GRAPHICS PATHWAY - STUDY ZONE RESEARCH: ILLUSTRATION

On my first proper introduction to the library at Ravensbourne I was impressed by the variety of books available in my subject area. This made the day's task considerably easier. The main objective was to create Penguin inspired book cover with the Penguin logo and bar code A4 in size. We had to pick a specialism weather it be fashion promotion and illustration to film making and typography. I choose to focus on Illustration and in particular sports illustration in newspapers and other editorial pieces. At first I had no clear direction and wondered how I could make illustration interesting to me and to others as well as having a personal touch. I picked up volumes 21, 22 and 23 of '20th Century American Illustrations' which swayed me immediately. I have a passion for sport and art and thought this combination would be ideal. I was instantly struck by the wonderful illustrations from artists such as Walt Spitzmiller and Bill Dula which inspired me.

Once I had brainstormed some initial ideas, I decided to focus on the black and white illustrations and using paint to get the bold effect. Below are the back and front covers of my book cover inspired by Spitzmiller and Dula's sports illustrations . I chose the two basketball players because of the retro but yet timeless feel as well as the composition which allowed me space for a blurb. The front cover depicts a American football player whose expression I felt was very strong and highlighted the intentions of the book content with regards to freeze frames and moments in sport. I began both with a black washout of the background and then depicting the major shades in black and some other details in white to give a natural and retro feel.

I then composed the layout of the book cover, adding text and a title
'Instant Replay - An Illustrator's Perspective' which was a result of playing
around with sporting terms such as Injury Time and Slam Dunk. I applied
some colour filters and artistic effects which subtly altered its
appearance 

This is the final book cover created using an InDesign template. In the end I barely
changed the background colour, instead I increased the saturation of the originally
grey background which surprisingly produced some subtle blues and greens which I
 feel works well. I added the Penguin logos, the bar code and a spine to complete the
cover which overall I am pleased with.

Images - Author's Own 22/11/13