penguin cover submission

It took me ages to decide but I finally submitted my designs for a clockwork orange and emil and the detectives. I think I was having such a difficult time because I really liked both designs for different reasons - the eye one was more of a concept and motif, there was more of a reason behind the design than the figure, but I preferred the aesthetic of the figure and felt it reflected the creepy, weird a sect of the book and was more exciting as a cover. 
But in the end I went with the figure design - I felt it would stand out more than the eye as it is quite different and bold as it is so simple. I think my designs for the adult and children's book are both strong - much better than my submission last year, I've thought about type and layout much more and I think it has paid off. 

dino research

I was fining it difficult to know where to start with the dinosaur research - in all my tutorials I have been told I need to focus on the really interesting bits so to engage with children. I've been doing lots of research but its all been quite dry, and I was struggling to find a way to make it fun - even though they were amazing creatures the info on the internet is quite dull.

So I started looking at 'fun facts' and found some which stated the dinosaur which had the biggest claws or tallest neck etc. it didn't seem that interesting initially but once I started researching how they looked it became quite exciting - I was finding out about dinosaurs I had never heard of, which looked unbelievable. So I thought I could have a sort of 'wall of fame' section in the book which shows the dinosaurs who were the smallest, tallest, biggest head etc.

These are the specific dinos:

I started with the Spinosaurus:

I like how he turned out - all the dinosaurs have such interesting shapes to play with - and because no one knows what they looked like exactly I can play around with colour and patterns while making the rest anatomically correct. I have been doing them quite detailed but after doing the mono prints which were very simple - I think I should see how I could refine these back to something simpler and more graphic. 

chilli pattern

I had made a chilli pepper editorial for studio brief 5, so I decided to take the imagery and make it into another pattern:

But after making the pattern square I realised it didn't aline very well - there's a white line down the middle which doesn't make it look seamless. So I did it again:

This one works much better. I really like the pattern as well, I think it is lively and I can imagine it on various products so I tried mocking up a few:

I think the mock ups look pretty good -  I can imagine them, with other products (bowls, mugs etc.), coming as a set in a home ware shop. 

mono printing

I decided to go back to mono printing as it helps a lot with development of imagery as it forces me to think simpler in terms of colour and shape so I can end up with simple yet bold imagery.
I spent ages cutting up lots of dinosaur stencils - I only chose four dinosaurs but did them in varying sizes as I want to convey a sense of scale within the imagery.

I tried out bigger prints first:

But it wasn't working as well as I wanted - the surface was just too big, the ink kept drying on the big stencils, so the paper wasn't taking it well.
So I tried on a smaller board:

The smaller prints worked better, but it still wasn't printing as smooth as I wanted - I think it was the paper as it had a shiny side which wasn't absorbing the ink very well. It was quite frustrating as the stencils kept ripping as well - I didn't manage to get many good prints where I tried to make a composition. Although I could use some of the singular dinosaur prints digitally in the book rather than try and make more compositions. I have lots of stencils I didn't use so I might do some more prints - maybe use different paper?
Some bits did come out quite nicely but I think the problem is that I am expecting too much from mono printing - I am trying to make finished compositions but mono printing is an experimental process - I had this same problem last year with my George Orwell prints. I think if I want to carry on with printing, I should make an effort to try screen printing, I haven't done it since first year so the thought of it is quite daunting as I have forgotten everything. But I think the shapes and colours I have been working with will translate really well onto screen print. 

There were some bits that I really liked:

The plant imagery came out well, with really dense ink. I like the white line that has frames each element, it makes each bit really stand out. 

Although I was wanting the colour to come out really vividly, I like the faded ones too - I feel like this aesthetic will be effective when depicting fossils and imagery faded into rocks. Although mono printing isn't good for creating final imagery, it does create some really nice textures which work well for this topic. 

t-rex

I tried out making a dinosaur digitally to see if the aesthetic is much different than the handmade cut outs - as I think the final product will be made digitally

I am pleased with how it turned out - I went for the traditional t-rex against the rumoured feathered t-rex, I thought this could make an interesting composition for a double page spread in the book. I wanted to play with scale - having only a pat of them on the page will make them look bigger, especially if it takes up most of the page.
I think the colours have worked well, I want to have fun with it at the moment, try out lots of different colours/textures, then think more about colour palettes later after seeing what works. 
It is much flatter digitally, but also much cleaner and easier to do detail - once I have added background layers it will be less flat. 
I'm not sure how well the feathers on the t-rex worked, it doesn't look right but it's a start - maybe if the feathers were more straggly and stringy it might fit better?

