What A Carve Up - Final Artwork

My 'What A Carve Up!' design is all finished up. I think it's another strong addition to my book design portfolio. I tried to capture that old newspaper style feel and think I've really managed to do this through my choice of typeface. The blurb especially really gives off that newspaper vibe. I'm super pleased with the final outcome, and think i've really captured the era of the book with the image.

What A Carve Up! - Colour

The design has gone through a few small changes during the colouring process, I decided to add a break in the spine of the design as i felt like the tape ribbon would interfere too much with the spine text. As for the colour, Im attempting to get an old style newspaper theme since the book is based around a newspaper columnist. 

I went with the old red letter wax for the actual ink colour, as it was a perfect way to portray the bloodied tape ribbons and violence whilst still sticking to the newspaper theme. I think the colour works well with the vintage paper background look, had i kept the ink black it would have looked too much like ink, and taken away from the blood effect.

What A Carve Up! - Ink

Here's the ink work for my What A Carve Up! design. The basic premise of the book is that the murder mystery series 'What A Carve Up!' begins to play out in real life. I have tried to capture this in the VHS by including six shot revolver cylinders and a bloody dagger on the VHS label. The design is more simplistic than my usual book covers, but i thought this would help spice up my portfolio by adding a wider range of design styles. On the back page I have included an Air plane, and integral part of the story and managed to connect it to the entire image by joining the smoke plume and VHS film/tape.

What A Carve Up! - New Project!

As previously mentioned I'm now starting the Penguin Adult's prize for What A Carve Up! as always I began with a thumbnail sketch, however this time i had multiple ideas that i couldn't decide between, so mapped a bunch out to help me decide.

Mapping out quick thumbnail sketches like this really helps give you an idea of the composition, one of the most important factors is weather or not your design would actually work as a book cover, and which ones work better.
I liked both the top left and bottom right designs, but eventually decided on the bottom right design as it's a bit of a break from my usual double page spread 'scene' designs. The initial Ink work will be up soon.

The Outsiders - Final Artwork

The Outsiders book cover has reached completion, and I'm really happy with the final result. I decided to stick with a simplistic font for all of the text, including the title. Taking the Bright orange directly from the flames to highlight the important parts, i think this colour scheme has worked out really well, and the simple text takes nothing away from the image whilst remaining clean and professional.

As I mentioned at the very start of this project, there are currently two competitions over at Penguin, the second one being a book cover competition for 'What a Carve Up!' Which i will be starting shortly.

The Outsiders - Colour

Here's the coloured version of The Outsiders artwork. I decided to go with a black/gray colour palette and keep any bright colours to just the flames and the highlights. This really helps intensify the flames and gives them a real power over the image. Being able to add such sharply contrasting highlights to the trees also gives the great effect, Iv'e really tried show the sheer heat and light coming from the fire as best as I can. The smoke I kept very simplistic as to not take anything away from the image, at the same time it will act as a nice border to fit the Author name into.

New Project! The Outsiders Book Cover

Alright, It's time for a brand new project! I've decided to move away from the Music industry for a bit by heading back to book covers. Gig posters/ Apparel and book covers are two of my favourite things to illustrate and as such are what I am attempting to build my portfolio around.

I am going to begin by taking part in the first of Penguins book cover competitions, the Puffins Children's prize for 'The Outsiders' by S. E. Hinton.

I'll kick this project off by showing you my first basic thumbnail sketch for the design, you'll be able to compare this to the final Ink in the coming days just as soon as it's finished.

This is the VERY early stage of the design, basically just a guide for me so I know where to place my inks, the basic premise is down and alive in my head, these thumbnail sketches help me to get an idea of composition, ensure it works, and give me a rough idea of where to ink. this is a major step in getting a professional looking cover. Jumping right in without making sure your composition works can sometimes leave you disappointed with your results.

Check out the Penguin Competition here!