00:00Award-winning illustrator Gus Marais is giving Swifties a fun new way to explore Taylor Swift's
00:05world. With his one-of-a-kind book that takes you through every era, packed with Easter eggs and
00:10hidden nods to Swift's music and big moments, we sat down with him for an exclusive peek.
00:16Last year I was just contacted by some designers from HarperCollins Cider Mill and they wanted to
00:24do a search and find book. We didn't decide which would be the subject of the book but one week later
00:34in the meeting I had our publisher started by saying hey Gus we want to make a search and find book
00:40but it will be a visual biography. Then he just came with the idea at the same moment like the first
00:47person we want to make this is Taylor Swift and then I was like whoa okay well I enjoyed the
00:54idea at the moment I didn't know a lot about Taylor Swift but I knew that well Taylor Swift has like
01:00very complex and detailed and beautiful concepts for each album so the music videos are also full of
01:09Easter eggs and cool imagery so I knew that I would have lots of things to discover and to study so
01:16the first spread that I started doing was for 1989 it has to happen in New York Times Square so
01:24this area was very funny to research because at that time Taylor was making lots of advertising and
01:31promotion for lots of things like cats for shoes or for Target and Diet Coke and I was able to make
01:40lots of puns and some little jokes with the names of each brand but the one that I think is the most
01:47beautiful in the book in my opinion is the one for a lover I was able to draw like the neighborhood where
01:55Taylor lived in London in Greenrose Hill of course the big band some other streets that she kind of
02:04mentions in the songs I think this both drawings are like my favorite ones of the book but I'll tell you
02:12each one each spread for each era has you know its own atmosphere so some are more romantic some are more
02:21joyful some are more well chaotic for example the one for reputation is like very dark so I was kind of
02:31trying to make like an apocalyptic scenario so it was a time that Taylor was a bit distant from cameras like
02:41having her time for a time for herself when you start searching for the easter eggs you see that
02:47well many of the images and easter eggs that Taylor brings I kind of try to bring those easter eggs
02:53about real life and make them part of my creation part of my drawing it's very precise it's basically
03:00you know real life facts but of course I'm bringing this and transforming this into my own visual style
03:08which is this search and find style I think it has many layers of engagement and of understanding so
03:17if you are you know an old fan hardcore fan you know I know anything about Taylor Street you have so
03:25much fun because you will go back from the first moments to the last moments you will remember things that
03:32maybe you have forgotten one cool aspect for it especially for those fans that you know know all
03:38the lyrics is that for every album I was listening to the songs and I was reading the lyrics and I tried to
03:45pick the the verses the parts of the lyric that look at more meaningful for me or that could be transformed
03:54into a cool illustration so for every spread you can try to find for example okay I will try to find a
04:02reference for shake it off or I will try to find a reference for my tears ricochet or you know you will find it
04:10and we have also inside in the middle of the book uh gatefold which is actually uh it's like a window to a big
04:20Taylor Swift concert I think this is the biggest search and find illustration I've ever made so it's
04:26inspired by the Arras tour specifically the the concert that happened in Melbourne cricket ground so
04:34uh it's like a poster but inside the book and in the end for you know people who are who may think oh
04:41this is too difficult or something like that we have the keys so you can find where you know each of the
04:50items are hidden so I think it's a complete search and find experience for uh you know whether you are
04:58a fan of Taylor Swift whether you know a bit about her I think you will have fun you know by reading this
05:05book. To hear more of this interview visit our podcast Life Minute TV on iTunes and all streaming podcast platforms
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