I loved Ivy Pocket when I read the proof - it's a fabulous story with a brilliant lead who you'll warm to but laugh at - but seeing John Kelly's illustrations made it an even better book. I'm delighted to have a guest post from him on the process of designing the cover!
Ivy Pocket
Cover: Fire, flood and defenestration.
Ivy Pocket is
an incredible character.
She’s certainly
incredibly delusional, incredibly dangerous, and incredibly unaware of the
chaos that she creates wherever she goes.
So the cover
for her very own book needs to really try and get this essential ‘Ivy-ness’
across to the reader.
The publisher’s
first idea was to have some kind of complicated slipcase. It’s calm exterior
would flip open to reveal an Ivy-generated Victorian domestic chaos within.
Escaped monkeys
were mentioned. I was excited.
Sadly this
wasn’t practical (the slipcase not the monkeys). Instead I was asked to
illustrate Ivy beaming out her serenely smug and delusional grin from the front
cover.
I designed a
gilt frame to surround her. It illustrated certain key story elements; tiny
hooded assassins, clouds of smoke, piles of cash, and a metaphorical banana
skin to represent the effect Ivy has on the Universe.
That left the back
cover free to show a scene of the mad chaos Ivy has caused. In it everyone would
be fleeing in terror from the living, breathing accident that is Ivy Pocket.
I loved drawing
this.
A small boy in a
sailor suit scrambles up the curtains, a spectacled governess flees, the cowardly
vicar hides beneath the coffee table, an angry cat hisses from a footstool, and
a gentleman throws himself out of the window to avoid meeting Ivy.
Unfortunately
there were no escaped monkeys allowed.
Once approved (no
changes, hurrah!) I illustrated it with the digital paint programs ArtRage and
Adobe Photoshop. I swap between them as ArtRage has lovely direct painting
brushes that simulate oil and Acrylic strokes, whereas I prefer Adobe Photoshop
for lighting effects and adjusting colour.
When the
finished art was submitted, Katie Everson the designer at
Bloomsbury felt it wasn't quite ‘manic’ enough. Not enough mayhem and property
damage for an ‘Ivy Pocket’ book.
Hurrah!
I do love
Bloomsbury. They never say, “That’s too manic. You need to do less.”
So I went back and added fire, flood, but sadly no pestilence (unless the small boy has measles).
So I went back and added fire, flood, but sadly no pestilence (unless the small boy has measles).
The final
artwork has the roof caving in under a flood of water (Ivy probably left the
bath running), the curtains are on fire (don’t ask), and there's a lot more
shattered glass, smoke, and scattered tea things.
And an escaped
dog.
Still no
monkeys though.
I’m doing the
next book soon. It’s called: ‘Somebody stop Ivy Pocket’.
Oh dear.
Can’t wait.
No comments:
Post a Comment