. What market are we aiming for? E.g. A supermarket is unlikely to want an expensive book using wibalin/ cloth, but will take books with lots of shiny foil. How durable does it need to be? Books for little children need to stand up to a lot of rough and tumble. A delicate die-cut paper jacket will last 2 minutes in the hands of a toddler! Safety is a big consideration for books aimed at under 3 s. We use rounded corners and often pad the cover board so it s soft and squishy. A baby chewing a board book can loosen gloss laminate and choke on the film, so instead we use a water-based varnish which goes onto the cover as a liquid finish. (I assume it dissolves with excess chewing, although I haven t tried!) Let s look in more detail at some of the basic finishes you might encounter Gloss laminate: This is the most basic book finish. The laminate is like bookcovering film (like that stuff we used to cover our books with at school). It s glossy like Sellotape and it provides a protective covering for the book to make it more hard wearing. Matte laminate: This is similar to the above but is matte not glossy. It looks a bit like magic tape/scotch tape. When I get my uncoated proofs into the office, I sometimes stick a strip of magic tape over the proof to see how the laminate will affect the color, which will intensify by approximately 10% when the laminate goes on. Spot UV: This accompanies a matte laminate finish. It goes on as a liquid to an area which the designer specifies. It makes certain areas of the cover shiny, whilst the rest remains matte. This is a common but effective finish. It can really lift something off the background and make it stand out. Here the artwork and title lettering is spot UV and the blue sky background is matt laminate. A Day at the Animal Post Office, by Sharon Rentta, Published by Alison Green Books The Skinny on Books Book Finishes :: 2

3 Foil: A foil finish is usually shiny, metallic and sparkly! It s attention grabbing and can increase sales. Children are like magpies and are drawn to sparkly things! Technically it s complicated to explain, but as an artist you need to know these things: The foil design is specified by the designer, and can be on type or image The area to be foiled needs to be supplied as a solid black image Very fine details will disappear if the line weight is too thin It is expensive. Foil is costed by area, and the designer has to be economical and inventive with their use to get the most bang for their buck! The most common foils are silver, gold and holographic, but there is a whole spectrum available, including metallic and non-metallic. If you want to know more about this process, check out these two articles: finishes/foil-blocking/ The Cat and the King has a solid silver foil finish to the cover. Published by Alison Green Books 2016 Embossing/debossing: is a stamping finish. It creates a raised (or recessed) area on the book cover. Suitable for both hardback and paperback books (although more pleasing on a hardback with the thicker cover board) this adds a three dimensional and tactile effect. Creaturepedia has a matt laminate cover, with the title debossed. (which you might be able to see here). The Skinny on Books Book Finishes :: 3

4 Die-cut is to cut through the page or cover board, thereby creating a hole. The shape and area are specified by the designer and artist. Three important considerations: 1. If too much of the board is cut away, the cover can become vulnerable or weak 2. Particularly fine details are hard to achieve 3. The shapes should be kept child friendly and soft. No sharp points please! Beautiful example from The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My. By Tove Jansson. Super Matte is an alternative matte laminate, which has a rubbery, slightly sticky feel. In recent years we ve seen this on lots of mainstream fiction paperbacks. Wibalin is a durable textured paper that wraps over the cover boards. It looks and feels like cloth, but is in fact paper. This combined with foil stamping is just magic. There are alternatives to this brand, and most printers will supply an imitation cloth finish. Imitation cloth cover from Atlas of Adventure, published by Wide Eye Editions. Quarter binding a traditional form of binding, where the spine is covered with a cloth material. This is super tactile and classy. It is often foil stamped with a design too. The Skinny on Books Book Finishes :: 4

5 Cloth quarter binding, with foil stamp lettering, and paper over board. JAHRES by Blexbolex Glitter is added to UV varnish and applied onto the book cover like a liquid. The area to be covered is masked off by the designer. This process can be used on covers and the interior pages. Glitter UV on a glass laminate cover. Party Animals by Tony Mitton and David Wojtowycz. Published by Alison Green Books 2007 There are lots more finishes than the ones listed above, but this should be enough to get you started. If you would like to know more, then check out Imago s website they are a font of knowledge for all things print! They also have information on binding techniques and paper too. You do not have to know any of this, but if you re curious, then go for it! The Skinny on Books Book Finishes :: 5

6 Before you go, I d like to mention a little about paper stock. In picture books you will come across two main types of paper: 1. Coated 2. Woodfree As with everything, there are many more options, but these two are the most common. They give very different finishes. Let s take a quick look. Coated Paper Without getting too complicated, the coating on this paper gives it a smooth feel with a bit of a shine. It s not as glossy as a magazine though. The printed ink sits on the coated paper and is not absorbed into the paper. This keeps the color nice and fresh great if you have super bright artwork. Woodfree Paper Woodfree paper, is made of wood weird name right? This paper does not have a coating on it, and as such it has a rough, more tactile feel. The printed ink soaks into the paper (like blotting paper). Colors can appear dulled, and it can be hard to match the color on your original artwork. On the plus side, it lends a beautiful classy finish, with a vintage vibe. Over 75% of my books are printed on woodfree paper. Very arty. The Skinny on Books Book Finishes :: 6