Self Published Picture Book

This book is January by Eleni Kalorkoti, which is apparently one of a series of 12 zines she made, one for each month of the year. 


Who was this book intended for?  Its hard to tell much about this book as its by a smaller illustrator and was self published so there isn't much information that exists around it. However, I can only assume she intended it for people of all age as there is no sensitive material in it, and there also isn't any text, so it could be understood by people from anywhere in the world. As it was self published and only a small amount were made as well it was probably really aimed at those who already consume and enjoy her work.
What drew you to the book? Its just such a beautiful thing, I literally swooned when I saw it. The printing quality is so high for such a small, handmade thing, and the materials and processes used in it look so perfect and so unique that I assumed they'd been done digitally but when Jamie pointed out that they were made using very precise watercolour painting techniques I was amazed. The inky qualities of the images paired with the very distinct grey and orange colour scheme the artist has used, communicated the perfect kind of winter melancholy to me which instantly made me think of the month of January. Really there were no other direct hints about the theme of the book given anywhere as it uses no text, but I don't think it needed any. The imagery alone explained the title.
What makes it a success? Certainly its uniqueness, both in the idea behind the book and the imagery and process used to create it, it's visually stunning and compels you to pick it up. But I also think in a small way, the fact that such lovely glossy paper was used for the cover made the book even feel tactile to hold, which is certainly a selling point for me.
What failings does it have? If any, I'd have to say just because it was printed on a small scale, some of the page edges had been cut a little bit roughly but other than that I really couldn't fault it. I heard some people say that it was too small to properly enjoy the images inside, and where I can see what they're saying, I think the theme and feel of the book lend themselves to the 'pocket size'.