Process - Storytelling

The project Story Telling started off with learning the tools and techniques about printmaking and wood carving. At first I could practice by creating an image which would get printed afterwards to have a better understanding of the techniques and the actual appearance.

To look at our task we had to design a series of book covers which communicate the book theme without using words. 

Regarding to that I already took photographs and illustrated images referring to the book "A Brief History of Seven Killings" by Marlon James which was the book title that I had to refer to.

Because I enjoyed the tutorial in woodblock carving and Lino printing I decided to design at least one book cover using this method. Furthermore I like to experiment with different techniques.

Referring to my photographs basing on my book I choose to communicate strength by sketching tensing hands. The image bases on texture. During the process I thought about simplicity so I would be able to transfer the sketches to the wood to carve it afterwards.

To have some inspiration I looked at the German Expressionists and at Goyas artwork because both of them expressing strength and a sense of horror.

The artist Sybil Andrews inspired me using movements and edges in my images.

(German Expressionists)

 (Goya)

 (Sybil Andrews)

Because my book is about an attack of Bob Marley before a peace concert I focused on the brutality, the attack, pain and the strength. I expressed those aspects in a punchy eye which cries.

Going further I looked at images with texture and patterns to express the strength as well as the ghetto lifestyle in which Bob Marley lived and his love to music.

Out from those ideas I learned to use symbols and signs to communicate my intensions. During the process of developing my first book cover I learned how to include research which inspired me to experiment with different drawing styles. Furthermore I looked at font styles that express my theme and would appeal to my audience, namely ebook readers.

Regarding to my audience they read mostly books which have a written and readable font as well as they are raising tension. The colour palette is mostly simple so they use primary colours. Regarding to that I included red, white and black.

When I finished carving my image into the wood I started to make some prints in red. Doing that I used different coloured sheets of paper. When I compared those I liked the print on the black paper the most.

I experimented with the colour of the font, the typography and the layout to come up with the solution that communicates the book theme the strongest.

The final outcome:

The other two books for which I chose to design book jackets were "The Attack" by Yasmina Khadra and "Ghettoside - A True Story of Murder in America" by Jill Leovy. Those two books have the same theme as "A Brief History of Seven Killings" in common, namely the brutality and strength.

Starting with "The Attack" I wrote a short blurb about the content of the book to get a better understanding. After that I focused on the theme brutality as well as the fact that the protagonist is torn between his killed wife and his believe causing her death through a bomb attack.

The images that I created show the wife and the symbol of the muslim religion. Furthermore they include a lot of blood to underline the brutality and the fact that his wife got killed.

I experimented with different styles such as collaging, illustrating and sketching. To discover different techniques I response to Sigmar Polke.

I decided to use my sketched images which show the woman trapped in the muslim symbol as the front cover and a bloody had expressing the protagonist's strength as the back cover.

Then I started to define my ideas. Thinking about the taste of my audience I decided to get rid of the crescent and star and cut the wife's face out. The reason for that is to raise tension and be simple.

To convey the fact of the protagonist being torn between his religion and his dead wife I used the crescent and star as the "c" n the headline "The Attack".

Looking at the font style I thought about a good readable but also simple style because my image is already very striking. I also experimented with the layout to have a harmonizing cover in the end.

After that I decided to use the same font style as my earlier outcome which underlines the aspect of a harmonizing book cover series. However, I edited the font style as I have done it for the first book as well so it would not look exactly the same.

Furthermore I had to draw my image in a larger size again so it would be focused in my outcome.

Looking at my last book cover that I designed I thought about a black background, white image and a red font. That is based on my chosen colour palette and the other book covers. The first one has a red background, white typography and a black image while the second book cover is made out of a white background, black font and a black and red image.

I brainstormed the themes in the book "Ghettoside - a true story of murder in America" by Jill Leovy and took some new photographs. After that I started sketching my ideas. The fist sketch is inspired by a hand and by the printmaking style of Pine Feroda. It shows a hand which represents on the one side the power of the gangs murdering innocent people and a head that expresses those killings. On the other hand it conveys the strength and courage of the Detective who wants to discover the murder of a black guy. In this case the head shows the different gangs.

Afterwards I looked at the detective and his work so I sketched some police tape and added blood. I also tried to include hands while drawing other ideas which would represent the strength of the detective. Those aspects would connect the third book cover with the previously ones. All books should broach the issues of brutality by including blood, strength by showing a hand as well as the colours.

While I was sketching I thought about printmaking the book "Ghettoside", too.

Then I defined my idea of the hand holding the head as the front cover and a police tape with blood drops as the back cover.

After that I started to carve my sketch into the wood blog and printed it afterwards in black. I also added some red details to underline the brutality in that book.

I started experimenting with the colour of my font, the typography and the layout. Because I wanted to have a book series which harmonizes I focused on the colous white and red. 

Because I did not broach the issue of the gun shooting the black guy I included a gun hole as the "o" in the title "Ghettoside".

Because my target audience are ebook reader I also designed book covers which fit the size of ebook covers.