Evaluation

Final Piece

Here is my final piece, overall i'm pretty happy with how it turned out and i'm glad that i tried lots of different ideas out before deciding which on to definitley go with. I think achieves the purpose that i want and links into the brief of "Earth, Air, Water and Fire" very well. The only things i would change or improve about it would be the flaps, as although i wanted them to be simple i do think that if i was being picky then they could be improved.

Working Progress Shots for Final Piece

 Firstly i added my water coloured image into the photoshop document where i edited it to ensure the paws were more defined, so to create the look of paws that have been in sand.

Then i decided to add in images of the text i had drawn out and inked. I edited it them in photoshop and turned the threshold up to make it bolder and make it more defined.

On the back flap i decided to add a white box around the blurb to make the text more striking, and then i lowered the opacity to ensure you could still see the background, but able to still read the text.

I then added information about the author C.S Lewis onto the left flap, and aligned the image of Lewis with the white box around the blurb, and aligned the text to the left, so to make it aligned with the image. 

After doing the left flap i added the information about the book onto the right flap, which i decided to make the background white, again to make the text more legible, it also means that the flap and front cover contrast with each other.

I realised that my own text was holding my front cover back and decided to change it to a typeface that was very similar, called "Hand Of Sean" and thought the main title would look more distinct and original to any other book covers if i aligned the text with the paw prints.

I added an ampasand in the font "Gill Sans" in ultra bold, like my emulation because i thought it gave a nice effect to the front cover and would make my front cover look more sophisticated, and not fill it up the white space with text.

Additionally i added the author's name in the same font as the main title of the book, to make sure that the text is concording with each other.

To achieve the look of paws on a beach fully i decided to make the back cover blue. I achieved this by taking my original picture of the paw prints, cropping it and then changing the hue, contrast and saturation to get this blue washed out colour that i wanted. I went head then and added it to my book cover and arranged the text, barcode, price, logo and website to make sure my back cover looked right and achieved the right effect i wanted i to.

However I still wasn't fully happy with my front cover, and decided to change the text again. I changed the font to white and change the font to one called "A Love Of Thunder" which is much bolder than the other font, but doesn't over power the paw prints, which are the main focus of the front cover. I added the same font and style to the spine to make sure they didn't clash.

I realised that unlike my emulation where i just used the text " Lion, Witch, Wardrobe" it would not work on this front cover. I added the rest of the text and make them smaller so that the title didn't take up as much room as it needed to, and rotated them to make my cover look more professional. I also made the author's name the same font and made sure it was small so that, again, it didn't overpower the paws that are the main focus of the front cover.

C.R.A.P Analysis

Digital Type Choice

Here is the photoshop document of the typefaces i chose to do this task.

                

Here is that same document, that i have printed out and annotated. I have used typography language to evaluate how suitable each typeface would be. For example i looked at how monospaced each type was and whether this would suit my book cover or not. After looking through all the typefaces i realised that it would look better on my front cover if the typeface was evenly spaced out. I also looked at the different heights of each typeface to try and evaluate whether i wanted a typeface that was all one height or of different heights. Eventually i came to the conclusion to use the second typeface, as it fits the style of my book cover perfectly as it stands out, but not so much that it may overpower the main focus of my cover, which is the paw-prints.

Emulation - Finished piece

Here is my final emulation, that i have developed from one of my scamps and used different ideas to make it look unique and different to the original book cover.

Emulation Working Progress Shots

Here was my very first idea for my emulation, where i scanned in my water coloured image of half the lions face, and i then decided to duplicate the half face, to essentially make it look like the full face of a lion. I thought this was good, but was clashing slightly with the text and was too dominant and full on.

Then i decided to change my idea completely and separate the two images onto the from and back covers. I realised the text on my other emulation was too much, and so i decided to cut it down from "The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe" to just "Lion" "Witch" and "Wardrobe" to allow more white space on the front cover. I also decided to make my background for the book black so that the text is more dominant and striking.

After this I added a black cover over the parts of the lion that was covering the flaps, and i did this to make more vertical composition, and to make it feel like things are flowing more evenly in bands. To me this effect also looks like the lion is peeking through the wardrobe. Adding a large ampersand on the front cover to take the place of the word "and" between each word. I repeated it on the spine of the book to make the book cover flow better and look more professional.

Here are shots of the flaps of my book cover. I kept it very simple and tried to use as little text as possible to achieve the effect that my front and back cover is showing. I added information about the author C.S Lewis and an image of him, so that it was clear to the reader who it is describing, and giving them background information on him.

Here on the back of my book cover i added a barcode, and the puffin website aswell as the logos on the spine and back cover to incorporate some repetition into my piece, and ensure the reader/ viewer knows that Puffin is the publisher of the book.

Copies

Here are my artist copies on the left, and the originals on the right. I drew out the images and then used watercolours to add colour and tone to my drawings, then i scanned them into Photoshop to edit them and touch up the parts that i didn't think looked like the originals.

Book cover scamps

Here are my sketches of my ideas of my book cover, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I started out by drawing out images from Pintrest that i thought would look good as a book cover, then i drew out the different images making them into book covers, and experimenting with different typography looks. I will use these sketches to help me create my emulation.

Artwork in the style of Gipi

Here are my pieces of artwork in the style of Gipi. I roughly drew out 4 different images to do with my subject matters and then chose a a main colour and then used darker colours to give the image more depth.

Proposition

Book Cover Design Scamps

Here are my book cover design scamps, taken from original book covers. I took images off Pintrest that i thought would give me ideas for my cover, and drew them out into my sketchbook. Then i decided to use water-colours to put colour into them and make them more interesting.

conventions of the form

Subject Matter Screenshots from Pintrest

Here are some screenshots from my Subject Matter board on Pintrest, which is Narnia - The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe.

Book Cover Design Screenshots from Pintrest

Here are the idea and designs of book covers i have come across on Pintrest. These will help me create my final piece.

Mindmap of Earth, Air, Fire and Water ideas