# Community Participation > Bookmarks >  Abu's Lesezeichen

## Abu Lafia

As promised my next bookmark is a bit more of a map... 

Sorry for ze german title, i planned to do this piece in "Jugendstil"  and in my view the english translation (Moonshine Coast) lacked the feeling with that type  :Smile:  

### Latest WIP ###


drawn with pen on paper, colored in gimp

Hope you enjoy this piece! 

Cheers,

AL

----------


## Josiah VE

That's really beautiful Abu! Well done!

----------


## ThomasR

Wonderful job Martin ! I really love the subtle shading on the peaks and the moon and the choice of color gives the whole piece an eerie map that is very pleasing.

----------


## Larb

You should try to work in a rippled reflection from the moon. I think it would look really pretty given the contrasting palette.

----------


## Meshon

Fantastic! It reminds me of Alphonse Mucha. And that lettering is amazing!

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk

----------


## ChickPea

This is gorgeous! I love the lettering, it's fantastically well done.  :Very Happy:

----------


## Mouse

Hey I missed this one!  Think I'm still looking for your old avatar image in the activity stream!

Great work.  Rep-worthy I think  :Smile:

----------


## Sironae

Schön!! Great work! i like it!

----------


## Abu Lafia

> That's really beautiful Abu! Well done!


Thanks a lot Josiah, it's greatly appreciated!  :Smile:  




> Wonderful job Martin ! I really love the subtle shading on the peaks and the moon and the choice of color gives the whole piece an eerie map that is very pleasing.


Thanks Thomas, i'm glad you like it! I'm not totally sure about the shading and direction of light etc. Due to the jugendstil theme, initially i wanted to keep the coloring rather flat, but i never can resist the joy of shading completely  :Very Happy:  




> You should try to work in a rippled reflection from the moon. I think it would look really pretty given the contrasting palette.


Hey Larb, good to see you around!  :Smile:  Many thanks for the idea. The vertical layout gave me some obstacles composition wise, that i haven't thought through beforehand. The moon as a light source in the centre being one of them... As a non formally trained artist, i shortcut the classic sunset paintings and stuff, but i'll give it a try.  :Very Happy:   My only fear is, that the reflection might interfere with (and distract from) the title...   




> Fantastic! It reminds me of Alphonse Mucha. And that lettering is amazing!


Thanks a lot Meshon,  you're absolutely right about my source of inspiration here, and i'm glad one can even tell actually! XD In my recent journeys through the worlds of early fantasy and scifi literature, i stumbled upon the rather short lived german magazine "Der Orchideengarten - Phantstische Blätter" (1919-1921) with a lot of breathtaking art noveau illustrations. Ever since seeing them, i wanted to try my hands in something like this and bookmarks and Jugendstil fits like "Arsch auf Eimer" (ass on the bucket) in my view. 
Gotta admit, that i tweaked the hand drawn letters a bit in gimp after scanning.




> This is gorgeous! I love the lettering, it's fantastically well done.


Thank you ChickPea, very much appreciated!  :Smile: 




> Hey I missed this one!  Think I'm still looking for your old avatar image in the activity stream!
> 
> Great work.  Rep-worthy I think


Thanks Mouse, glad you like it! Indeed my old avatar pic might fit better with this bookmark i guess  :Smile:  




> Schön!! Great work! i like it!


Vielen lieben Dank Sironae! Vor allem für deine grandiose Idee (und die wundervolle Umsetzung), die hier im Forum so viel Kreativität freigesetzt hat.  :Very Happy:

----------


## Tom

Beautiful indeed Abu! and even more, you got me inspired for my bookmark! I'll go to try something..  :Smile:

----------


## Abu Lafia

That's great to hear Tom!  With your work being an inspiration so many times for me already, i'm glad i can give you something back here.  :Smile:  Looking forward to see what you come up with.

----------


## DanielHasenbos

Great map Abu, and nice choice for the font! I really like the style you have been developing! Quite unique (:

----------


## Ilanthar

Fantastic! Another dreaming bookmark  :Smile: .

----------


## Bogie

This is great, it looks like one of those bookmarks that actually go with a specific book!

