A Máquina do Mundo (The World Machine) is the latest book by portuguese writer Paulo José Miranda. I was asked by the publisher Abysmo to do a series of illustrations and the cover design for the book. Two illustrations were used for the cover and backcover, and the other four were printed at the beggining of the book, as a sort of visual introduction. Abysmo also has a habit of asking guest designers and illustrators to do a logo, which is forever changing.
The main theme of the book is violence, in all it's forms and as an integral part of an existence that resembles more and more a video game. It's also a love story between two hired killers that keep killing each other, while trying to lose as few lives as possible. As usual with these kind of assignments, I try to depict everything that is not described in the book. I think the illustrations must not be literal visual translations of the actions and environments of a text. In most cases there's the danger of ruining a well crafted description with an image that cristalizes a specific interpretation, taking away from the reader the pleasure of imagining it. So these images are what came into my mind based on the philosophical considerations of the main protagonist, about violence. The violence of the elements, of nature, of god, of humanity, from the cradle to the grave. And I couldn't resist depicting the hi-density skyscrapers of Hong Kong, of course.
The main theme of the book is violence, in all it's forms and as an integral part of an existence that resembles more and more a video game. It's also a love story between two hired killers that keep killing each other, while trying to lose as few lives as possible. As usual with these kind of assignments, I try to depict everything that is not described in the book. I think the illustrations must not be literal visual translations of the actions and environments of a text. In most cases there's the danger of ruining a well crafted description with an image that cristalizes a specific interpretation, taking away from the reader the pleasure of imagining it. So these images are what came into my mind based on the philosophical considerations of the main protagonist, about violence. The violence of the elements, of nature, of god, of humanity, from the cradle to the grave. And I couldn't resist depicting the hi-density skyscrapers of Hong Kong, of course.
When I think of violent animals, the first that always comes to mind is the mantis, a beautiful insect with a deadly elegance.
For the main title I used the font Braggadocio, for it's military look, giving it a trashy treatment in Photoshop. This way it kind of looks like a graffiti or a street tag, and it blends better with the illustration.
The word for "Abyss" in portuguese is "Abismo" with an "i", but the publisher decided to replace it with the "y", a letter that has a chasm as main shape. So the guest logos tend to riff on that, and mine is no exception. I altered the "Y" so that the stecil separation falls in the middle of the letter and added the same basic texture as in the main title, but changing it into a printing press pattern.
The finished cover, spine and back-cover.
