Graphics Evaluation

Photographs of My Final Book Cover

After looking at my cover for so long I knew that I didn't like the colours I used for the main text/title, as it was quite harsh on the eye and difficult to read using the colour of Alice's hair in the illustration it immediately balanced it out a lot better. after that I changed a few small details which did not take look just to clean the the appearance of my book a little for example, the barcode and the price, the frame around the authors photographs the colour of the spine and the colour of the text of the top left information on the left flap.

By this stage I was coming to an end and was beginning to notice little things/details I didn't like about my cover which you will see in the adjustments I made in the next stage. But here I only made some small changes for example I changed the Background blue colour to a slightly warmer blue but I didn't want to make it to dark and also I felt like the space around the keyholes on the front and back cover were to empty so I tiled my small illustrations in behind them. I also made the circular shape of my illustration on the front cover more straight edged and clean.



By this stage I was beginning to feel more please with my progress, I think its because I had finally got all the information I needed/wanted onto my cover including the barcode, publishing company, designer information and text on the left flap.



Adding the blurb on the back and making the text fit within the shape of the keyhole looks quite effective and the white colour of that lorem ipsum text stands out as the white contrast with the black behind it. I changed the flap text to white as well as I planned to make all of the covers body text white and I also like again how the text fits and curves around the shape of the mushroom. Experimenting I added a semi circle to the flap to see what I thought, because I wasn't sure whether it looked to plain and simple without but doing this experiment made me realise I didn't really like it there as I didn't really fit the style of the book I don't think.



Information added to the spine, on the flap on the right I added a photograph of the author some lorem ipsum text, the price and more development on the back of the cover where I added the name of the book, changed the colour of the phrase 'through the keyhole' to completely white and put the illustration of the key on the page after adding colour to it, it made sense to use it because the key works with the theme of the keyhole shape and the phrase.



From the previous screen shot I made quite a lot of development as you can see. I put a light blue colour in the background, added some colour to the smaller individual illustrations, made the main illustration on the cover larger so it was more obvious to the eye, moved the text on the cover slightly until I felt it sat on the page nicely as though it belonged there, changed the colour of the authors name for proximity and put the keyhole on the back which I  then added the phrase 'through the keyhole' which I thought looked pretty.





I went back to the layout of the keyhole shape I originally planned to do, the I added the text on the front of the book cover. Using the colours blue and red, which I wasn't to sure about but I thought it would work because of the colours in the illustration.

Before completely setting my mind on the idea I wanted to try out a different layout, which I was fond of but I couldn't see how I was going to make it blend together with the rest of the book. After doing this arrangement I didn't develop any greater vision that of where to go from here so I kept with my original plans which I also liked.

Using my scamps and draft ideas I put the things I wanted to use on my cover, and made the keyhole shape that was on my scamps and drafts. Experimenting with the font, size and colour of it and where I would put it.

The screen shot above shows the cleaned up version of the illustrations I drew and plan to use somewhere on my book cover, I want to do this because I liked some of the similar elements in the scamps/drafts I created. The mushroom is also another one of the drawing I did and liked that I will consider using on my book cover.

Some basic drawings of my subject matter that I scanned into photoshop, I plan to clean these up using the lasso tool, so that I can use them on my book cover.

I have made more progress here adding the final bits of colour, Im really pleased as to how my main illustration has worked out and looks. I enjoyed working in a similar style to the copy and emulation I previously did of the illustrations from the Lauren Child books.








































I started the illustration that would be on my cover by scanning my drawing into photoshop where I changed the threshold and took away the white then I made another separate layer white, meaning I could add the colouring in between those two layers. I used photos I found on the internet and my own for the texture and materials of the illustration adding colour and detail, I also used just basic block colour in some areas of the picture. Using the lasso tool to make the photographs of the material, such as the red coloured pencil and the fabric from the dress, fit within the space I wanted them to be in.

Copy and Emulation 2

Above is the original. Below is mine, done with water proof ink and pen and watercolours

Above is the original. Below is mine, done with water proof ink and pen and watercolours

Above is the original. Below is mine, done with ink pen which I scanned in, adjusted the threshold took out the white background and added layers of colour in between the top layer of the drawing lines and the bottom layer of white.

Here is my emulation, I couldn't really thing of a idea to create, but after a few attempts I finally made this but I don't think it is very good, and Im not keen on this style of illustration.

Digital Type Choices

Experiments with Colour

Monochromatic

Analogous
































                                                                                                                                                 

 Triadic    
































Complimentary  



































Doing these experiments with colour give me more understanding of how types colours and colour schemes are used used to alter the feel and communication of an artefact. My preferable one out of the 4 colour schemes I did is the first one - Monochromatic, because I think they work together well and blend to give and soft feel to the artefact. 

Print Analysis

C.R.A.P Analysis

My Cover Drafts

Out of my scamps I did perviously I picked 3 that I might potentially want to be the front cover of my book. I redrew them In my sketch book slightly better with more detail. I then added colour to them to make them come to life and help me narrow down my decisions.  My favourite is the bottom front cover draft I just think its more fun and colourful which is suitable for a children's book, where as the other two are quite plain and neutral,  however i'm not so sure about the colours of the title of my favourite draft, I just don't think it is that easy to red and the red and the black are both quite harsh colours on the eye, but I shall experiment with those when it comes to making the final cover.

My Own Font

 

 

Here is the two different fonts I made or designed, I found it quite a long difficult process. I used my mood board to help give me an idea of what I wanted and inspire me. I drew them all out by hand to begin with and then I went on to photoshop and made lots of little improvements to each letter individually which was what made it a long process and I am not very pleased with the final things, I don't think either of the fonts I made look presentable and I wouldn't use them on my book cover, although I will probably use something similar to these styles, making my own font was something I had never done before and maybe with more practice I could improve.

Designing My Own Font

Mood board full of inspirational things I found and liked, to give me ideas towards what I want my own font to look like. I like the swirly/curly magical kind of style and I think it would work well for my Alice in Wonderland book cover.

My Copy and Emulation

This is my idea of Alice I created, for the character of my chosen book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, using the same method and style as my copy and emulation which are from Lauren Childs books.

Copying Other Artists Work

My version is on the left and the original is on the right.



































My version is on the left and the original is on the right.

My version is on the left and the original is on the right.

Copying the still of Design from Lauren Child's books 'Charlie and Lola' -
I really enjoyed doing this task because I felt it was helpful, as for my final illustration I wanted to use this kind of style or design. I think I liked this task because I like the end results and comparing my copy against the original. You can see where I started with the sketch book drawings/copies I did then scanned in, put onto photoshop changed the threshold, used the magic wand tool to remove the white and only have the black lines, and then on a separate layer underneath the lines I put in another white layer and in between those two fixed layers I filled them with similar photos I found on the internet here are examples of what I typed in - 'photos of jean fabric', 'green coloured pencil scribbles' and 'pink and white floral paper' - so I was looking for quite specific things. Each one did take me quite a while to do but I didn't mind because it was an interesting process and as new style of design I hadn't really tried before.