After sketching out some ideas of the traditional portraits I moved onto digitally developing them where I came up with a few more ideas along the way.
I thought of also transforming her into one of her role models: Frida Kahlo as she mentions in the book that she is one of her idols so I thought that it would be a good play on it to make her into one of her 'heroes'. I found the iconic portrait of Kahlo and decided to simply add her face onto her.
I found that this looked a little odd. I was trying to stick to a minimal colour palette to keep it more contemporary, playing with monotone and splashes of colour in her accessories, lips and eyes. But it seems too serious for the book, it just looks like she is posing for a portrait rather than being an equal to Frida Kahlo which was what I was going for. After mocking this up digitally I don't think that I will carry on with this idea.
The Birth of Venus
My favourite idea was including her into "The Birth of Venus" painting. To add more comedic value to the piece I decided to add a 'shocked' face as well as her iconic hair to the figure. I thought that this would show both the traditional and comedic vibes that penguin were looking for on this cover.
I also added some underwear in a cheesy leopard print to make it a bit more funny rather than just having the hair cover her. However after having a critique with my tutor he said that the underwear made it a little too wacky, and that based on my research where the type is factored into the design I should do the same rather than having it floating above her head. I had tried using ribbon like in the book covers I research however this still felt a bit lost in all of the detail. I needed something simple to contrast the flat yet detailed illustration.
So I took off the underwear and added 'censorship' bands over her privates and put the text on these. I feel like these work really well because it is a bit tongue and cheek just like the book itself and it isn't being over feminine with the typeface choice. The red is definitely a stronger contrast than the black censorship bands as it draws the eye to it and makes the cover more poppy.
Next I decided to take the design even less feminine by adjusting the background colour from the baby pink. I feel like aiming this book at women through the stereotypical colours goes against what Caitlin Moran believes and it shouldn't be a book marketed to just women as I imagine men would enjoy it too. So I looked at the painting once more and decided to pick a colour similar to the colour of the sky and the see. The red and this blue combined really make the cover a lot more eye-catching.
Once deciding on the main type placements and illustration I moved from just the front cover to the whole wrap around for the book. Initially I found it really difficult to place all of the text on there without taking away from my illustration. Especially with the review text, it felt placed on and not integral to the design. Also the blurb on the back cover feels a little static too but I will wait until my next crit to see how I can add some dynamism.
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