One flew over my head..

I have illustrated a hand scrapping down the page, I wanted to move away from the feet or the head, as i felt the message it was conveying the metaphor well. I have decided on the hand because it almost does look human, it slightly reminds me of a werewolf's hand. Once drawn I could imagine it scraping down the side of the front cover almost like it scraps the rabbit hole image. 

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I purposely made the colours of the watercolour the same as the rabbit hole illustration, so it completly  would tie in well with the whole theme of the book cover. I think this illustration is successful, I feel that it has the right element of the wolf character, it is creepy, intimidating, scary, looks like it is scrapping/disturbing the colours of the rabbit hole. 

I want to keep all the colours of the front cover quite earthy, with different colours mixed in but all still bland, I need to experiment with colours next. I want to see  how this design could completely change with different colours, maybe green for a more clinical feel.

big bad wolf

Firstly... I have made an ink splat rabbit! simply done by dipping my finger in an ink pot and giving a piece of paper a good, precise dab! I then drew on the the ears. I want to use think little image somewhere in my design, I am thinking maybe on the spine to break up the Author and the title of the book! 

I have been experimenting with my final cover now. I have decided on a final design, this includes the illustration I have been working with on the front cover and the overlaying textures. 

but i need more, I am not yet happy with my overall final outcome as yet..

In my Crit on the 24/11/11, it was made apparent that in my design i was lacking the presence of the wolf that is a main focus of the metaphor that i am basing my book cover on. It was talked about on how i could involve this character without drawing to much attention away from my main illustration of a rabbit down a hole! Here are a few ways I have tried to tackle this problem.

I have used on all of these out comes a grey/cream background and overlaying a texture, this ties in well with the illustration and takes away the block colour. I have here show the way in which i want to put my rabbit ink splat, on the back and spine to break up space, I think it works well. I have used the type face Myriad Pro on these book covers, as it is simple, legible small and can be thin which does cover clutter the design. 

I want to achieve a front, spine and back that corresponds with each other, I have made some different outcomes, lets analyse: 

I wanted to experiement with different ways i could show the presence of the wolf. I had the idea of putting the wolfs paw prints at the bottom, hinting. I used a downloaded image to get the effect i wanted, It instantly occurred to me that i didn't like the cleanness of the paw print and i would want something sketched to match the illustration.   

I made some paw prints out of watercolour, I really liked the colours they produced. My method of making these where covering underneath of my fist in paint and pressing down on to paper. It made some interesting outcomes, but i still wasn't overly keen on how they paired which the main image. 

I started to think about other ways a wolf could integrated. I thought of how you see a wolf howling at the moon, and envisioned a shadow of a wolf on the book. I again uploaded an image to see how this could work on my layout, I tried it on the front but instantly disliked it as it blocked out the illustration and took away the vibrant colours. I then took it to the back cover, It was better, but still not strong enough to be resolved. 

I when back to the idea of the wolfs feet creeping into the bottom on the page. I uploaded this image of a sharp looking wolfs paw, I started to like to this idea, how the when almost interacting with the title, by framing them a little. I wanted to draw some my self. 

I tried the shadow and the paws together to see if combined made a stronger image, it didn't, It looks over cluttered. I have also realised that the wolfs feet at the bottom could suggest that the wolf is looking down at the rabbit and you as the reader of the book are looking though the wolfs eyes or it could be that you are the wolf. Im not sure if i want that to be the message, as i am depicting the wolf as a bad character, so putting the readers as the wolf would be wrong. 

 

Again what does the brief mean to me?

Reflection of the Penguin brief. 

Penguin describes the Novel in there online brief.

I want to pick out key words that they mention, which may give me a greater insight into the feelings the book jacket should inhabit- 

‘ A glittering parable of good and evil’ The New York Times Book Review.

Keywords:

Boisterous, Ribald, Tyrannical, Brawling, Fun-Loving, Oppose, Struggle, Heroic,

Battle, Imprisoned.

Target Audience:

All readers, familiar and unfamiliar, both genders, Adults

Themes within the book:

Political, Social, Victim, Antihero, Madness, Sanity, Affection, Violence. 

