Angelas Ashes (modern take) final illustrations

Angry Aunt Aggie (p133) - "It's bad when Grandma can't talk to us because we can't run to her when we need to borrow sugar or tea or milk. There's no use going to Aunt Aggie . She'll only bite your head off. Go home, she'll say, and tell your father to get off his northern arse and get a job like the decent men of Limerick. They say she's always angry because she has red hair or she has red hair because she's angry."

The Sacred Heart (p57) - "There is a picture on the wall by the range of a man with long brown hair and sad eyes. He is pointing to his chest where there is a big heart with flames coming out of it. Mam tells us, That's the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and I want to know why the man's heart is on fire and why doesn't he throw water on it?."

The Staff of Life (p75) - "There are men sitting in this pub with great glasses of black stuff before them. Uncle Pa Keating and Dad have the black stuff, too. They lift their glasses carefully and slowly drink. There is creamy white stuff on their lips, which they lick with little sighs. Uncle Pa gets me a bottle of lemonade and Dad gives me a piece of bread and I don't feel hungry anymore. Still, I wonder how long we'll sit here with Malachy and Eugene hungry at home, hours from porridge, which Eugene didn't eat anyway. Dad and Uncle Pa drink thier glass of black stuff and have another. Uncle Pa says, Frankie, this is the pint. This is the staff of life. This is the best thing for nursing mothers and for those who are long weaned."

The Luxury of the Fire (a double page spread illustration) (p70) - " She puts the pot down, rocks him till he's asleep, lays him on the bed and tells the rest of us be quiet or she'll demolsih us. She slices other half of the onion and fries it in the butter with slices of bread. She lets us sit on the floor around the fire where we eat the fried bread and sip at the scalding sweet tea in jam jars. She says, That fire is good and bright so we can turn off that gaslight till we get money for the meter. The fire makes us good and warm and with the flames dancing in the coal you can see faces and mountains and valleys and animals leaping."

The Promise of a Rare Good Meal (p23-24) - "When Dad brings home the first week's wages on a Friday night we know the weekend will be wonderful.... On nights like that we can drift off to sleep knowing there will be a breakfast of eggs, fried tomatoes and fried bread, tea with lashings of sugar and milk and, later in the day, a big dinner of mashed potatoes peas and ham, and a trifle Mam makes, layers of fruit and warm delicious custard on a cake soaked in sherry."

For this brief we were instructed to create five illustrations for a "desirable, collectors item" edition of a novel of our choice (a favourite). The finished item would be aimed at book collectors and the design aware.

The tutors asked that the illustrations reflect main themes in the book. Quotes and paragraphs were carefully chosen after a quick re-read of the novel and the above are the results, illustrating the final five chosen extracts. All text included is taken from relevent parts of the original text.

Complete work and build up sheets featured on www.grillust.blogspot.com