Designing a book cover and a series of illustrations for Victor Marie Hugo's novel "The Man Who Laughs".
Colors and fonts
The novel "The man who laughs" touched my heart and inspired me to create thematic illustrations of the brightest, in my opinion, stories. Of course, in the book a lot of thoughts and explanations, but worthy of illustrating stories much more than you can see in this project.
The cover can be seen as one story folded in half: the young Guinplain is standing on a cliff face, watching the Comprachicos who abandoned him. In the depths of the sea a ship floats among the waves. And, getting ahead of the plot, one can discern an object that played a huge role in the fate of the protagonist - a note from the Comprachicos before their death.
In the first illustration you can see Ursus and Homo. Ursus is a man and Homo is a wolf.Ursus is the healer and wise old man, Gomo is the food guard and counselor.They were bonded by close friendship and lived in a travelling carriage.At first - together, then - with the main character of the book.
In this illustration, Guinplain has already found an unknown village and is attempting to reach out to its inhabitants in the hope of finding shelter.
Here - the protagonist and little Deja, found in the snow, are sleeping after supper in Ursus' wagon. Guinplain has a dream about a ship that sailed away without explanation. "Where is it? What has become of it in this weather? Why have these people abandoned me?" he wonders.
Guinplain and Deja grew up to be toilers in the "circus on wheels". Their relationship to each other is the epitome of true love, light and kind, which demands nothing in return.
The end of the book is discouraging, leads to a dead end, and frustrates readers. True love is rare, not always visible to others. But how long does it live? And can everyone live after losing their love? Everyone has their own answer to this question. You can find out Guinplain's answer by reading the book to the end.
Here you can see how the illustrations fit into the spread of the book.