----------


## kacey

I don't even need to see a name and I know this is yours, that's what I love about your work it's always unique, and of course you're beautiful line art... Nice job as always.

----------


## J.Edward

I agree with Kacey - your work is your own.  :Wink: 
Very recognizable and splendid. I always enjoy seeing more of it sir.  :Smile:

----------


## Abu Lafia

:Blush:  :Blush:  A thousand thanks for the nice feedback and kind words everyone, i appreciate it a lot!  :Smile:  

I was trying to make a craterish top down landscape some days ago, and i thought it might fit well on a bookmark (not exactly sure for what kind of book or occasion of reading though...).  :Smile:  
Hope you enjoy!

----------


## ThomasR

Eerie and it makes me think of the desolate wasteland of an asteroid stricken moon. Great job, very dreamy !

----------


## Mouse

Its brilliant.  I see patterns in everything I look at, and this is just hours of fun  :Very Happy: 

Not good if I want to actually read the book, though  :Wink:

----------


## J.Edward

Nice  :Very Happy:  Makes me think of Moebius, which is a fine thing indeed.  :Wink: 
You are venturing into interesting territory.  :Smile:

----------


## Abu Lafia

> Eerie and it makes me think of the desolate wasteland of an asteroid stricken moon. Great job, very dreamy !


Thanks Thomas, that's exactly what i had in mind!  :Smile: 



> Its brilliant.  I see patterns in everything I look at, and this is just hours of fun 
> 
> Not good if I want to actually read the book, though


Thank you Mouse, happy you enjoy screening the surface!  :Very Happy:  



> Nice  Makes me think of Moebius, which is a fine thing indeed. 
> You are venturing into interesting territory.


Thanks John. I'm always fascinated by these unbelievable "surface texture" lineworks of many great (some of them are french indeed  :Wink:  ) comic book artists. Here i was more inspired by the work of certain fantasy cartographers though...  :Wink:  

-----------------------
Ok, i just had this idea for a bookmark i couldn't shake off and just had to do instantly...  :Very Happy:

----------


## Meshon

I love the tutorial book mark, your 'marks have a lot of style

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk

----------


## Domino44

I love the moonshine coast map and the other two bookmarks are very cute as well! Nice work!

----------


## ThomasR

Martin, that recipe bookmark is awesome ! With your permission, I'll certainly print some for my cookbooks  :Wink:

----------


## ChickPea

These are fab, Abu. You're capturing the spirit of the bookmarks project in this thread, as you're experimenting with new things and having fun too! I love to see people flex their artistic muscles and try something a little different.

I like the strange patterns bookmark very much. It's got an elegant simplicity to it, which always appeals, but it also makes me gaze for a while and start finding all sorts of patterns in the dots.

The recipe one is just fabulous!  :Very Happy:

----------


## Mouse

LOL!  This gave me the best chuckle all day  :Very Happy:

----------


## Abu Lafia

> I love the tutorial book mark, your 'marks have a lot of style


Thanks a lot Meshon!  :Smile: 



> I love the moonshine coast map and the other two bookmarks are very cute as well! Nice work!


Many thanks Domino!  :Smile: 



> Martin, that recipe bookmark is awesome ! With your permission, I'll certainly print some for my cookbooks


Thank you Thomas, be careful not to mix up the ingredients!  :Very Happy: 



> These are fab, Abu. You're capturing the spirit of the bookmarks project in this thread, as you're experimenting with new things and having fun too! I love to see people flex their artistic muscles and try something a little different.
> 
> I like the strange patterns bookmark very much. It's got an elegant simplicity to it, which always appeals, but it also makes me gaze for a while and start finding all sorts of patterns in the dots.
> 
> The recipe one is just fabulous!


Thank you ChickPea! I'm so glad you got this project rolling. It's indeed a lot of fun because the format is rather challenging. Since i work on larger projects atm, these are perfect for some mappy "outside the box" doodling in the pauses.  :Smile:  



> LOL!  This gave me the best chuckle all day


 :Very Happy:  Glad you like it Mouse! 