What the Judges are looking for?

Striking, Well Executed, Imaginative Concept, Eye-Catching,  Able to work on screen for Web Users.

The winning design will need to:

•     Have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief
•   Be competently executed with strong use of typography
•   Appeal to a contemporary readership
•  Show a good understanding of the marketplace
•  Have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against

 

 

Maus

[[posterous-content:pid___2]]Maus is a biography of the author's father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew and Holocaustsurvivor. It alternates between descriptions of Vladek's life in Poland before and during the Second World War and Vladek's later life in theRego Park neighborhood of New York City. The work is a graphic narrative in which Jews are depicted as mice, while Germans are depicted as cats. It is the only comic book ever to have won a Pulitzer Prize.

I have chosen to look at the illustrations from this comic to see how the relationship between the Jews and and Germans has been depicted by making all the characters animals. The Jews being the mouses and the Germans the Cats, this relates to my work because like my work it relates something as reader we can relate to a situation that we could be unfamiliar with. This comic cleverly puts these two groups of people into these animals that are famously known to chance after each-other. This hard hitting comic touches upon some very hard hitting subjects to do with the war and what the Germans did to the Jew during the War.

I have decided to merely to be inspired and influenced, how they've chosen to relate these terrible series of events by illustrating them with animals, it could be suggested that it makes the storeys more approachable. I love the simple black lined illustration style and how the characters are not to personal but you can relate to them using your own opinions of the animal, germans as the cats, Jews as the mice and police as the pigs! 

[[posterous-content:pid___0]][[posterous-content:pid___1]]

A side order

I have always put things on my wall, I have always done it with not much thought. They become a normal part of my bedroom environment... something i rarely notice but i guess subconsciously need. I think this collection of images say a lot about me and the way i think. I have put this specific set of images up in my room purposely, i am now analysing each one. Im finding this fascinating! 

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I made this playing card for my friend Jack for his birthday. I thought how amazing would it be if he could have his own unique playing card with his portrait on, he is Jack after all. I made this card just illustrating his portrait from a photo i knew he liked (profile pic) then scanned in,I scanned in a playing card i owned, i merged them together and matched the colours. I then printed to size and stuck on to  the playing card i had. I also wanted a more decretive back so I found one to print. once stuck together, i laminated it, so it would stay in better condition. I was more than proud to present it to him! 

This is a editorial illustration i did of a donuts long, yet short wait for its hungry partner.. I wanted to show the storey of its wait in a bakery window, when had been finally spotted. 

and yes... I was hungry whilst i drew this. 

can you see the texture*

I want to overlay my designs with some texture to give an extra dimension/tones to the image. This is a way to use the colours i want but for them not to look so blocky! 

These are some of the texture i have been over laying over my illustrations and watercolour printings. i have been uploading them to them and putting them on photoshop, by putting each image on a different layer i was able to change the opacity levels on the texture. Resulting in the darker tones of the texture being left affecting the colours underneath resulting in an interesting effect. 

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by doing this i have accomplished a gritty outcome that has more relevance to the illustration and the overall feel i want this book to give off. Which is a dark, confusing and textured drawing meant to suggest the ground. See below my favourite outcome, the colour behind pushes/complements the central drawing and text. 

Thinking within the cover.

I have now decided on my main front cover image! Now my mission is to design the rest of the book cover to complement this.. I want to have the same tone/feeling front to back of my design, keeping in mind the imagery, style of illustration and the colours. Keeping in mind all these facts i i will enable myself to create some interesting outcomes now i know what direction i want to take my imagery. 

Testing out book covers and how my illustration overlaps with my watercolour prints to fit to the dimensions of the front cover.

I have used some of my favourite examples to use with my illustration to show how I want the colours to overlap with the illustration to create the colourful rabbit hole. I wanted this pattern to transfer on the back cover, I really like the way this looks, and to me this could be seen as a hole going straight though the book. This could suggest that how the patients hide in the book. After this thought, it occurred to me that the start of book you see the rabbit in the hole but when you turn over the rabbit has gone. I feel like this could relate to the storey of the book, in the fact that the transition of the front cover to the back. It would represent how the rabbit appears to be present and then not, as in the book some of the main characters escape at the end though either breaking out or dying. 

