Taking inspiration from vintage typography & steampunk visuals, this book cover & jacket were a blast to complete. After doing a bit of research on Jules Verne as well as the history of this book in particular I was surprised to learn that the version of the story most everyone in the English reading world is familiar with is based on a pretty horrific original translation from French to English. In the last 30 years there has been quite an effort made from various sources attempting to correct these faulty translations and provide a more accurate story.
I wanted to take these changes into account when illustrating this cover. It is for this reason that I feature an Octopus rather than a Giant Squid and why the title uses the plural of "sea". The original title is Vingt Mille Lieues Sous Les Mers,  Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. The seas referring to the distance travelled under the seven seas, rather than referring to depth which is the most common misconception about the title.