Mouth
Illustration & Book Design
The illustrations reveal hidden skeletons that glow in the dark.
For my master's degree project, I designed a book and accompanying illustrations based on Carlos Somoza's haunting short story, Mouth. The story explores the unraveling mind of a dentist who becomes obsessed with the realisation that our teeth are part of our skeleton—and that we all carry our skeletons within us.
To visually represent this unsettling concept, I took a bold and interactive approach. The illustrations reveal hidden skeletons that glow in the dark, creating an eerie experience for the reader. I printed the book and then screen-printed transparent, fluorescent skeletons over the characters. When the lights are off, the hidden skeletons appear in place of the people in the illustrations, echoing the dentist’s growing obsession with what lies beneath our skin.
This interactive design invites the reader to engage with the text on a deeper level, blending art, narrative, and physical form. It’s a story you not only read, but experience—the skeletons lurking beneath the surface, much like the madness that haunts the protagonist.