Preview
Description
Artist statement:
Having a project using techniques of Eastern binding got me thinking about what my book’s subject should be. Being a lover of folk tales, legends, myths, and cryptids, I landed on a book about yokai. The book is made to look like a journal that was held by a researcher of yokai as they would travel around and take notes and sketches on the behaviors of the creatures that would come across. This idea is the reason the watercolor represents the pages being splashed by the waves or even sprayed with the blood of the victims and the researcher barely escaped their grasp. I also used thread to add details and pops of color, with it being red on the more deadly legends. The book is meant to be scary as the tales of yokai act more as warning than bedtime stories, however, I didn’t want to dramatize these stories and be respectful of the culture they came from, meaning I had to find a balance between professional and horror. The way the book is read is also to represent books using the binding technique show, as the book opens from left to right instead of right to left.
Type
Image
Location
John C. Hitt Library
Department
Special Collections & University Archives
Recommended Citation
Crouse III, Vernon Lee, "Yokai and Other Legends" (2025). 19th Annual Student Book Arts Competition. 22.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/bookartsexhibit-19thannual/22