You CANNOT be serious!

Really and truly I spent ages changing my mind about my book covers – spending so long learning and unlearning how to do various things in Photoshop. The more I learn the less I know. I fiddled about with several completely new versions of a book cover having decided I did not like the other ones. I prefer what I have ended up with but not sure it was worth five hours for something that is not even an assignment.
Ah well. Here are some versions ending with the final (I did do even more than these!).

Number 1

Number 2

 

see what I did here???

Possible the last version.

And these are not all the versions I have done. Also noticed that I don’t like the way this most recent version bleeds across the edge of the page. I should have had a clean finish with a frame. I have no idea how I even forgot what the title was … perhaps it was because I had the meaning in my mind, and changed the words to match my interpretation.  Wow. That would not be good if I were doing this ‘for real’.

So here it is with the border ….

with border

And then a line between spine and front page … and some bevelled font.

I will not change this again!

Then my daughter suggested that the title text should move to the left …

OK?

You do have to learn when to stop I reckon. This version keeps the retro look that I wanted as it in fashion at the moment (ironically); the text is uncluttered as I set it in a white panel. The repeat pattern of the bicycle has a simple shape and so can tolerate repetition. I like that I have chosen a fairly obscure title but it means I can use a bicycle & these are now very much a zeitgeist. So maybe people would buy it. I am quite pleased with the result and could envisage this on the shelves!

New moves on the book covers

Picking up from earlier work on the HG Wells book covers, I have continued to think about this.

Spine for Volume 2

In keeping with the previous cover, I have a plain background, a texturised feel to the colour and a contrast of deep and muted colours. I have downloaded some brush tools to create the art deco corners and other embellishment. I like the way this is turning out. I discovered through my research that the book is about life sciences – not just the human body but all life. Considering Darwin’s ‘Origin of the Species’ and ‘natural selection’ were new ideas around the time the book was written, I looked up ‘fossil’ and came across the fish fossil that seemed quite simple and clear.

From Dandy Beads on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby_shoes_sam/4147379918/

with Fish Fossil

This was OK; the fossil gives a Darwinian feel – and so is of the time – but I wanted to keep with an art deco theme. So I added something to my search – which was ‘art deco’. Lots of things came up – it seems the art deco period was interested in botany, science and the like. So this is good. (I learned something here about the culture of the time and how art reflects scientific discovery).

demantoid garnet marlin brooch fish sword green gold sea ocean

From Marie’s jewels: http://maries-jewels-royals.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/green-and-gold-sealife.html I photoshopped this and it took ages to put a background cover in the spaces of the brooch clasp.

Science of Life final Cover

I needed to reshape the brooch to get it to fit nicely with the text.

 

I almost forgot to talk about how I also explored the idea of having a kind of fabric background for my books. Initially I though about tweed 0 to reflect an HG Wells wardrobe. But this seemed to cluttered.  I then loked at using a simple design to suit a book title and to use this as a print to create a kind of fabric.

Bike on colour

Bike print.

I do really like this and could easily have gone with it, but in the end got influenced by a more minimalist clean look and thought the the print might get in the way of the text. I would obviously have chosen an image to match the topic of the book – and Wells did write about cycling …

Book cover stuff

Lots of notes in my notebook but here is the stuff I have done today … been fiddling around trying to remember how tomix the colours etc and have messed about getting some art deco effects to add to my book cover. Only done one, but this is one of a series of 3. The others will follow the template. The template consists of font, layout and use of a few brushes to stamp an art deco pattern on.

First bashes included:

This has a texture but is blurred.

This was OK- ish . I wanted a pastel colour at first .. thinking to have a pale shade for the background of each volume. Also a dark coloured frame. I wanted corner embellishments though. And I could not get these even. The font is not bad. I am trying to get one that is angular but also soft in art deco fashion. Elegant I guess.

Swopped to blue as I like the idea of a blue and green combo to get the stained glass idea of art deco. Different font now - this is Optima.

Not sure the spacing was right and so had another go, this time also bending the text to an arc. Think this is looking more professional.

