I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Book Cover Redesign
Beginning Research
Research into Maya Angelou, the Author
Born Marguerite Annie Johnson (April 4, 1928 — May 28, 2014), Maya Angelou was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. “Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences” (Wikipedia). I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings “tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim” (Wikipedia).
“With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou publicly discussed aspects of her personal life. She was respected as a spokesperson for black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of Black culture. Attempts have been made to ban her books from some U.S. libraries, but her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide. Angelou’s major works have been labeled as autobiographical fiction, but many critics have characterized them as autobiographies. She made a deliberate attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing, and expanding the genre. Her books center on themes such as racism, identity, family, and travel” (Wikipedia).
“When I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was published in 1969, Angelou was hailed as a new kind of memoirist, one of the first African-American women who were able to publicly discuss their personal lives” (Wikipedia).
“Als said that Caged Birdmarked one of the first times that a black autobiographer could, as he put it, ‘write about blackness from the inside, without apology or defense.’ Through the writing of her autobiography, Angelou became recognized and highly respected as a spokesperson for blacks and women.” (Wikipedia).
“As writer Gary Younge said, ‘Probably more than almost any other writer alive, Angelou’s life literally is her work’” (Wikipedia).
“Als also claimed that Angelou’s writings, more interested in self-revelation than in politics or feminism, have freed other female writers to ‘open themselves up without shame to the eyes of the world’” (Wikipedia).
Genre: Autobiographies
Other categories include Nonfiction, Memoir, and Classic.
Mood/Tone
Nostalgic, angry, reflective, at-ease with the past.
Setting
Mostly the south. California, Mexico, Stamps, St. Louis.
Visual Language Notes/Ideas While Reading
- the book is compared to “childhood itself”
- the longing of lonely children
- bigotry
- wonder of words that make the world right
- living in a small southern town
- Maya’s strong spirit
- “strong black birds” that defy odds and gods and sing their songs
- her “lavender taffeta” dress. It was rustling and a pale grey and a source of embarassment for her. — pg 3
- being a sourthern black girl in a white world. It was painful growing up — pg 6
- family and religion
- black and white as antonyms because of segregation — pg 25
- the pattern she creates for Momma on the front yard was a source of pride — pg 29
- “holding Momma’s hand” — pg 32
- Momma bird with nest and offspring
- “a crippled bird” — pg 55
- flying away = leaving home — pg 55
- empty looking houses — pg 56
- betrayal of grown ups — pg 58
- blues jass — pg 63
- little girl not understanding big world — pg 73
- couldn’t talk after her rape at age 8
- flowers → Mrs. Flowers
- church prayers and church pews — pg 121
- Playing in the magic following church — pg 127
- music
- “the girls ran about wild” — 153
- “sense that I might be falling into a blue cloud, far away” — pg 136
- She became a woman at the age of 8 and had to learn to become a girl again
- her travel to different family members in different states (and sometimes countries) — California, Mexico, Stamps, St. Louis
- Pg 244–245*** — driving by herself in the car to get away → “loose kite in a gentle wind”
- “being woman enough to speak up” — Pg 264
- independence
- sexual curiosity and experimentation
- pregnancy and taking complete ownership of her life
Original Cover
12.26.2016 | Starting the Cover
My sophomore year, my teacher gave me the advice to practice lateral thinking, thinking up many ideas, not throwing any away as a way of coming up with concepts that are truly original. That’s what I’m practicing today.
I did lots of little thumbnails until I figured I had come up with a concept that I liked.
Conceptualizing
In this search for an idea, I came across the following image:
When photographed from above, the nest appears to be in a cage created by the tree branches. I like this concept.
I like the idea of the branches as the bars on the cage. I think this would be something interesting to illustrate. However, it is perhaps something easily thought up. So I need to make sure that compositionally and technically, it is done well.
I voiced my worry to one of my friends. And she said what would make it cliche is if the illustration style is not handled carefully. So I’ll just have to be careful with that.
12.27.2016 | Beginning to Illustrate
It started off really well. My idea proved to be something to be pursue. I still need to do color studies.
Things then got really weird…. I don’t think this is working AT ALL.
So here I wonder whether I go back to the simple idea? Or do I figure out how to make the more complex idea work better.
I think I need to take a break and then work on it again later today.
01.01.2017 | Progress
I haven’t logged in a few days so I want to catch up in documenting where I am.
I had better luck in adding texture to the nest by making the lines show through cut-out shapes in the nest.
Crit
I showed this to my friend for critique. Here is what she suggested:
- It looks more dynamic
- Can you make it more understated and intentional?
- Title not working completely yet
- Print on nice paper when u finish
- This direction feels much stronger
01.02.2017 | Progress
Crit
I showed my cover progress to my friend and got the following crit:
- rhythm of title is off
- swap slab and italics? lowercase? non-italics with capitals for title? you want harmony between type and image
- sharp lines create tension and containment. but there’s also a sense of bursting of joy or breaking out
- smaller maya portrait
- work on typography
- (personal addition but keep making sure things look intentional!!)
I made some corrections which you can see below. Still need to add others.
What I still need to do:
- typography studies — Do people do type for covers in Illustrator or Indesign? I need to find out.
- color studies!!! yay.
Quick Self-Reflection
I’ve been dealing with things in my personal life at the same time as working on this. Something came up right before break which was supposed to me my push period. :/ The progress I’ve made on this cover has been slow but has proved to me that I can do it again and get back into creating. I think creating has always been the thing that gives me the most joy. I’m excited to move forward.
Goals
I’m going to take a break to do other things but I plan to return to this project tonight because I really want to be able to get a second cover finished this break.
- figure out typography
- clean up illustrations
- set up in Indesign?
- color studies if time
- be **finished** either tomorrow or next day. maybe hallucinations?
