Shrine by James Herbert

Shrine by James Herbert
Sample Book cover

I'm busy building up my portfolio of book covers and have updated the gallery page on my website to show some of my favourite designs. This cover was produced in acrylic paint and includes charcoal rubbings from gravestones and bible pages. Although, I have read most of James Herbert's books, I was a bit disappointed with this one - not the best introduction to his work. Try "The Secret of Crickley Hall" or "Others" first.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Sample Book Cover

Norwegian Wood came up in a discussion about films whilst I was having a conversation with one of my lecturers. When my course came to an end, I bought the Kindle book version and was not disappointed. This is a good read that naturally invites you into the lives of the characters in this book. It is about friendship, love and frank honesty. Set in Tokyo, it details the complicated feelings that a young student encounters and the choices that he has to make. I designed the book cover by taking an overall view of the story. It is not a direct translation of a scene, instead, it includes the feel of the book and the path that one of the characters take. The image is made from charcoal rubbings of fennel and gypsophila, acrylic paint and my painted footsteps. Photoshop was used to finalise the artwork.

Others by James Herbert

Others by James Herbert
Sample Book Cover

I've just returned from a lovely week away in Italy, refreshed and full of optimism again. Having read a couple of books on holiday I chose to paint this book cover for "Others" by James Herbert. Great book by the way. Hope you like my interpretation. I'm a big James Herbert fan and love all the books I've read by him, so what better way to unleash my imagination.

Struggling Illustrator

Chameleons

Thought I'd post about the struggles after leaving university. I've sent my first batch of dummy children's books out, written to quite a few agencies and contacts and have had quite a lot of rejections. This is to be expected, but it is hard to remain positive. I have so many avenues that need to be explored but I need to produce more artwork in these areas, so I feel like I'm not getting anywhere. I expect there are a lot of people in my position. On a more positive note, the Tigerprint Design a Day competition finishes today so I shall have more time to produce artwork and target more people. This has also given me quite a lot of artwork that I can use and hopefully will lead to some freelance work. I also applied for a freelance position through GumTree and it looks like I will be a resident book cover illustrator for a design agency. This is great news and has lifted my spirits up. I hope things start to get better, but for now I'm going to enjoy creating lots of new work and keeping my eyes open for opportunities.