soul-manifestos | Ruth Thorp Studio

Soul Manifestos and Pieces of Joy written by Steve Thorp

'the book is illustrated throughout with Ruth Thorp's evocative line drawings.' 21 Soul

Soul Manifestos and Pieces of Joy written by Steve Thorp is a collection of small, poetic essays written against the backdrop of conflict in modern culture, politics, economics, ecology and psychology. The small manifestos are written for wonder, wisdom, joy, love, and openness - and for the common good. They describe an alternative and grounded response to the material world, a way in which we might live our lives with depth and soul. This project stemmed from an earlier collaboration with Steve (my dad) for which I had produced illustrations to accompany 5 pieces of writing for a book submission. We didn’t get this version published, but were able to use and add to these illustrations for his new book which he had written as an extension to the original pieces of writing.

BUY HERE // ISBN: 978-0992864712 // Paperback // First published by Raw Mixture Publishing in 2014

Cover // 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 of 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.

Illustrations // The original illustrations for the previous project were produced in black and red, but due to having to print the inner pages in black and white only, I had to adapt the illustrations 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.

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