 

When illustrating this I included the hand rendered title in the original first time. I have kept it in to see how if It looked correct to include. I have the idea in my head that the text could follow the illustration in a circle, after seeing it like this I am not so sure on the look of it. I feel like the hand rendered type makes the front cover look to busy. I want all the attention on the central illustration. I want to defiantly just try the illustration with just some generic simple typefaces, I am envisioning small and thin e.g. Gil sans, maybe. I wan the whole book to ranged centre, this will give the entire element on the continuity. 

 

These experiments in particular are far from resolved. The colour palette I am using could be effective but I do not think the block colours work well as the background for the illustration; I am going to try and find a texture to overlay adding different tones.

I have involved the spine on the mock covers to start to digest how I could make it interesting, as in cases this is the first thing a person will see when buying. It is a very important part of the book and could be cleverly approached. I have dabbled with the thought that the spine could be the watercolour print stretched, showing the darker tones of the image. I liked this idea it focusing on the folding technique I used to create it when I was make the Rorschach tests.

The black spines where to bold, they stick out too much and again I don’t like the block colour. The font for the quote on the font and back for the blurb is myriad pro. The simple serif font works well with the busy illustration, by the text being quite and central it complements the image s and leads your eye down the page. I have tried to use the font ‘Gil sans’ but I found when I used it on the back for the blurb I found the ‘g’ hard to read when small.  Myriad Pro is perfect for this; it is a big possibility for the quotes and the blurb but I may pick this font in bold or a different font for the title.

I have put on the penguin cover template, so I can get a sense of where the penguin logos go on my design and the barcode on the back. Thankfully the required elements are on the cover are in the right places and so far my design doesn’t clash with anything, I will keep this in mind when designing, so the bleed where the design is cut off for when trimmed doesn’t cut of my images.

 

Ink it up!

I am now happy with my image for my front cover, but i feel like the image as a hole has lost the relevance to the to the metaphor from the novel that I firstly based my book cover on! I think that I need an image included that hints at the wolfs character (nurse). I have considered, with the thought in mind of the rabbit hole being central on the front cover, that i could involve the wolf by adding a shadow of the wolf over the hole book cover? at the bottom underneath the title add some wolf ears or some feet poking out. This idea will add the feeling of authority, insinuating that the wolf is looking down at the rabbit, by putting the reader in the eyes of the wolf. 

All my testing will be shown on the next post. 

This above is an image that i took of the internet to test my vision first off, I liked the idea but this wolf foot doesn't look enough like a foot and i would need to redraw it anyway, as its not my illustration. I have tried out a few hand rendered ways of showing the wolf's presence by using watercolour. 

Here i have tried to make paw prints by painting my fist and pressing against the paper. I wanted to make a print that look a bit abnormal and had the same colours as the main illustration. I scanned this image in to the computer, something didn't look wright, so i made the paw closer together and darker, i put this with the image and i did't think that they matched very well. I didn't think the composition worked, it was all a bit too busy. I then tried the shadow of the wolf, I scanned in and tested, I found that by overlaying the shadow that it made the hole image very dark and that is took away the detail of the illustration already on the front cover. 

Below i have shown some hand rendered type that i simply did with watercolour and a paint brush. I found this very successful, I considered putting this on the front cover but i found that it made it all very busy. I tried the text on the back above the blurb which i found much more successful, I feel like it breaks up the page.  The image of the wolfs hand scraping down the page would look great on the page, I am visualising it creeping up from the right hand side, the scraps could be positioned so its scraping the rabbit hole, this will lead the readers eyes from the top of the page nice to the tile at the bottom.  

Ihave shown the rabbit hole that i originally illustrated to combine with my watercolour printed holes and the white rabbit. I have had a few attempts at the hole, I like the original one. The black hole and the gradual lines swirling outward, this illustration has the write amount of thin and thick lines, you can really imagine that you are falling down. 

Experimentation.

