There is no ‘plot’ in the usual sense: the book is constructed rather like a building with many different rooms that may be visited starting anywhere. Each episode has a different layout, and relationships between text and images vary from one section to another. One section consists of images only, in others the images merely illustrate the texts. In this respect ‘The Iron Parachute’ constitutes an experiment, a voyage of discovery in the field of communication through images.
In contrast to Cor Blok’s Tolkien paintings, where colour plays an essential part, ‘The Iron Parachute’ is entirely in black and white. The technique involves pen drawings as well as collage. The size of the book is rather unusual for a graphic novel: 339 pages measuring 355 x 295 millimeters.
More information will be supplied as work on the book progresses.
In the meantime a limited number of Cor Blok’s original Tolkien paintings is still being offered for sale.
Also available: exceptionally accurate reproductions of about 10 pictures, and the book ‘A Tolkien Tapestry’ in which all of the paintings are reproduced (also in French and Italian editions). |
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