'The original illustrations for our previous collaboration 'Under Blood light' were produced in black and red, but due to having to print the inner pages in black and white only, I had to adapt them to make them work in this format. Some are read solely as black and white, while others have the addition of grey where a tonal contrast was required. The illustrations are bold and simple, as if they have been stamped on the page, but I didn’t want them to feel too ‘clean’ and graphical. The hand-drawn style and addition of subtle textures helps to soften the illustrations and gives it a more hand-printed feel, whilst still retaining the power and impact required.

The cover design for this project was a real challenge. We were able to print in colour for the cover, but the illustration still had to feel very much part of the rest of the illustrations within the book. I limited myself to using black and white, and one contrast colour. We wanted it to feel strong, powerful and challenging, whilst still maintaining a warmth and feeling of hope. The red used in the previous project ‘Under Blood Light’, although powerful, seemed too morbid, but we still wanted to retain the colour in this spectrum for the warm glow of the setting sun. After many orange colour tests we finally settled on a deep red-orange, which we were able to continue to the inner leaves of the book helping to add a real sense of quality and cohesion to the book.'   Ruth Thorp