-------------

Well, i just can't stop it... XD Evoking a phrase in the very first try already, this bookmark has one too. I found the brechtian quote not only resonates politically with me, it also cries out for adventure...  :Smile:  

I wondered where the little ship on Tom's "Costa Splendente" might sail to...

----------


## ThomasR

The bookmarks created are beautiful, yours are beautiful too and they have a little "je ne sais quoi" that makes them something more  :Wink:

----------


## Bogie

That last one is very cool!  Mind expanding even!

----------


## DanielHasenbos

Your bookmarks are very nice Abu, I really like the last one (:

----------


## J.Edward

That's a nice one Abu  :Smile: 
I like the idea of following where someone else's bookmark might go.
The back and forth with you and Tom is cool.  :Very Happy:

----------


## Voolf

Very original Abu, i like them, expecially the first and last one.

----------


## Chashio

Haha, I meant to come by a lot sooner and rep and comment on the wonderful moody bookmark you posted and now I do and find another handful of wonders.  :Very Happy:  Great pieces Abu!

----------


## kacey

I really love the colours of this last one I think it's my favorite of the bunch, and the one with the separate pieces added together is really cute, great job on these.

----------


## Barek333

Really nice bookmarks, love that they tell a story  :Smile:

----------


## Abu Lafia

> The bookmarks created are beautiful, yours are beautiful too and they have a little "je ne sais quoi" that makes them something more


Thanks for the kind words Thomas. I gotta admit, when it comes to french, "je ne sais quoi" pretty much sums up the limits of my "mis en mots" XD  




> That last one is very cool!  Mind expanding even!


Glad you like it Bogie, haha, you know, the book is so damn huge, there has to be something mind expanding in it...  :Wink: 




> Your bookmarks are very nice Abu, I really like the last one (:


Thank you Dan, happy to hear that! 




> That's a nice one Abu 
> I like the idea of following where someone else's bookmark might go.
> The back and forth with you and Tom is cool.


Thanks John! Well, the final page of this book hasn't been written yet...  :Smile:  




> Very original Abu, i like them, expecially the first and last one.


Many thanks Voolf. Glad you like them! 




> Haha, I meant to come by a lot sooner and rep and comment on the wonderful moody bookmark you posted and now I do and find another handful of wonders.  Great pieces Abu!


Thank you Chashio, as written in your thread, i'm having a hard time myself lately, to keep up with commenting on all the fantastic works posted...but be assured, i see (and marvel at) way more than i actually comment on  :Wink: 




> I really love the colours of this last one I think it's my favorite of the bunch, and the one with the separate pieces added together is really cute, great job on these.


Haha, thanks a lot kacey, i could have bet, that this last one appeals the most to you  :Smile: 




> Really nice bookmarks, love that they tell a story


Thank you Barek! As mouse wrote the other day, all these lovely bookmarks created here might distract the readers from reading the actual books. :-D

----------------
So, i thought about doing a bookmark in a horizontal format and stumbled upon a little landscape sketch, i drew a while back when i was starting a antique mesoamerican styled map (another unfinished project...). I was quite happy with the result, but never had any actual use for it on a map. So why not put it on a bookmark?  Also, i sensed the chance of finally using the funny font i downloaded in the same context back then  :Wink:  

It's not a real map but i'll share it with you here nonetheless.

----------


## Abu Lafia

Since the scraper thingy wont work with two pics in one post, here is the collection of my bookmarks done so far...
### Latest WIP ###

----------


## kacey

These are awesome Abu, you even managed to arrange them so that they compliment each other just right.

----------


## ThomasR

Great collection Martin  :Wink:  "je ne sais quoi" means that they've got something extra that's easy to understand but difficult to explain. Something of an evidence.

----------


## ChickPea

Looking good, Abu! I think the full moon one is my current favourite. It's so atmospheric.  :Smile:

----------


## Sironae

Vielen lieben Dank Sironae! Vor allem für deine grandiose Idee (und die wundervolle Umsetzung), die hier im Forum so viel Kreativität freigesetzt hat.

Es war mir eine Freude.

It was a pleasure :-)

----------


## Ilanthar

Very nice collection! The lunar one is also probably my favourite, but I really like the idea of the "map equation" too  :Wink: .

----------

