Part 3: Exercise - Making a Mock-Up

Freya North's original book cover published by Harper Collins

My first attempt at a book cover, with the typography added in InDesign after scanning the cover.

This is my book cover and I came to this graphic conclusion after experiencing a few problems. Looking through bookstores here few covers that aren't graphically enhanced or originated on computer. Maybe it's cheaper this way. This influenced my decision somewhat to keep things simple. I noticed that simplicity is key in communicating and an intricate drawing might be lost.

I have read this book. I started with thumbnail pictures to translate the main idea from the storyline to drawings. The book is a light romance, an easy read, sweet and sexy. Typically a woman's book. I wanted to capture the sensual lines of the main character, a woman called Vita who meets her ideal partner, an arbourist, when she decides to prune a pear tree in her yard. I saw myself 'improving' on the original book cover, not reinventing it. I wanted the character to show a golden pear she'd found, as a metaphor for the new relationship she embarks upon centered around the pear tree.

I decided on an Antalis paper in Curious Skin in Pink - 270 gsm. (from my paper box - I collect samples from paper supplier reps). It's easily a book cover quality paper. I chose pink because of the feminine quality of the material.I drew a profile of a woman copied from a photograph onto white paper. I traced her onto damask wallpaper first, but this didn't work I don't think as the patttern in the paper detracted from the silhouette. This was my first idea, I abandoned it. I then drew a pattern of apples by hand hoping to originate a new wallpaper design for the silhouette with apples being visually symbolic of the headstrong opposing nature of the character, as opposed to pears. Then felt it way too complex and contrived. No clear message there.

So I used Antalis Trance - a tracing paper speckled with starry bits which I thought might look sexier than an austere pattern.
Second problem was the text and how to place it. I don't have the Adobe, but found I could manipulate text on a small feature with my scanning software. I used the font 'Jennifer Shine your Lights' www.dafont.com 

In retrospect I found my technical ability quite crippling and this has left me wondering about the purity of illustration versus the technical gymnastics required to get fonts and spacing nicely set.

It seems now, that my cover is the old one and the original is the improved version! I'm not impressed but I see now the massive gap between communication and art in its own right. My challenge now is to marry the two.

My creative response after my tutor assessed this:
Documented my supporting work further to show the visual journey and creative process:

I thought to continue the idea of a silhouette but sketched figures instead. The pear is very symbolic to the story and I wanted to incorporate it into the design somehow. Sketched in graphite because it allows very quick drawings and expresses in line quite well. 

This took me to the idea of a single hand holding a pear. Somehow there is something valuable in this image but not sure what yet.

A hand drawn from a different angle? Different placement.

Referencing a Pixabay image for the shape of a hand. But am going to try and stick with the image of a person on the cover and include the pear in the hand together with the figure in the frame.

Andrea Joseph (illustrator) - hand rendered typography. Curly fonts: soft, playful, interesting. Use something like this on the book cover. Source: www.andreajoseph24.blogspot.co.za [Accessed 23 May 2016]

Graphite pencil sketch of a silhouette figure with a pear and butterflies and annotated a few words from the within the book to capture the essence of the title. Looked Andrea meticulous illustrations for ideas. Noting her interesting use of curly hand drawn fonts.

My first attempt at a book cover, with the typography added in InDesign after scanning the cover.

Further work: I have uploaded my supporting development work for this project here. 


Also, after learning basic Adobe InDesign principles I decided to take this particular cover further and scanned it into InDesign.

Here I changed the opacity to 62% in InDesign to get a smooth appearance and even colour. A tone of the raucous fuchsia. 

My scanned version in InDesign, with 62% opacity to smooth and change the colour. Then below I looked at illustrator Harriet Russell: exciting distortion and use of hand drawn typography. Texture in the tree graphic. Very inspirational.
Source: www.harrietrussell.org.uk [Accessed 15 June 2016]

Using typography in InDesign to create part of the book cover.

Adding the author's name in a different typeface. Stark. Add detail without sacrificing the composition.

Use of black fine liner pen, adding an element to connect the composition much like Harriet Russell's cover below. Composition needs another angle. Maybe try distorting one of the elements and moving the 'freya north' typeface on its own as it does not work on the left hand side anymore, too crowded.

Playing with hand drawn letters, using glitter and coloured koki pens.

Changed the author's typeface. Look at the Harriet Russells example below for balance of composition, typography and interesting details.

Looking at the typography in Harriet Russell's book cover is for the most part, a focal point in the design. It's a solution to the fragmented bits of text on my mock up and the dotted line connects everything.

Final alternative mock up for a book jacket: Used black felt tip pens to add detail to the heading. Reverted to one of the ideas in the early sketches to distort the pear in size.