Visual Narratives - cleaning up and Edward Cheverton

Because I have decided that the content of my book will come from collage work I have already created, when I was not in the mindset of creating 'final' imagery, I have a fair bit of cleaning up to do to my images in Photoshop (cropping, removing glue marks etc.). Whilst in the process of doing this, it has occurred to me that I would very much like the hand made aesthetic to be clear. I want the images to obviously have been made by someone, and so have been careful not to clean my images up too much. It's sometimes a little difficult to know when to stop, or deciding which imperfections to leave in, as they contribute something to the pictures, and which just make them look poorly made. 

An example of an illustrator whose work is very clearly constructed by hand, even in it's final forms, is Edward Cheverton. 

    

Once I'd studied Cheverton's work a bit, and considered many elements of the handmade world can be effectively brought into a final, digitally developed image, I feel more confident in what I think i can leave in my collages, most notably, the shadows where pieces of paper have lifted off the page slightly, the grain of the paper, and the crude edges of the cut shapes. Another realisation I've had is to be more careful in the crafting of the original work, particularly with respect to gluing (I did start to use more double sided tape instead of Pritt- stick as it was easier to control and less messy) as then I would have to rely on digital processes even less as I am already having to use them more than I would ideally like.