 Hello everybody and welcome back to the average. I don't know why I said it like that That was a really weird voice and I apologize, but here we are today. I thought we could do something I will say this could do something a little bit different We're gonna revamp this old book that I found basically in like a charity shop So I paid a few pounds for charity to get this book super secondhand super loved But as you can see maybe you can't see it's super scuff The cover is like a little bent the pages are you know when it's like pulling up here The spine is super broken Super and there's loads of mildew all over the book for ages I wanted to try my hand at kind of rescuing a book instead of just painting over the cover I am gonna be painting over this cover so disclaimer all those people who gonna be like oh my god I love books so much. They're like my soul. Shut up. Get lost. I'm sick of being nice to y'all We're gonna paint on this book because it's super old and it was gonna go in the bin otherwise Okay, right. We're over that now Um, I really like this book. I read it a long time ago and uh, yeah, let's get into it I wanted to try um getting rid of all the mildew So we're gonna try that and we're gonna try and reshape The book somehow. I'm not sure how but we're gonna try it So stay along for the journey Or leave Just leave if it annoys you just go No one's stopping you. Yeah, I've got a little sass today. Whatever And welcome to the voiceover I don't know why I said it like that But buckle down because we're gonna chill and we're gonna watch some painting And this is gonna be a huge contrast to the uh the angry vibes at the start of the video Which made me laugh a little bit, but also probably made people a little bit mad. So we're just gonna chill now. Um I want to start by speaking about the book and let people know that I did read this probably about five years ago So that's a long time and the way that my brain works is that it just filters out stuff that I've consumed Like if I've watched a show and I'll go and speak to some friends about the show like maybe a month later They'll be like and this bit happened and I'll be like, I don't remember that So that's basically how my brain works. So you can imagine what it's like with this book Which is kind of like a long book. Um five years later. I do remember like the base of it, but Yeah, so I'm just going to read this synopsis for you guys And probably give myself a little reminder too. So this is shadow of the wind Barcelona 1945 a city slowly heals from its wall War root I didn't I had to check if I was recording it a city slowly heals from its war wounds and daniel an antiquarian book dealer Whoa, that's a mouthful and antiquarian An antiquarian book dealers son who mourns the loss of his mother finds solace in a mysterious book entitled the shadow of the wind But then he sets out to find the other authors other's works He makes a shocking discovery that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book The author has written in fact daniel may have the last book in existence Soon daniel seemingly innocent quest opens the door into one of the Barcelona's darkest secrets an epic story of murder madness And doom glove boom boom boom So it's kind of like a gothic piece. I would say because in the book it really feels like The way the author describes scenes as if you're there I visited Barcelona, but obviously I was never there in the night in 1945 unless you think I'm really really old Um, which might but it's it was a really Good book. I remember really loving the book and wanting to read the second one But putting it off because they were quite long And I was in fact just like I want to read something shorter first And I think the problem with me is that like I said, I have the memory of a nat So when I need to go and read the next book in a series I kind of need to remember what happened in the first one So I probably will need to reread this book if I want to read the second one Unfortunately, I believe that the author recently died, but I know that he did finish The series but it's such a shame like because he was an epically good writer Like the mood and feel that he created in the books was always so brilliant So let's talk about the book Painting a little bit. I went in with some block shapes. Basically. I just wanted to block out What I wanted to paint. I found an image of Barcelona Um a street and I wanted to kind of make it look like it was in the 1940s rather than recently So I wanted to edit out stuff within my like, um imagery that I found for inspiration And I just wanted to block out shapes and have a very kind of Abstracty feel to it, but not too abstract. I just wanted to hint At things and I feel like this really has a sort of Spanish look and feel to it I can't really explain why I think I just Get that vibe from it when I look at the final piece And I'm really actually happy with the way that this one turned out when I first started it. I was like this is Gonna be bad and I'm not gonna show anyone because it's gonna be unfortunate that I painted over actual book Can I just say that this is the first book that I painted over that is not a movie cover book as well So it felt a little bit like a sensitive issue, but I was reassuring myself knowing that this book was literally covered in mildew, which I think I managed to get rid of a little bit and uh Yeah, I think I think it made me feel better and then in the end I really am pleased with the painting So I'm really happy I think I might I think I might get a box frame and frame it. Anyway, the point is I was blocking out shapes So what I was doing I was looking at my reference photo And I was like squinting to see the darks and lights of the image and then just blocking out those dark and contrasted colors Which really help to define Where the lines will go next and help to find the overall piece And give a little bit of context to it as well So as I was going I was just basically adding little areas details, but in really rough form And I really wanted that to be like the energy of the cover. I didn't want too much detail I just wanted it to be a little bit more organic kind of like reflecting the architecture of Barcelona a little bit where Everything is sort of gaudiesque And uh, I'm not sure if gaudy was actually alive Then but you know the whole city has that vibe of just like existing I don't know if you've ever been or if you have the chance to go I would go to Barcelona because I've been a couple times because obviously I live well not close to Barcelona, but It's a plane ride away from me like a short plane ride So yeah, it's a really beautiful city and I wanted to capture that sort of spooky gothic feel that the book has as well So I traced these sort of neutrally dark colors with a little pop of light here and there to like kind of give the city that Energy that it has and that vibe of like excitement that portrayals portrayals Permits through the book. So yeah, this was what I came up with And I hope that you guys like it and I hope that you don't mind too much that it's not a movie cover book And like I said, if you do mind just Just leave me alone I'm so tired of online bullying. I'm tired of it. Yeah, and I'm bored of it too. So I'm not taking it um, so this was the overall look I think I've Probably said everything I need to say oh to get rid of the new mildew which I realized I didn't actually Say how I did that is I just used like a nail file. They say to use sandpaper But unfortunately I didn't have any so I just nail filed it off which is the same sandpaper really And uh, yeah, it seemed to have worked. I added a bit of bicarbonate or soda to the pages to soak up any mildew or any sort of Water I guess throughout the book water. What do I mean? moistless Nope not saying that word any mildew throughout the book and I hope that that worked I couldn't really fix the spine. I mean, I'm not a book expert um, but I did try to bend it a certain way and keep it in like a little um Harnessy thing that I found and that seemed to help the book a little bit But yeah, I think that this book was going to go in the bin and now it's received a lot of love and affection for me and overall a really I think a nice painting which I'm pretty proud of I'm taking off the tape and everything but then adding a few more details to the book that I decided I want a bit more of that light coming through And a little bit more whimsy to it. So the light is kind of like floating through the air But yeah, that's the final look and feel of the book And I hope that you guys enjoyed watching me trying to give a bit of revival to this book. Obviously. I am no expert But I really do like the way that it turned out in the end And I hope you guys did too if you did, please give me a thumbs up and comment and all that lovely algorithm E stuff that really helps But also thank you to my patrons and if you guys want to check out my patreons down below Thanks again for watching guys, and I hopefully see you next time. Bye