I have experimented with my approach toward this brief with my new imagery. I have decided to try and layer my watercolour prints behind my illustration. I am liking the results, I think its a successful way to make the rabbit hole more interesting and add an extra dimension. The hints of colours from the hole make the image more interesting. I have also involved a rough ground texture over the image and changing the opacity. This makes the image have a visual feeling and adds tones to the colours.

I like this outcome but i think the typography needs much more consideration, I shall experiment with hand rendered typography. I have other watercolour prints that i want to try with this design. I have been deciding on what size i want the rabbit in the hole and wether i should just have its whole body or just the head. I have tested each way and i defiantly think the rabbit smaller with shoulders reads more like distance and vulnerability, i have asked piers and they agree. 

Black and white before colour, the contrasting white and black. 

The colours tested in this image above are my favourite, but not sure on what colour to use for the background, overlaid texture will improve it. 

Day Project, Layouts.

hollys_version.pdf Download this file

We had to pretend that we had won the live brief we are currently doing for our current project. The aim was to create a designed layout on Indesign, using imagery and text from this project. After design we had to make spec's, which is a detailed list of information of all the elements to the designed document for example the placement on the page and the size of every thing. This was because we where then paired up with a partner that would only look at the spec and given a folder with the images in to replicate our previous document. The test was to see how accurate we where technically as designers. 

Rabbits*

I have been illustrating a few rabbits for my book cover, still running with the idea of the rabbit being down the hole. I wanted to draw the rabbit, in a playful way, meaning the illustration not being too realistic! I wanted the rabbit to look as if he was looking up ad out of the hole, I showed this in the way the rabbit looks up with only the top of the rabbits shoulders showing suggesting an ariel view.

Whilst drawing these rabbits i got bored.... none of them i particularly like or i thought where successful! I started to draw them in different ways, some clean lines, some more sketchy, others with crazed expressions. They all, weren't working. I even over layered one with a circle print i did, this instantly told me that i needed to draw the rabbit differently as the outcome was not good. 

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See the full gallery on Posterous

After drawing all these rabbits, I realised i didn't like the outcomes I was producing. I then decided to draw a more realistic rabbit, this instantly worked. The more realistic rabbit had more expression looking lost, venerable. A white rabbit looking out of the hole representing the patient hiding from the wolf/ nurse. 

.Rabbit Holes.

I have decided after a lot of consdieration that i should just choose an idea and stick to it. As i am currently always thinking up more, and more. I have come up with so many different approches now, that i have made my self confused! 

After a crit i had with my tutor Kit last week, it was said that my indecisive way of working is good in the way there's a lot of experimentation but i need to know when to stop, knowing when iv got a good thing going and stick with it. Together we came to the conclusion that the rabbit in the hole visual was one of the strongest. I agreed, this was enough to motivate me to make some progression! I am now focusing on how i progress with this idea, to make this simple sketch into something meaningful and professional. 

I want to consider and reflect on everything I have tested and learnt through the experimentation stages of this project! I want to bring some of the elements i played around with into my final piece. I want to remaster the illustration using my hand rendered personal stye working with strong lines using black ink and quill.

I also experimented making my own Rorschach tests, by water colouring one side of a sketchbook then pressing together. I have been making colourful circles with this method, to recreate the rabbit holes! 

These circles have been very successful, I love the colours and textures the prints make. I have purposely made the middle of the hole as dark a possible because I can envision the illustration and the print layered together with the white rabbit poking out of the hole, a dark hole will enable the rabbit to stand out! 

Here are some of my favourite outcomes that I plan to test and possibly use: 

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Sweet, hand rendered, harmony...

Don't you just love when typography works together with an image, how it flows. Well... I do, I really appreciate when hand rendered type becomes part of the image, when they sit together in harmony so the the text becomes part of the image. As i want to achieve this, I find this research to be very helpful and inspiring to my developing work for the Penguin book cover. 

I have looked at some of my favourite images, showing this. I want to talk through these with you to pick out the qualities in each image, that make them so successful! 

I love this image, the way the birds frame the typography. It flows, the matching styles between the text and image and black and white that follows through. The old fashioned type is really eye catching and gives the hole image a different feel. What do i want to take away from this image, well i defiantly want to experiment with how i can incorporate an image and using it as a frame is a option i could consider.  

