Book Cover — Documentation
Harry Potter Sketches:
When I was first assigned this project, I thought of a series that I knew most about. I thought that maybe knowing more about the series would help me come up with more informed ideas for the cover. In reality, it made it very difficult for me to step away from icons that were already in existance. Whether that be icons from the books or icons from the movies. As a fan, they were already in my mind and hard to look past. Looking back on these sketches, they are just recreations of other peoples work. They aren’t mine, and I hadn’t changed them much in any way.
Harry Potter Digital Iterations:
I started working on the digital iterations for the “objects” sketches. Originally, this entailed more geometry than how it progressed. I stepped away from this style partially because I never pictured Harry Potter in 2D. I went into this project with images from the movie already in mind, and those are the images I imagined for the cover.
I looked online for inspiration on how to adjust colors to make object look more 3D and found this 3D model of a frog.
I don’t have experience with shading or how light effects 3D objects and how to create that effect in images. So, I looked through many of these 3D models and tried to gain more of an understanding. I then looked to see if there were any tools in Illustrator that could help me with shading. This led me to the “mesh tool.” The mesh tool allows you to add a grids to an image. Each intersection point in the grid is an “anchor point.” These anchor points can be set to their own color and Illustrator will blend the colors between these anchor points.
I slowly started making my 2D objects look more 3D by using this mesh tool. I struggled a lot with adding perspective to the object and how to make it look like what I was picturing from the movie. I actually spent many hours learning how to use the mesh tool and working on this train.
I downloaded a Harry Potter font that matched what was used from the movie and what was used on the book cover, but when I presented it in the interim critique, I got feedback that suggested I shouldn’t use that exact font. After changing that font, I added text to the back, which in retrospect, looks like an unreadable chunk. The margins are not big enough, it needs spaced out more, and the font is small. However, in a few iterations I knew I could fix these small problems and take this design to the final critique.
I took a similar approach to creating the “dementor” for my next book in the series. I made a shape using the pen tool and added many grid lines through the mesh tool.
Overtime, it started too look more like a dementor, but the shaded colors were different than that used in the train. The train colors had blue/green shades.
The difference in colours negatively affected the consistency in the two icons thus far, so I decided to redo this dementor.
This time, I used the exact colors from the train icon to shade the dementors. I thought about adding more dementors at the top of the cover to add something more, the way that the smoke added more to the train. I ended up removing them, because the added dementors took more space than the train icon did, and it made the cover’s look inconsistent.
Slowly the dementors started to take more shape through shading. The red grid in the middle picture is the mesh overlay I put on the object. I changed he color of each intersection point on that grid, and I really like how the dementor turned out.
This is where I left this cover, I felt that in a few more iteration I could have something I was happy with. Again, the text here is very chunky and needs better margins and the spine text is also very large, but these were things I could fix.
For the last book in the series, I didn’t want to make the same shading mistakes that I had made with the dementor. This time, I started by shading with the colors from the Hogwarts express, to have consistent shading and colors.
Again, I wanted to add something more to the cover the way the smoke added to the train. This is where the idea for the “spell” came from. This cover also felt like it had a lot of empty space, and I used that yellow to fill some of it.
The Series Switch:
I presented what I had so far in the 15 minute check-in meeting and got very crucial feedback. The icons that I was using were not my own, and I needed to make them my own. However, because I am so attatched to the series, it was very hard for me to step away from these already established ideas. I felt very “stuck.” I took a few days to think about how I was going to proceed. I had spent many, many hours learning how to shade and working on these icons. To step away from them at this stage was very difficult, but I think that it was the right move to make. I then changed series to children’s books (The Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Bean Stalk, and The Three Little Pigs).
The Little Red Riding Hood:
I wanted to use a different approach to this attempt than I did with the Harry Potter series. With the last series, I placed an illustration on one side of the cover and had text some seperated from that. This time, I wanted to incorporate the text and the image more. I wanted each cover to interact with the text. Defining this new approach, helped me move on from the work that I had done in the past; I was originally concerned that I would redo the series, but make the same mistake. I was really happy with this new direction, and it felt like a stronger piece. I added slight color changes and darker shades to the hood as well as the lines. I thought I could use those lines as an element which ties in the front and back cover as well as the other books.
I could see things coming together, and I liked this new direction a lot. I seeked some advice and opinons and got negative feedback on the white lines which made me rethink that choice. I also had to think about how I was going to place the text, I wanted it to be hidden but readable. I thought that traditional alignments would not work for this shape, and spent time to arrange the words in an interesting, readable way.
I also got negative feed back on the contrast between the red and dark background, so I lightned the background and removed the white lines. I realized after removing them, how distracting they were. Honestly, I don’t know where the idea for the frame came for on the back. I think I just preference geometric shapes and patterns, but a conversations made me realize that they are not necessary. I also added an icon of a basket to bring a part of the story to the back cover. I wanted to make it subtle and small, but maybe I should have added more color contrast and had it stand out more.
I also changed the color of the frame on the back. The idea behind the green was to add a color from the next book in the series, but I was told in crit that the idea doesn’t work very well for the books individually. After thinking more into this, I agreed, and changed it in my final digital iteration.
Final Digital Iteration:
Jack and The Bean Stalk:
I started the Jack and The Bean Stalk cover with the same dark grey from the last cover and white lines, but updated that when I got feedback on the last cover. The idea was to have the text surrounded by an element of the story, so I chose to surround it with beans.
I also added little lines of color to the bean so make them more interesting and to give the beans more definition.
I got feedback that the beans look slightly like asparagus, so I changed them to be thicker on the ends. I also removed the frame to make the back cover look cleaner and added an icon from the story to the back (seeds). Again, I had trouble arranging the text in an interesting, yet readable way, but I think the title settled in a good spot.
In the final digital iteration, I changed the color of the frame to make it work better for the book, individually.
Final Digital Iteration:
The Three Little Pigs:
I thought about ways to surround the text with this story, and for some reason thought wolf legs were the solution. I added a brush to the toes and added more colors to the legs to add make the illustration more interesting.
I continued working with the legs, until I got negative feedback: “It looks like the legs are giving birth to the words.” It was very hard to look past this observation, and I felt that I had to change the idea for this cover.
I thought that it might help if I worked to use the front legs and show the body of the animal in the cover, but it still felt like an awkward image. Switching the animal was also not a big enough change.
I thought of more elements of the story that I could use to surround the text like I had in the other covers.
I chose to change the cover in a more drastic way. I had a hard time drawing the jaw, I don’t think illustration is my strong suit in any respect. I focused on maintaining a consistent concept between the covers, and I felt that this cover achieved that.
Final Digital Iteration:
Final Thoughts:
Overall, I learnt a lot through this project, and I also spent a lot more time and effort than I thought I would. I went down one path with Harry Potter and stopped and went the opposite direction with the children’s series. It was very difficult to redo this project after I was so far into it, but I think changing direction was a good decision.
Final Digital Iterations:
