News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Over nearly three decades, George R.R. Martin's tales of political intrigue, feuds and magic set in the quasi-medieval world of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros have thrilled millions of readers. The book series spawned the massive cultural phenomenon that was HBO's "Game of Thrones."
Now Martin's magnum opus, with the overall title of "A Song of Ice and Fire," is presented in a new boxed set, designed in our own fantastical land known as Sisters Country.
Martin announced the October release on his website: "Behold, the stunning new covers for the first five books! These covers will be available in a boxed set, available online and in stores this October. The new design tries to capture the vastness of Westeros and the dangerous journey readers will encounter. There is a raw and gritty quality to linocut and woodcut art. A certain starkness that seemed to fit the stories, and a long history to the art form that felt right for this world."
Tim Green of Faceout Studio in Sisters designed the new boxed set of George R.R. Martin's mega-bestselling "A Song of Ice and Fire" saga.
The covers were designed in Sisters by Tim Green of Faceout Studio. The Sisters studio has specialized in book cover design for 20 years, and has worked with publisher Penguin Random House before. The prestige publishing house entrusted Green with the high-profile project after years of difficult projects that went really well."
Green is fully cognizant of the scope of what he was asked to take on, and the honor of being tapped for the work.
"It's a huge project and they literally could have sent it to anybody," he told The Nugget. "They didn't have a specific idea other than that they wanted to do something illustrated."
Green and his fellow designers put together a succession of "mood boards" to gather together styles, colors and materials to start pulling together concepts. The saga offered a particular challenge in that it has been represented visually over and over again across the years, in illustrated special editions, graphic novel adaptations, and - most potently - in the HBO series. As an artist, Green had to find a way to represent the world of "A Song of Ice and Fire" that was familiar yet also fresh.
"You're putting a new spin on something that's well-loved," Green said. "All of that cultural context adds a challenge to that effort."
The designer felt compelled to wield his own artistic talents to bring the project to realization.
"I love to draw; that's what got me into design," Green recalled. He thought, "I'd really like to try my hand at this - you know: 'put me in coach!' I felt like I really needed to get into the weeds of this to make it work."
Green paired his drawings with the work of Sisters linocut artist and block printer Mark Seekins. He felt that the texture of the block printing picked up on the atmosphere of the story.
"They're gritty; they're rough-edged," he said.
Once the concept won approval with Penguin's art director David Stevenson, Green was ready to work.
"And then the adventure began," he said with a smile.
The work got more and more complicated - and potentially intimidating. Seekins proved up to the challenge.
"His attitude through the whole thing was just complete excitement," Green said. "He rose to the occasion and really delivered some stellar blocks."
Green knew he wasn't just striving to please the publisher as a client. Author Martin is deeply invested in the visual representations of the world he created. He, too, was involved in the process, through his own art manager.
Martin "really loves art," Green noted. "He's a huge collector."
Martin's enthusiasm for the final product is a mark of success.
Green said that the "A Song of Ice and Fire" is certainly his most high-profile project over his 20-year career. It took a little over a year from initial contacts to completion.
The boxed set is designed to be the "work horse set" for the series, Green said, available in both trade and mass market paperback.
There are also art prints of the covers, which will be available through Faceout Studio's website at http://www.faceoutstudio.com. There will be 20 prints signed by George R.R. Martin, and 20 unsigned.
Getting the photo reproduction just right for the prints was yet another challenge - and the solution was found in Sisters. Green sallied forth on a region-wide quest to find someone with the equipment, studio and skills to photograph the art for reproduction. He was struggling to find the right person.
"Someone talked to me and said, 'You should talk to Dennis Schmidling,'" Green recalled.
Schmidling has had a storied career as a photographer. He and his wife, Helen, are the proprietors of Sisters Gallery & Frame Shop on Hood Avenue, and are linchpins of Sisters Arts Association.
"He ended up photographing these, and he did a tremendous job," Green said. "And he's right across the street from me."
Green noted that, like Seekins, Schmidling was "down-to-earth and excited to work on it."
The excitement now is in the hearts of ardent lovers of tales of fantastical adventure. Winter is coming. So is Christmas. The great houses of Sisters await the gift of "A Song of Ice and Fire."
The boxed sets are available in Sisters at Paulina Springs Books.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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