Title

The Alchemist Digital Manuscript

Name

Luke McHugh, Archie Mcevoy, Walker Popko, Seamus Foley

Abstract

Following our work from the Handmade version of The Alchemist, using Canva a digital copy was produced. With the ability to use technology such as AI, the process was altered. The papermaker was tasked with selecting a theme and lining pages as close to the handmade copy as possible. The illuminator produces illuminations and marks using the draw tool on Canva, which lead to challenges that hindered the ability to be as detailed as one could be with a physical tool. The scribe copies the physical copies text, using specific fonts helped to produce a similar text. The translation from middle English to current text shapes made this process difficult. The binder added AI visuals on the front cover and transition effects to make scrolling through the manuscript more natural. Going from a physical copy of The Alchemist to a digital copy presented challenges that pertain to limitations with technology, such loss of ability to be as creative as you could be with hands-on work, and a language barrier in text from Middle English to current English.

Papermaker:
The creation of the Digital Manuscript was aided by Canva, offering a variety of fonts, themes and tools to create a fairly similar product to our physical version. As far as difficulty goes, the paper making was quite simple. Through getting a free trial on Canva Pro, I was able to unlock many themes. One of the themes was old paper. After unlocking this, the rest was simple, using the font “calandine” I numbered the pages and added lines by inserting charts. Switching from physical to digital, you lose some of the human error that adds to a manuscript. The small errors on a physical manuscript highlight the work that goes into the creation, and this is lost through the perfection of computer programs.

Scribe:
We decided as a group to recreate our physical copy digitally on Canva. Canva is a tool that we have all used before and have used in class as well, which made us feel confident in our creative process. Luke, our papermaker, was able to find a rustic background that perfectly mimics the paper from our physical manuscript. He also created lines for me to copy the text into Canva. Originally, I tried to copy the text from the Huntington archive, but I struggled to understand the symbols and words depicted. Our scribe for part 1, suggested that I try to read what he wrote for the physical manuscript, and I had a much easier time deciphering the words. However, it should be noted that I have no idea what half of the words I wrote were. I am pretty sure it is Latin, but due to the way the original scribe wrote it, it is almost impossible to understand the writing with an untrained eye. I did my best to find the correct letters and phrases, but it ended up looking like a bunch of gibberish. The font I chose is called Homemade Apple, and I believe it was as close as I could get to replicating the original text's appearance.
Scribe 1 and I had to deal with the troubling experiences that many scribes had to go through in Medieval times. Manuscripts were given to scribes to copy with minimal guidance and leaving a lot of the scribing up to their interpretation, leading to misprints and incorrect information being passed on. Another thing to note is how an original manuscript can look completely different from a third or fourth version of the text. My text looks different from Archie’s, and his text looks different from the Huntington archive version. Overall, this portion of the project was less time-consuming, but I enjoyed making the physical copy more. Below is a picture from the digital manuscript demonstrating the paper, font, and illuminations.

Illuminator:
Reflecting on this section of the manuscript project, which entailed making our manuscript digitally, I initially took the impression that it was much easier to do digitally. To be clear, my role did switch from paper maker to illuminator. This already allowed for an easier role; however, about the group as a whole, there seemed to be less confusion and or loss of translation from one role to another on the digital side of things. This may be because we had already physically made the manuscript first and gotten all of our concerns put to rest, but I still argue that, digitally, this was a smoother process. Canva’s drawing tools allowed for accurate illuminations, but they may not have been of the highest artistic quality. The illuminations seem very much like the physical copy that was produced. Some challenges that arose were how to assess the blank pages; however, because there were some stray marks, including these on the leaves of R8-V10, it made the manuscript look more authentic and something that had undergone physical toil.

Binder:
Being the binder for the digital manuscript was a very different and much easier experience than being the scribe for the physical one. Instead of binding a real book, my role involved using Canva to create a presentation that flowed like turning the pages of a book. I explored various transition options and ultimately chose the “fun” animation, which brings text in from the left and best mimicked the feeling of flipping a page. Canva proved to be a helpful tool for this project; although it doesn’t replicate the authenticity of a physical book, the colors and AI-generated illustrations made the process smoother and more visually appealing. As someone who isn’t great at drawing, the AI features especially helped me create a polished title page. Overall, being the digital binder was less demanding than being the scribe, and the technology made recreating the manuscript far easier.