Brief
RE-DESIGN YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK COVER
Redesign the cover of your favourite book
or one that you think could be improved - include typography, barcode, spine
type, publisher’s logo. Save as a flat image at the full scale.
I am really interested in the children book
industry, and so thought that another practise and further research into book
cover designs would be beneficial. I usually tend to look and illustrate
stories for younger children, simipy because those are usually the ones which
are illustrated, but instead in thought it would be interesting considering I’m
only re-designing the book cover to illustrate of book cover aimed at slightly
older children. As a child and young teen I was obsessed with the stories by Michael Morpurgo. I loved so many of his famous
books such as ‘War Horse’, “Private Peaceful’, and ‘The Butterfly Lion, but
thought I would illustrate a cover for a less well known book ‘An Elephant in
The Garden’.
Having research the
covers of Michael Morpurgo books the covers are all very similar, looking very
uniformed. The same font is used on all of this books, with his name standing
bold and proud larger that the title, and the single image of the front is
usually what looks llike a combination of a photograph, and some kind of
photomanipulation with drawig involves, but you would really call it an
illustration. I though that ‘ An Elephant in the Garden’ would be a perfect
book to illustrate, as the cover, personally isn’t that attractive, and with a
title so informative and literal, I thought I could create an exciting cover to
match it.
I had read the book as
a child, so I just re-read the blurb to help me remember the story. I feel that
not knowing the entire story I was able to create a cover purely from the
knowledge gained from my memory and the information that readers will read and
see at first sight, the blurb. The blurb that I read for referenced and used
for the back cover is pasted and referenced below.
“In Dresden, 1945,.
Elizabeth and Karli’s mother works at the zoo, where her favourite animal is a
young elephant named Marlene. Then the zoo director tells her that the
dangerous animals -including the elephants - must be shot before the town is
bombed.”
“Unable to give Marlene up,
their mother moves her into the back garden to save her... and then the bombs
start to fall. Their home destroyed, the whole family must flee the bombed-out
city and through the perilous, snow-covered landscape, all the while avoiding
the Russian troops who are drawing ever closer. It would be hard enough to do,
without an elephant in tow…”
Michael Morpurgo
Michael Morpurgo. (2017). An Elephant
in the Garden - Michael Morpurgo. [online] Available at: https://www.michaelmorpurgo.com/book/an-elephant-in-the-garden/
[Accessed 8 May 2017].
For inspiration I conducted
some research using Pinterest, what I found and a link to by board is below.
https://uk.pinterest.com/evecooper733/book-covers/
I have analysed a few of the covers that i found the most interesting and informative for my own practise .
Iron Man- Ted Hughes cover design by Laura Carlin
Makinggreatillustration.co.uk.
(2017). News | Books Examining Illustration. [online] Available at:
http://makinggreatillustration.co.uk/wp/?page_id=240 [Accessed 8 May 2017].
I was particularly drawn to this
cover because I felt that it looks completely different to what we envision
‘iron man’ to look like. We have all seen the films and immediately associate
that visual reference the ‘iron man’ status/name. Therefore, I feel that
illustrator Laura Carlin, has given us another representation of iron man,
instead of this huge figure made from pieces of metal she has stripped it back
creating a hollow ghost looking shapes, which still has presence. I think
alongside the cleaver use of limited colour and subtle texture because readers
know what this beloved character looks like Laura possible didn’t what to
illustrate it, because what would be the point as everything has their own
version of the characters.
The Adventures of Tam Sawyer- by Mark Twain and Cover illustrated by- unknown- was unable to source, but reference is below.
Theaoi.com. (2017). Welcome to The
Association Of Illustrators | The AOI. [online] Available at:
http://www.theaoi.com/awards/awards-shortlist.php [Accessed 8 May 2017].
The text attracted me to this image.
Possible at first glance you don’t see the text, the title of the book, because
it has been camouflaged/embedded into the imagery cleverly. I think that by
doing so the words become connected to the imagery rather than them being two
separate things, making the overall image look more interesting and enticing.
Bookcoversanonymous.blogspot.co.uk. (2017). Book
Covers Anonymous. [online] Available at:
http://bookcoversanonymous.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2009-06-16T13:26:00-04:00&max-results=30&start=88&by-date=false
[Accessed 8 May 2017].
I don’t know what this book is about or the
audience is, but I was attracted to the design. I really liked the geometric
shapes to makes up this large, towering figure. This simple design I think is
stunning the use of subtle changes of green to blue, and the black textured
shapes layered over the top which gives the illustrations the the figure is in
the sea, as the image suggests. I feel that this abstract style if very
attractive and inventive an unusual style which I think would really appeal to
a new illustration style for children.
From conducting a little research, I began
thinking of a list of things I needed to consider when creating my book cover.
