Navigating

Unfortunately blogger doesnt let me sort the posts in reverse order, so if you want to read this from the beginning and work your way from there you'll need to go to older posts and start from the oldest one and view it backwards :/

Final thought

I am very happy with how the set has turned out, much better than I thought they would considering my last attempt at this brief. I feel my designs serve the novels well, and the well suited paper is a happy bonus which adds that extra element to shelf appeal.

If I were to revise anything I would have liked to spend a bit more time on the back cover of the book, the layout could be cleaner, and I think the image of cormac McCarthy detracts from the overall weathered look because I left it untouched.

Voila!

So after a few tweaks in the print file I got it to where I wanted. For a final consideration I also bought some thin paper stock in hopes to create the feel of newspaper, and the paper held the ink surprisingly well which is a welcome change of luck when it comes to my printer.

texture

Hopefully the final consideration for this is texturing, this will be what makes or breaks the set in my opinion. If done right I hoped to add age to each piece depending on its setting. I grabbed some paper textures online and got to work with levels, the burn tool and some grunge brushes. and here is the final result:

(as a side note, despite The Road being set most recently, I added the most weathering to it because its set in a post apocalyptic theme, so I thought it would fir the book a lot more than doing a clean looking newspaper, and it's turned out to be my favourite)

Images

The typography and layout of the covers were done in illustrator, and because of such I couldn't add the final processed images to the covers yet, because dragged over from photoshop they don't preserve transparency which would prove to be a problem when adding the texture. I put the images in place in illustrator just to work the layout around them, but the final say for the images would be done in photoshop

Blurb and bio added

for the back cover I kept it fairly simple, I used a blurb of the book at the top, and a short bio of cormac mccarthy at the bottom.

cover typography

Next to recreate a newspaper look I needed something to write on the front cover, as well as some kind of print-publishing style layout.
Besides the header book title, I wrote sub headers to seem like a news story from events happening in the book, which also works quite well as a one sentence blurb I feel.
For the body copy I found quotes from the book, again another way to read into the book without revealing too much. I feel this could work quite well for any potential readers picking up the book on a shelf.

image prints

in continuing the image sourcing and processing for the newsprints, I moved on to Child of God, where I used an image of an old shack for the paper piece. If this was set in a year that relief prints were prominent I could have easily used my sketch, but it wasnt so I had to use a halftone style on another image I had sourced.

Next - No country for old men

The road

back to objects - relief prints

so now I am trying to make the objects look fitting to their respective print method. Blood meridian being the oldest in terms of setting the object used (scalping knifes) is made to look relief printed and quite rough

All the pretty horses uses a certain revolver that the character is trying to retrieve part way through the story, I tried to re-use my sketch, trace it on illustrator, colour it in but I couldnt make the sketch work well to the style, it just looked too clean. I found an ad for the gun printed that was quite rough, I ramped up the contrast and it turned out perfect

back to objects

Now I need to consider what, if any images I would place on to these newspapers. They need to add to the cover rather than just 'be there'. I am thinking about reconsidering some of the ideas from the first concept or even merging the two concepts, try to bring in the images of objects used to summarise the story.

If I am to use images I need to try and make them look like they are prints accurate to their time period. firstly starting with relief prints, bitmap and halftoned images and then digital and offset

the typographic treatment!

First thing to secure the newspaper style is of course the header, so that's the first place I started. I used a variety of fonts to try and simulate the look of a newspaper style, and here was what I've ended up with

These will be accompanied with body copy and images next, as well as some texture and colouring to make them seem more appropriate to their year of print

Newspapers

1800's newpapers, notably the gothic font used on the top one and the style of the printed image on the bottom

1950's newspapers, Grabbed these images for reference in the discolouring and fade on the top and the typographic style of the bottom

1960's newspapers. again for reference with style, layout and fading

1980's newspaper. here the style starts become more akin to that of today's newpapers. as well as the print becoming more defined and printing deeper black

current newspapers with the exception of broadsheets are dumbed down for for general public, heavy use of images and in your face headers. modern day printing has allowed images to be full colour, but I'm going to cheat a bit when it comes to designing one similar to current newspapers, because having one book in colour and the rest B&W would ruin the books as a set, making one stand out from the rest.

time related

NEWSPAPERS!

The best idea I had when thinking of something that can be designed for each era, it would suitably go within each of the book's decades, and in terms of the cover design they would work well by themselves or as a set.

The newspaper design could exploit the common use of bold header type for the title of the book, as well as using the sub headers and body copy as a small intro to the book or a summary to the story, I can also incorporate images relative to the book as a newspaper photograph

New idea

Referring back to my mind map I have moved on to try designs based on the decades or eras of each book

I again read into the settings of each book, and as luck would have it none of my chosen books are set in the same decade, which gives me a good foothold to start an idea on different time settings within the design

Blood Meridian - 1850

All the Pretty Horses - 1949

Child of God - 1960

No Country for Old Men - 1980

The Road - 2010+

mock up thoughts

Although I like the idea of using the sketches I think the book cover mock ups didn't really show off much to the story, and the colours seemed a bit dramatic. I could easily go back and revise this. but I want to try and take another idea on and see if i can develop something with a bit more substance

Mock up

I started trying out ideas on photoshop and illustrator based on my previous ideas and research. using my sketches and layout idea I have made a few variations of the same Idea

The guides are showing roughly where the image borders are. This is a basic layout for the road using some of my considerations, next I have tried to add some texture

Clearly this is starting to have a bit more impact, but still not nearly enough.

The use of this bold typeface (franchise) gives a better look to the whole piece, but it still needs more.

Texture

Mccarthy's books are well known for being harsh and unforgiving, and I think I might need to try and bring in some use of texture to emulate this. I don't know how yet exactly, but I need to consider paper stocks as well as the graphics themselves, could I do anything to make them look more 'rough'?

Typography Ideas

by this stage I am also considering the typographic elements to the books, and have tried to achieve a western look to the type. here are some basic layouts I have drafted in illustrator

I like the western style to the font (clarendon black) however I might consider trying something a bit more clean and modern, as maybe the western style may clash with the sketches if i use them

layout Idea

From my considerations earlier with the penguin books I considered trying the image being placed in the centre of the book, with a frame at the top and bottom of the book, roughly following a style similar to penguin books: