Marginalia....I think it's ready

Oh, boy, I sure hope you’re reading this on a large screen - there is a parade of fun details that you’ll miss on your cellphone….

This post started 3 days ago, and already the ‘finished’ image, below, has changed quite a bit.

The dancers and musicians up in the top right corner (above) are visually good, but they don’t add much in terms of meaning. So they were replaced by selfies:

(above, from left) Hugo, who shows himself using both hands and signs himself Hugo Pictor ; Hildebertus  and his young assistant Everwinus hard at work at the bottom. Both of these scribes are also part of my earlier Scribes Tablet. The third is a nun named Guda (the banderole around her reads, “Guda, sinner, copied and decorated this book”) and then there’s… Norman Rockwell. Hey, the Medieval scribes added all sorts of fun stuff…

Norman is just a tiny extra in this production, peeking out from Guda’s banderole. I also added some of the scribe’s complaints.

…and some more manicules:

Just for some added color, I recruited some dragons…..

……gave the two on the left (above) full make-overs, and added rather faint versions behind and between the text:

Just in case you’re interested, here’s what some of the original marginalia looked like before being turned, stretched, cut and pasted into the composition. 

The final framed images on the LEFT, The ORIGINALS are on the RIGHT: 

The image (above) was the final image..until it changed (below). And the little dragon flying over the bed will be relocated to a position where he can point to a gloss with his ears. 

This scene (below) of manicules was put together from five original marginalia. Now, the various figures are interacting with one another:

And then there’s my self portrait. As I said, the first try was too large and needed color.

Some of the Medieval selfies show the tools used by the scribes. I added spools of thread. 

Which brings us to this, the 52nd version:

In order to limit visual confusion, I’ve muted the marginalia images. The text is all full contrast, but all the images have been softened. I think it works. I think it’s finished. But I’m going to give it a few days before sending it out to print.