Where the text will be placed, needs to be clear but feel apart/included in the
image, what my audience is, appropriate colour choices, and where to place
additional text, authors name, publishing logos, barcodes and the blurb. Having
conducted research and had a vague idea of what I wanted to create I started
thumb nailing my ideas, which can be seen below.
I decided upon this design because I feel
that it is simple enough so I’m not too restricted, allowing me to manipulate
and change the composition around. I think that this image encompasses the
title well, illustrating exactly what it literally says, whilst leaving a
little to the imagination and not giving the story line away too much. However,
because little definite design work was involved when I came to add in the
barcode for example, I had trouble placing it as the imagery was clashing with
it. So in hindsight I should have designed by cover a little more integrating
these key elements around my illustrations so they complement one another.
After choosing my design I began drawing
out the elements I need using pencil and graphite sticks, which can be seen
below.
I then composed my book cover following a
basic structure of a book, including the spin and bleed dimensions. Using Photoshop,
I worked my cover up to the final product which you see below.
I am really pleased the the cover design,
it was a different experimental technique from what I usually do, so it was
interesting artistically, and to have the opportunity to design everything to
gain an understanding of where all of the components have to go, such as the
barcode, logos etc. From conducting this task I have learnt a little more about
designing book covers, from my ‘First Story’ book cover competition I was
instructed to create a front and eventually a book, but I wasn’t in charge of
placing all the other components therefore from completing this task I have
learnt that have minimal elements on a book cover, or components which can be
move easily without distorting the design is a lot more effect and easier when
placing the necessary components afterwards, especially the back cover.
As I really enjoyed this task I also
completed the extension of it. The brief is below.
‘Design a set of covers for a set of books
- maybe 3 or 4, a trilogy or books on the same theme, books by the same author
etc.’
As I had design a fair number of children’s
book covers I wanted to venture out and design a series of books which are
written for young adults and adults. A series of books which still excites me
is the ‘Northern Lights’ trilogy by Phillip Pullman. I knew this trilogy was
popular so I researched what book covers existed, I was quite surprised that
there wasn’t really much variety, much like ‘An Elephant in the Garden’, most
of the cover were mainly constructed using photographs, so I thought it would
be a nice idea to add an illustrative perspective to the books. Having read all
3 books, myself I knew what the story was about, which is complex and from
looking at previous covers I decided to highlight a few key elements/features
of the books which differentiate between the three books. For the first
instalment ‘The Northern Lights’ I will illustrate the alethiometer, for the
second book ‘The Subtle Knife’ I will illustrate the knife which is hidden/ camouflaged
into a hot air balloon, and for the final book ‘The Amber Spyglass’, I will
illustrate a tower with a searching spot light at the top of it. Below are the
thumbnails for all 3 designs.
 |
| Black and white drawings I drew to produce the final artwork |
I need to ensure that when all three books
are places together that they look like a unit, and have some similarities. Inspired
by my previous research I wanted to use minimal colour to create a very simple,
clever and attractive cover, by doing so I hope that I will be able to slot in
the barcode, publishing logo and authors name easier than for my previous cover
design. I want to modernise the book covers by creating a solid bright shapes
which overlap each other, creating a screen printed finish. Below are the
finished covers in chronological order.
 |
| 'Northern Lights', His Dark Materials Part 1- Philip Pullman |
 |
| 'The Subtle Knife'- His Dark Materials Part 2- Philip Pullman |
 |
| The Amber Spyglass- His Dark Materials Part 3- Philip Pullman |
I’m very pleased with the outcome it contrasts
completely with my previous children’s cover design, feeling that this simple
elegant design may appeal to an older audience more so. For my previous book
cover I didn’t have a detailed idea of the layout of the whole cover I only
knew the elements that I needed to produce, but for these I clearly designed
each cover, so I knew exactly where each element was going to be placed. This
meant that the overall design looks a lot more refined and organised in comparison,
this is aided by the simple design, colour scheme and structure, which are the
same for all 3 covers, unifying the collections together.
Evaluation
Upon reflection having being able to design
a few book cover designs to a professional standard, having to included and
design the covers with the barcodes, text and publishing logos in mind. From
this I have learnt that I need to consider all of these factors when design as
the overall appearance can look a little disorientated and messy if these
elements aren’t designed around or factored in. I think this was a really insightful
experience as I am very interested in the book industry and feel that my work
is suited to book illustration, and therefore feel that practising book cover
designing is a crucial part of my illustrative practice. From having
experienced producing a successful book cover for the ‘First Story’ I already
had experience designing covers but not for an older audience, therefore
creating the ‘Northern Lights’ trilogy of covers by Philip Pullman, opened my
eyes of a new audience I had never produced work for before. From this
experience, the next time I design a cover I will produce it to a professional
standard, taking into consideration where all the other elements that are
needed on a book cover need to go, during the design process so I have a
clearer idea of what the final outcome will look like.
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