Belly Bands - my professor suggested this as a solve to the problem that we were experiencing in laying the titles of the books on the covers as she felt that placing type on the cover was taking away from the beauty of the illustrations. I agreed and so devised these belly bands to be adjustable and printed on tracing/ vellum paper.
The original illustration I created using Adobe Illustrator for the first book - The Fellowship of the Ring. I wanted to illustrate key scenes from the three books that haven't already been used on paperback or hardcover books in print by the publishing house already (Del Rey), but are scenes that have stayed with us as an audience due to their grandeur.
Illustration with print layout for a regular paperback/ hardcover book.
Original hand-drawn illustration.
Completed Adobe Illustrator illustration where I've added in foilage, color and we decided that the mountains were too vague and so placed the Tower of Orthank in the background for book two: The Two Towers.
Book two layed out on a paperback/ hardcover layout.
Illustrated completely using Adobe Illustrator as was the first book. You'll notice that the illustration has no ground color, but the book (immediately below) layout does. It was a happy mistake and I liked the way it looked and so kept it in for book three: The Return of the King.
Illustration with layout type on a paperback/ hardcover dimension format.
Actual paperback book sleeves - top view of the front with the belly bands in place.
Spine view of the three actual paperback sleeves with the belly bands in place - front view.
Actual paperback books from top view - the backs of the books with belly bands in place.
Hardcover mock ups of the three books with belly bands in place.
Hardcover spine mock ups of the three books with belly bands in place.
Hardcover mock-ups in top view of the three books from an another angle.
