This book has not yet been published. For this reason I have chosen to display only the illustration I have created for it, sans any identifying text. This page will be updated to show the full design upon public release.

Client

Hawkeye Publishing

Deliverables

Illustrated book cover

Year

2024

Brief

Create an illustrated book cover for a fantasy adventure novel written for an early teen audience, primarily featuring a woodland setting and including compass-related imagery. The author additionally expressed an interest in the use of bold, contrasting colours, and liked the idea of "looking out into another world".

Outcome

The final illustration is bright and eye-catching, capturing a sense of adventure with a vibrant palette that will stand out from shelves and draw the attention of potential readers.

Approach

I was inspired by the author's idea of creating a scene that feels like looking through something into another world, and wanted to play with frames and using symbolic imagery.

Rough sketch of a path winding through a field towards tall trees in the distance. The sun in the middle of the sky looks like an old-fashioned compass.

Rough sketch of an open compass with a woodland scene inside the top face.

Detailed sketch of a book cover. An open compass sits on the right, with the top appearing like a window looking into a forest clearing. A boy and a dog stand within. On the left is a simple woodland scene with trees and bushes.

Style development

The visual style I chose to work with is characterised by shapes that are both solid and irregular, with a heavy use of rough brushstrokes to add texture and detail.

I forwent realism for the sake of impact when it came to colour, using a limited palette of blues and oranges to create contrast and emphasise the fantasy setting.

Digital illustration based on the previous sketch. The colour palette is primarily made up of oranges and blues.