I've decided to give the Penguin book cover competition a go, the choice was between adult fiction, adult non fiction and children's. I went for the children's book cover which was 'Carrie's War' by Nina Bawden.
I looked at the previous winner's designs for the children's brief, there was quite a wide range of designs, some being more illustrative than others. Some were more focused on the type design and some had illustrations running from the front to the back cover, so there isn't really a set criteria I need to stick to. I quite like the idea of making my back cover an extended design from the front.
'Carrie's War' is about a girl and her brother who were evacuated to Wales during WW2, the girl Carrie is now, 30 years later, telling her children the stories her and her brother got up to when they were younger.
Some initial thumbnails:
I think I want to focus on the journey to Wales for the front cover as the theme of evacuation and the war is a looming theme within the book and the reason for the story in the first place. I wanted to try and make it so the theme of war is included but quite subtly. I thought about creating a landscape with a field of daffodils in the foreground, as that is the national flower of Wales and so hints at the destination of the train.
I think I want to develop this image, a landscape which has subtle hints of war - as that is how the children would have been living; they are not necessarily surrounded by the war while evacuated in Wales, but are definitely aware of it happening around them. I want to create a contrast with the bright flowers at the foreground but then quite bleak colours further back with the train and war planes, hinting at the time period.
No comments:
Post a Comment