Arched arrangement

Then I found at last, some embellishments that give it more of an art deco feel.

with embellishments

This may be a bit packed with detail I am not sure. But I like this one. I used the same size as my postcard for the front cover dimensions. This may be a bit small but the proportion seems OK. Obviously the colours were set, also the font. I wanted just one image, and one that also was of the time. I focused more on the word ‘World’ than ‘History. This is echoed in the image, but also in how I noted where HG Wells lived – Bromley Kent.
This detail was a bit of a dig at his somewhat idiosyncratic style which was hinted at in one of the sources I found – which said he was more of a fantasist than a scientist.

Texturised, with embellishments. A gradient colour as opposed to a harsh block.

I found the image of the globe as an item for sale in etsy.com.

Perhaps a bit boring in the end?

Finally I think the result is OK. Looking a bit like he has chosen to self-publish like a boy scout attempt at writing ‘The History of the World’. I think such a title is ridiculous really and so deserves a bit of a send up.

H.G. Wells

Masses of stuff online about Herbert George. I cannot believe how many books he has written – over 20 novels, several works of non-fiction and about 50 short stories. In addition I discover he was married twice, had numerous affairs, was a socialist, a diabetic and believed in eugenics. His second wife apparently agreed he could have affairs. I have heard that one before. In his biography he says: “I was never a great amorist, though I have loved several people very deeply”.

Our George was a bit of a mix really. Not sure I would have liked him.

In terms of primary research there is a lot to be done – reading all those books, or at least a sample would be appropriate. I would skim through the texts of a few books. I have never read any of his books – I don’t like sci-f i in general. So I think I would prefer to work on the non-fiction.

Also looking at the ways in which others have designed book covers – looking on Amazon and in the bookshops to see what has already been done. (I think this research would be primary. Some may see it as secondary as it would be looking at the collections others had made – but if I am looking at the design of the books I think this is primary research.)

there’s a lot of book cover images on Google already, eg:

Google Images: HG Wells book covers

I prefer the simple ones I think. Like these. And I see these won an award:

Online here: http://www.jennifermadden.co.uk/H-G-Wells-Book-Covers

Other primary research would be:

• Interviews with George – not possible as he is currently unavailable;
• Interviews with relatives – this may be secondary or primary, not sure;
• Investigation of socio-cultural context
• Looking at whether there are unpublished manuscripts

A great deal of secondary research could be done and you would have to do a trawl to see what is out there and then decide what kind of thing to focus on. I think I would watch a few films to see the general themes and get the mood of the books.  So seeing films would give me a flavour.

Other secondary stuff would include:

• Biographies
• recordings of interviews
• Critiques and reviews of his life and works

Finally I think tertiary work would include going to museums and exhibitions and looking at websites, especially wikipedia.

Wikipedia has so much info it would kill me to trawl through all that; a scan for highlights maybe and then I reckon the next thing to do s to find out a bit about the era in which a few books have been written. I would focus on some written in the 1920s and go for a style that I could associate with the time. I think that would be a bit more interesting research wise. He had a good long life really and it spanned across centuries s you can pick a good moment I guess.

The loveliness of the roaring 1920s can be seen here.  It might be nice to have this STYLE: 

The 1920s. (Google image search)

 Maybe I would cheat and go for the decorum of art deco as well though. This is probably more 1930s.

Ok so we know that:

He was a teacher, a draper, a politician, a misogynist, a suffragette sympathiser (really?) and a socialist pacifist. He spent a LOT of time writing and had two children.

I think I will pick three books all linked together to design book covers for; these are described by wikipedia here:

Wells also wrote nonfiction. His bestselling three-volume work, The Outline of History (1920), began a new era of popularised world history. It received a mixed critical response from professional historians.[22] Many other authors followed with “Outlines” of their own in other subjects. Wells reprised his Outline in 1922 with a much shorter popular work, A Short History of the World,[23] and two long efforts, The Science of Life (1930) and The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1931). The “Outlines” became sufficiently common for James Thurber to parody the trend in his humorous essay, “An Outline of Scientists”—indeed, Wells’s Outline of History remains in print with a new 2005 edition, while A Short History of the World has been recently reedited (2006).