Looking Back #4 - Covers of the EGJ

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Since February 2021 I've been working together with Artem Kachanovskyi 2p to create the European Go Journal, a monthly magazine about the game of go. The magazine includes news from recent European go events, notable news from the Asian continent where pro tournaments are more frequent, game commentaries, interviews, and recurring chapters like "Art & Photography", "World of Tesuji" by Alexandre Dinerchtein 3p and "Thirty-Six Stratagems" by Dai Junfu 8d.

My tasks for the journal are varied. I am the lead proofreader/editor, I adjust details of the layouting to improve looks, and I design the cover of each edition.
The creation of the covers is a lot of fun. I try to use different go-related artwork from as many different people as possible to showcase the diversity of the go community. This blog post looks back on the covers that I've made so far and gives a sneak peek into covers that are yet to come.

Covers so far: February - July 2021

​So far six editions have been published, with artworks by the following people:
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• February 2021 features 'Hope' by Camille Lévêque (France), one of the illustrations she produced during Inktober 2020. It is inspired on a game between two professional players and hints at themes of renewal, creativity, and learning.​

• March 2021 features 'Sniffing the Third Line' by myself (the Netherlands). In line with the February edition, I thought it would be fun to transform my color artwork into a black and white version. More background information about this artwork can be found here.​

• April 2021 features 'Bamboo Forest' by Camille Lévêque (France). This was Camille's second cover, who, by the way, is also widely known as 'Stoned on the Goban' on social media. In the journal, Camille writes:
  
  "I often draw gobans alone, without players. I find the object itself so inspiring. It evokes both the multitude of games played on it and a sense of a fresh start: each game is a renewal, a start from scratch that looks forward to a long and exciting adventure. Here the goban seems to be waiting for its next game in the light that falls between the bamboo leaves and brushes the wood of the board."​

• May 2021 features 'Baduk the Mythical Cat' by Mariia Chernova (Ukraine). This is an artwork made from salt dough, colored with paint and then photographed on top of a go board. When she made this, Mariia was only eleven years old! In the journal, she writes: 
  
  "Baduk, the mythical cat, has magical knowledge and a charming voice. Only a master who
  solves go problems every day can hear all of his secrets!"
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  The background of this cover is a marbled paper that was done by me. It was chosen in consultation with Mariia and her mother.
  

• June 2021 features 'Zentangle' by Yvonne Limbach (Germany). I spotted this artwork many years ago on Yvonne's Instagram account and recently thought it would make a wonderful cover. This artwork combines Yvonne’s two favorite hobbies: go and Zentangle. The tangle she used is called 'Diva Dance' and was chosen for its resemblance both to wood grain and the texture of go stones made from shell.

• July 2021 features 'A Quiet Place' by Hugo Maussion (France). This might be my favorite go artwork of all times, and I am grateful that I not only got to use it for the journal but was also able to buy the original. In the journal, Hugo writes:
  
  ​"Along with go and bicycle touring I enjoy drawing, so when the first editions of the European Go Journal were released it motivated me to draw an artwork for the front page. I had several ideas and ended up choosing this one. My aim was to depict a quiet place where it would feel tranquil to play. The scenery I drew is purely imaginative: I don't think it would actually be easy to play go on a wooden raft of such a small size - and by the way, how did the players get on it? I contemplated on making the raft bigger, but it would have taken up too much space. I chose the bird’s eye view to make it easier to draw the go board and stones. To make sure I depicted realistic proportions, I did some preliminary sketches based on photos of waterlilies and a photo of myself in front of a go board taken from above. Concerning the two people in the picture, their gender is left to the viewer’s imagination: are these two men, a man and a woman or two women? "

Covers yet to come

Below a sneak peek of what is yet to come.
Currently Alizée Chabin (from France), who is also known online as Kalyptane, is working on a custom cover with a nautical theme - front and back - for the August 2021 edition. 
For the September and October issues, I found candidates in two amazing artists from Russia and Turkey. September will most likely have a cover made by Aleksandra Khokhlova, whose art I spotted on her Instagram account. The October issue will suitingly be adorned with autumn colors - I saw this illustration of a girl fighting off her mental demons in a Turkish go magazine called Tasli Yol (translates as "Stony Road"). That was a few years ago, and it was printed as a small picture. It is made by professional illustrator Gonca Mine Çelik and deserves to be in the spotlight.