tutorial

I had a useful tutorial with Jamie talking about my dinosaur book:

• for the dinosaur think of it more as a dinosaur project than a dinosaur book - how can I get children to engage and learn through products and educational material?
• think about scale, installations, interactive elements e.g. make giant dinosaur footprints to scale and put them in places - train station, park, uni etc. and see how people interact. Make a giant dinosaur cut out to have in the final show
• research into how we learn  - what appeals more to children? - toys? games? activities?
• in terms of focusing the book, maybe make smaller books - one about t-rex's, one about velociraptors etc. then there can be a whole series of these little pocket books
• for products think about - a world map with stickers of dinosaurs where kids can stick where they come from, cut up dinosaur shapes and put on magnets which kids can stick back together - learning process by doing (make your own dinosaur)
• think big - dinosaurs are massive, how can I depict that? how can I make this project different and exciting from other dinosaur books?
• look at Ken Robinson for educational research - treat this big project like CoP in terms of research 

pepper tree

 

Alys Fowler: the trick to growing tricky vegetables - the Guardian

I wanted to get back into the food based illustration as I feel it will be a good addition to my portfolio. I started with something I could do relatively quickly - I found this article about growing tricky vegetables:
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/feb/13/grow-your-own-tricky-vegetables-alys-fowler
One of the tricky vegetables is chilli peppers, so I went for that as it has good colours and is very recognisable.

I tried out a few backgrounds - I wanted to get a feeling of mediterranean within the image

Yellow worked the best as works best with the colours but also simulates sunlight, which the article advises the plant should get a lot of by being put on the windowsill. 
I went for the panel of yellow as it works better with the shape of the tree - making it look like it is growing out wider while also creating a nice contrast of shapes and harsh/soft lines within the image. 

I was originally going to use a plant pot as well but I felt it would make the composition too busy and take away from the mediterranean undertone. I am pleased with this illustration, it is very simple and didn't take very long but I can imagine it going well with this article. 

tutorial

I had a tutorial with Jamie about a few of my briefs, he have me some advice about my clockwork orange cover:

• he preferred the clockwork cover with the main figure rather than the eye, he said that eye designs are in danger of being overlooked as it is such a key motif to the book
• I need to make a few alterations to the text - centre the main quote on the back so it is in one with the rest of the blurb. Also level the type for the author so that the attention is drawn to the title which has been purposely angled 
• I am now unsure which cover design to enter as both Ben and Jamie have said different things, I like them both so will just have to pick one

tutorial

The tutorial with Ben was also really useful for my Clockwork Orange brief. The main points I got were:
- have moved on a lot since last tutorial
- the three he thought were the strongest were:

- he didn't think the eye designs were too '1984', and the singular eye got rid of that similarity

- he thought the singular eye was the best one, I'm not completely sure yet but he did mentioned that it does have a similar aesthetic to the Penguin Classic books (with the plain background and singular black and colour image, often orange) such as these:

- the judges could be more likely to go for the eye one if it is similar to their classic books, as a clockwork orange is a classic book. Although the designs that usually win don't often look like penguin classics. I am unsure of which to choose now - it is between the singular eye and the figures, I will put all three in my portfolio/on my website but I can't decide on which to enter for the competition. 

I am doing inner illustrations as well, so if I do use the eye as the cover, I could use the good composition of figures for a scene within the book? I will have a play around with the eye - possibly play with scale. 

tutorial

I had a useful tutorial with Ben about my extended practice briefs:

Dinosaur Book
- focus on interesting aspects of dinosaurs, think about what kids will find interesting e.g. velociraptors link with chickens
- play around a lot with text and image 
- look at Paul Rand's children's books; how he has very simple pages but they are still exciting to kids
- maybe think about introducing a characters (explorer?) who can walk through the whole book

Secret 7/Emil and the detectives:
- good submissions for both competitions
- secret 7 designs could be seen on website as editorial illustrations
- put in portfolio on single A3 pages - all strong designs

