Coraline Book Cover
Book Cover Redesign Utilising a Photoshoot
Book Cover Redesign Utilising a Photoshoot
I had to chose a book that would be able to successfully have a cover that was a photograph. For me the problem wasn't a lack of ideas, but more which book! There are so many wonderful books out there that I love and whose cover might need a little help. Many of these books wouldn't work with a photographic cover though. Then I thought of the fact that the cover doesn't have to be bad, there just might be a new interpretation that I could bring. I quickly decided that I wanted to reinterpret the cover of Neil Gaiman's 'Coraline.'
If you haven't read 'Coraline' (the movie doesn't count), the book is a story about a young girl who moves into a new home and discovers, behind a door that one day was closed and the next day it was not, that she has an 'Other Mother.' Who has buttons for eyes. The 'Other Mother' is quite a nasty piece of work and eventually Coraline is victorious by staging a fake picnic, because of a documentary she had watched on Protective Coloration.
I thought, wouldn't it be fun to show that final victory with the faux picnic. Very quickly I also knew that I wanted to sew the title, with button eyed people, how could I not include sewing? Also, for those of you who have read the book, each little item on the cover, from the three marbles, to the bugs, to the stone with a hole in it, are very important. I always like my design work to have many layers so that the initiated and uninitiated alike will appreciate it. I also opted to direct the cover shoot versus doing the photography myself, because this way I was able to learn more about that side of being a Graphic Designer.
If you haven't read 'Coraline' (the movie doesn't count), the book is a story about a young girl who moves into a new home and discovers, behind a door that one day was closed and the next day it was not, that she has an 'Other Mother.' Who has buttons for eyes. The 'Other Mother' is quite a nasty piece of work and eventually Coraline is victorious by staging a fake picnic, because of a documentary she had watched on Protective Coloration.
I thought, wouldn't it be fun to show that final victory with the faux picnic. Very quickly I also knew that I wanted to sew the title, with button eyed people, how could I not include sewing? Also, for those of you who have read the book, each little item on the cover, from the three marbles, to the bugs, to the stone with a hole in it, are very important. I always like my design work to have many layers so that the initiated and uninitiated alike will appreciate it. I also opted to direct the cover shoot versus doing the photography myself, because this way I was able to learn more about that side of being a Graphic Designer.
The front cover.
The back cover.
The complete book cover, inside flaps and all.
My supplies. Also, if anybody needs any rubber bugs, I only needed a few and now I have 200, so drop me a line.
The sewn elements.
More sewing... yes, it took a long time.
'Coraline' with it's new cover.
Front jacket flap.
The finished product!