This image harmony written all over it, this way the text is made to fit around the image perfectly. The typography and image sit together well, its the way they have kept to same colour palette and used a continuos medium with the same line depth. The combination makes this image a complete illustration, involving all the need information by combining imagery and text together. I what to take away from this image is the way these two elements flow so well together, using colour and clever spacing. 

These two images play with the idea of having the typography surrounding the image (whale) or the typography making up the image (bottle). Firstly, i want to talk about the the text on the outside. This image is very well executed, the type surrounding the whale to make a circle again gives me the idea of creating a boarder, also it suggests to me that its representing water. Secondly, the image with the type making up the bottle, this is very clever and a a lot of consideration for spacing. I like this idea of making a silhouette of something, this in combining the two as much as you can. This method does limit you on what you can draw though, as you do need a simple solid shape. I want to take away from these is the thought that spacing can mean everything when executing something successfully.  

I have out this image not purely because of the continuity between the image and the text but the great interoperation the text has been shown in the image. I must admit i do love when text has been shown in an image like this, making the image almost speak for its self. The attachment of some text does help the meaning along. I want to be influenced my the image this this time, I what to have a strong sense of meaning that is helped by the supporting text. 

Hello? yes.. I wanted to show you this example, because of the medium used to create this hand rendered type. It was created in ink, even though this type isn't placed with an image of part of one, I think the way it has been done makes it an image in it's self. I love the use of ink in this image, the colours and how its simultaneously flows through the word Hello. I want to take away from this image the great colour palette and how it flows through the word. 

Progression?

I have been very confused recently as I have so many ideas. I have defiantly decided on the concept, now i am just having difficultly executing it. I have come up with so many different illustrations and a few mediums, that involve alternative approaches.

I had a crit today that completely took the wind out of my sails. The constructive criticism was there it was mostly just show and tell, with no real reaction which in my mind, is never positive. I left the crit with one note, that i must pick an idea and run with it. I am finding it hard as i am really undersided...

I want to do illustration, but then trying out texture and inkblots opened a new door for me. All good for experimentation but i feel that its left me with too many options. I did show my concern in my crit and my overwhelming amount of ideas. 

On this post i have decided to upload all the images i am currently toying with or just plan bad, I want to explain and examen them. This may get it clear in my head on a coarse of action! I may even decide to go with something completely different. 

This idea got a warm reception from one on of my tutors, but not from another. I really like this idea, I think the fact that some people did not spot the rabbit look up from down the hole made it more confusing. I think this is one of my favourite out comes so i want to work with this idea. Making this visual more clear and having a go at making more circle inkblots to overlay with the image.   

This idea i found to be very successful, I would firstly draw the image like this a quickly sketched it on Photoshop. I like the idea of the rabbit being trapped behind the Nurse Ratchets smile. This drawing not only reflects on the orange lips she famously has and her unbreakable smile but the metaphor to. This image would look great once i have drawn  it by had with inks, made it more rough and ready, lots of shadow and disgruntled faces. 

When i drew this image then scanned it in to add shadow, I knew it was a little to much the rabbits face is much to evil. As in the story the rabbit represents the patients and it isn't there place to be seen as the evil character (the nurse is). I hear you say, why don't you draw the wolf like that then... well I still don't think this expression is very fitting and i also think it reminds me of the film 'Chucky' .

I was playing with textures in this image, It was mentioned in the last crit this the background colour was to solid. So i thought i would try out some textures to add an extra dimension to the image. I wanted to create an inkblot shaped image, by trying taking a previous image of a rabbit and reflecting them. I like the way it looks but for it to be more appropriate i think i would have to make the image more inky, at the moment i don't think this is one on of my strongest images.  

I have found my self look at the this image again, I do think this image of the rabbit having a electrodes attached to his temples then spelling the title of the book at the bottom successful. I like the way that the rabbit in biting down on a carrot, this signifies when a patient is having shock treatment they are made to bite down on a piece of wood or plastic. This image has an underlined disturbing tone, when you look harder it you realise what is happening. I think this image could be very successful in attracting readers.