Food illustrations
- keep going with food illustrations, really good for portfolio
- look at Romy Blumel and Jessie Ford - both do lots of food illustration 
- illustrations don't have to be complicated, could just be a spot image of a piece of fruit, a kettle etc.
- put sketchbook pages on website

new idea

I played around with scale with the four boys and have come up with some different composition ideas:

I thought there was something quite creepy about the enlarged head and big eye 

I brought Alex in a bit so he frames the page better. I tried adding an orange shadow which works quite well - although it makes it less striking I think

I am pleased with these two - I think its is better without the milk bottle, it's less busy. Again I like the simplicity of the cover - and this composition might draw more attention as it hints at what the book might be about for people who haven't read it.

book cover design

I looked at the 50 Watts blog - it has book covers from all over the world. I am really interested in the Polish covers, I love the simplicity and boldness of the designs. The ones I was most drawn to were more graphic, with limited colour palettes, with a spot illustration. 

more tests

The covers I did before were still too '1984'esque. So I tried adding all four boys to the design:

I definitely like the addition of the four characters - it makes it more recognisable as clockwork orange, especially with their individual weapons. It still isn't quite working - the figures don't look creepy enough and I can't work out the right composition. I'm going to leave it for the weekend and do some more research into book cover design to maybe get some inspiration. 

email from owen davey!

I sent Owen Davey an email asking about his Mad About Monkeys book - the age group, how he altered his language etc. and he replied back so quickly!

His reply was really useful - he said to just focus on the interesting stuff, don't get too caught up with bone structures etc. put in what I find interesting and cool, and kids will probably feel the same. But he also made a good point about being careful with research - if I am making the book to be educational, I have to get the facts right and so not to trust everything on the internet. He said he didn't have an age group in mind when making the book, it was classed later as 7-11 which is interesting, and sort of makes the books accessible to all ages which is kind of what I want to do. In his second email he said he would be interested in seeing the outcome so I might send him some finalised work down the line - possibly get some feedback? 
So I definitely need to start doing specific research - and maybe try get in contact with a dinosaur specialist to check my facts?

more development

I went back to the sketchbook to do some more cut outs and to try and get some more ideas. I did some more thumbnails:

I know the eye is considered quite cliche with this book - but thats usually with the make-up or being held open. But I think it is important for other reasons - like when Alex is watched by all the people after his treatment, he has the government watching him, he has the anti-government group watching him - he is at the centre of all these people's worlds. As eel as the fact he is trapped in his own mind - in that he can't see things he used to love without feeling sick - eyes are a massive part of the book. 

I am really enjoying the cut out type - it is coming out well. The stencils that are created look quite good as well, I like the roughness of them; I might try some test layouts with these cut outs for the title.

I like the imagery of a figure trapped within an eye - it is quite striking. Although some of the eyes look more like suns. I think the figure would need to look trapped - as if he is too big for the space. 

I really like the aesthetic of these two - the eyes look good, it makes for a striking cover. But I don't want it looking too '1984' (with the eyes of the state watching the people), it is similar concept though - repression from the state. I think the second one makes more sense to clockwork orange as he is trapped within the eye as well as being watched. I also think the bottles work much better on the back.

Having the one eye is quite risky - as it isn't an image immediately connected to a clockwork orange, it is only when understanding the themes of the book. I like the boldness of it - maybe if the figure looked more distressed and trapped. 
In my thumb nailed ideas, I have some compositions with the four boys - I might work on some of them as the four boys is a characteristic well known to the book. 

tests

After the tutorial with Ben, I went back to the cover and tried out other layouts/colours etc. 

I tried it out in green, but I don't think it works as well as the orange because sit isn't as striking. The layering of the green and orange is quite interesting though. 

I tried it with the bottles but it came out looking more like fruit/carrot juice and the milk concept doesn't really make sense anymore

I did a quick test with orange as a background, but again it isn't bold enough. Although I quite like the milk bottles without the black lines - subtly suggesting what they are. 

I got rid of the eye t try make it less cliche but I feel it makes it a bit boring - there is no creepy element to it

So I put the eye into the text which I quite like, but it looks a bit messy - I would have to make the 'o' the right size. 

I wanted some imagery for the back - I used an orange but it seemed a bit obvious. I tried an egg because Alex eats 'eggiweg' multiple times in the book. It isn't really a motif but I quite like the obscurity of it. I'm a bit stuck with how I can change it - I will leave it for today and try again tomorrow.