Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho
This is the third book I’ve read in a week. Huh. So this is how this summer is going to go.
In other news, the word geek totally does not mean what I thought it means. Why do I read so many books about circus performers?
Sick of hearing me bang on about book covers? Then you should probably not read this post.
Once again, the good folk at Penguin (specifically Mr Paul Buckley and Gregg Kulick who art direct me and design magnificent type to sit over my drawings) have asked me to illustrate the covers in what is becoming a substantial backlist reissue of the books of John le Carre. You remember? I’ve made a few posts about them. These two (which have appeared on the coming soon section of the Penguin website, hence the blog post) will be numbers nine and ten, and there’s another couple to come as well.
Also: process sketches! Because that’s what blogs are good for. There’s some early ideas and my finished pencils for A Murder Of Quality (actually, ‘pencils’ is a misnomer, because i do everything digitally these days. But if i had been drawing by hand, this would have been the pencilled stage before i launched into colors and inks). I hope that someone finds these interesting enough to justify posting them.
These will be on sale in the summer - expect to be beaten into submission with more blogs about them (and the other two covers from this batch) when the time comes.
Mary Shelley’s ’Frankenstein’ - Bookbinding by Dimitri
“I wanted the binding to convey the essence of the story, that its mere view could tell you what’s inside, to be intrigued by it. And what would be more iconic for the specific book than to be bound from leather scraps stitched together? I searched at the drawer where I keep leftovers of the leathers I use and took up random pieces. I wasn’t picky, I even chose some with minor stains, and most of the pieces vary in their texture, from smooth to porous to buffed ones. I wanted something a bit “messy” and just a hint gross.
Last but not least, I wanted something really special for the endpapers, so I found some anatomy notes from 1830 and Voila!”
871 by Montague Projects on Flickr.
I used to have this exact book. It was my dad’s.
I have spent years looking for the perfect edition of this and I think I’ve finally found it. This is beautiful.
Hitchcock on Hitchcock.
WIP - continuing the book cover project for uni work, on film directors. I’ve done a little more today, focusing on the grey within his suit.
Need to sort out what’s going on within his head, after I erased a lot of the bad likenesses. Getting the right tones in there might be tricky too.
But for now, I need a break from Photoshop, my eyes hurt.
Any feedback would be most welcome. I still need to sort out the line work in this too - the ugly thick ones will be the first to go when I get onto that stage.
Really hope the tutors don’t hate it!
Cheers
EDIT: Still needs more birds
For my Style and concepts class we had to redesign a book cover of a classic novel. I chose The Jungle. Though to be honest I wasn’t a huge fan of it.
My teacher ended up really liking it and didn’t really have anything to critique about it. I was sort of surprised he liked it so much, I thought it was just okay, not super good, but also not bad. I do personally like how it came out though.
currently reading Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. this woman couldn’t write a mediocre book if she tried. i love her.
