Object sketches

I have spent some time trying to sketch out objects for the covers. The sketches have been done in graphic pen and cleaned up a bit, and they do still look a bit messy, however I think a grungy style of illustration would suit the themes of the books, so I might try and keep to this style

Revolver from All the Pretty Horses

Old wooden shack from Child of God

money briefcase form No Country for Old Men

Scalping knife from blood meridian

4 of Cups tarot card from Blood Meridian

Old shopping trolley from The Road

Im not sure exactly how to lay these out to fit a book cover, but I will play around with them a bit and see where it goes

objects

One of the Ideas I had for the books was to depict objects that summarise the book or that is prominant in the book. for example the gun point towards All the pretty horses where the protagonist tries to reclaim a gun that belongs to him, and a bag of money that is central to the story of no country for old men

If i done a series of these objects out of context, it would make a potential reader want to know their relevance to the story

List of McCarthy Titles

Before I go designing covers I need to get a grasp of what books I am going to do, so far I have chosen 3 covers (highlighted in bold)


The Orchard Keeper (1965)
Outer Dark (1968)
Child of God (1973)
Suttree (1979)
Blood Meridian (1985)
All the Pretty Horses (1992)
The Crossing (1994)
Cities of the Plain (1998)
No Country for Old Men (2005)
The Road (2006)

for the other two I have it narrowed down to child of god, suttree, blood meridian and the crossing. I am going to read up on them a bit more before I decide

Mind Map

I drew a mind map of thoughts I had for the book covers, its not great in detail but I usually struggle to think of ideas off the bat

Penguin book covers

Penguin books have had a huge presence since their start in 1935, after they redefined publishing due to their high quality yet inexpensive paperback books. and one thing that has become iconic is their book covers.
Although they are not used now, penguin used to use a very specific graphic style in their books that would make them easily identifiable as penguin books

Before I have even started mind mapping I though maybe trying a retro styled penguin cover for the series of books could be a viable option? of course more would need to be considered than just the style, but its a starting point if nothing else

Choice

I am going to go use Cormac McCarthy's Novels for my brief, I made this choice simply because I am most familiar with his work over other authors.

I am a big fan of the film adaptation of The Road because of the films harsh nature, all of which was derived from the book and some of which was even omitted from the film for being too graphic, the harshness of the book is something which McCarthy carries well throughout all of his novels, even reading the syopsis of most of his books would tell you that.

Authors

Ray Bradbury

Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Horror
Short stories & Novels that predicted future dependencies on technology and how overbearing security and censorship can lead to dystopian environments

 

Sarah Waters

Novelist known for her books set in victorian London which normally featured lesbian protagonist or explored lesbian themes. Several of her books have met huge success in TV adaptations

George Orwell

Critic, Poet, Journalist and Novelist, Orwell is best known for his dystopian novel '1984' warning of a future life coming under oppressive rule of machine. Other notable work includes animal farm, homage to catalonia and the road to wigan pier 

Cormac McCarthy

Playwright and novelist who spans several geres with his range of books, notable southern gothic and old western. His book 'The road' has been voted one of the best books in the past 10 years by the times, and several of his novels have been adapted to film, with another underway.

Irvine Welsh

best known for his novel trainspotting, his writings are surprising depictions of scottish life, even using local dialects in his work. most of his books explore the mundane harsh life of drug addicts, some books even sharing the same setting

Beginning

This blog will focus on the development of my concept development brief, where I must create a series of 5 book covers for one of the following authors:

Ray Bradbury
Sarah Waters
George Orwell
Irvine Welsh
Cormac McCarthy

The idea behind the brief is to entice readers back from digitally distributed books by offering something that E-books cant, which is something I will hopefully find out throughout this process