Animal Farm by George Orwell
Cover design by Deco Farkas
I could probably go on for days talking about Animal Farm and how significant of a classic it is for the world of literature, but you probably know all that by now. What I have to say about it is this; seeing new covers being made for releases of classic books is probably one of the most exciting things for me in publishing because they always bring something new and often something incredibly valuable to the table.
This vibrant and colourful cover for this book caught my attention as it offered a fresh twist to a very traditional classic that I think was very much needed. This is the new cover for Animal Farm released by the Brazilian publisher Companhia das Letras. I had the pleasure of speaking to the artist behind this creation, Deco Farkas who walked me through his work process. The following interview was conducted in Portuguese, so minor details may be lost in translation. I did my best, though.
As an artist I’ve seen that you work with various different techniques, mostly graffiti and street art. What is it like working on a book cover compared to those huge murals? Does the scale of the project affect your process?
Ever since I started working with art, I’ve always been close to graphic design and illustration. I have worked with graphic design before doing covers for discs, CDs, and a few book related projects, so I was never involved only with graffiti street art or only with illustration. I’m always wandering around and exploring both mediums.
I think this is actually really nice because instead of being constrained to making a digital painting or an illustration that you’ll only work with in its digital format, I can instead paint it on a wall, photograph it and from there it can evolve in whichever format works best. I guess these different techniques that I work with — painting murals and painting illustrations — there’s always been a sort dialogue between them.
Could you tell me what the process of working with the publisher (Companhia das Letras) was like? Did you have a lot of freedom when it came to the design or did they give you a set briefing to follow?
I already have a very good working relationship with the people over at Companhia das Letras so I went in feeling comfortable and I think they went in already trusting my work. I think that works best for both the artist and the publisher because then the artist has the freedom to create something that is their own authentic vision. That also allows them to contribute better instead of creating something with the sole intent of pleasing the publishing house.
Being given certain instructions and set requirements would make the work difficult and restricted, but in this case, it was very open. They gave me the book to reread because even though I had read it before, it was nice to revisit the story. I then started having a lot of ideas, sketching some out, seeing what worked and what didn’t. Usually I present a few versions, maybe four or five different ideas to see what they prefer and then I go from there.
Out of curiosity, was your favourite idea the one they picked as well or were there any debates on which one to go for?
There weren’t any debates this time, no. One thing I learned from experience is that sending the client a lot of options to choose from is not always a great idea. Sometimes they can end up picking one option you didn’t like as much and then you’re stuck working with that which isn’t great. I came to the conclusion that it’s better to send only a few options that you like and would be happy to keep working with if they choose it.
This is exactly what happened with this book. I sent them only two versions that were very similar to the final one we ended up with. If I’m not mistaken, one featured the pig on top of the table and the other was quite similar with the pig on top of one of those huge comfortable lounge chairs.
This leads me to my next question; what inspired you to design this cover?
I’m usually very direct in my work. I like to test visual ideas, see what comes up and what looks good without tying myself to the design principle behind the piece. Essentially, I start sketching and seeing what comes of it.
In this case, I thought to myself — the pig. I wanted to do something with animals, and the pig was one of the main characters in the story. I started working with the idea of the pig — I drew the pig on top of pigs, on top of horses, and top of roosters. Then the idea of drawing the pig on top of a table came up and I thought to myself, that could lead to something. He is subverting his place and role as a pig and this leads to various interpretations that can be quite deep depending on who is looking at it.
Sometimes this happens by accident. You reach a point in the development of an idea and you think — hmm there’s something there. I painted the canvas (pictured below), photographed it to digitise it in on my computer then on Photoshop erased a few minor mistakes and added some details — like the yellow strokes you can see.
I think if I was an artist that would be my favourite part — creating something that different people can interpret in different ways.
Exactly. I’m someone that doesn’t usually like to talk through and explain my intentions behind a piece because people aren’t always going to listen to your explanations — all they’re going to do it is look at the book and either like it or not, so my original intentions aren’t all that relevant.
This edition of Animal Farm is the first one released in Portuguese under a new translated title. It used to be printed as A Revolução dos Bichos (The Revolution of the Animals) but it’s now called A Fazenda dos Animais (Animal Farm). Did this now translated title affect your work in any way?
I knew the title was going to change and I think the idea behind it was to change the work as a whole in a very radical manner. My challenge was to make a cover that somehow reinforced the bold decision that was changing the name of a classic title that was already so ingrained on people’s minds. I think this is part of what led me to create a very striking cover in terms of vibrant colours and textures. I had the intention of contributing to the shock that was the changing of the title of the book.
And as a little side note — I really liked the new title, it’s very cool. It doesn’t give too much away.
This is a book that has been published several times with several different covers. What is the challenge of creating a new cover for such a classic title?
There is definitely a lot of pressure and responsibility. I think it’s cool to study what’s already been done. I looked at all the covers of Animal Farm which was very helpful because I could then see what I didn’t want to do. For example, I didn’t want to use the Soviet aesthetic (typography, colours, Russian billboards) that I saw in many of them. I wanted to go down a path that didn’t resemble any of the past editions. I wanted it to be something new and fresh.
You can find out more about Deco and his work on his website and social media.
