Artist research 2

Ar#st Research Rhiane Cunningham BTEC Photography Book cover brief

Photographic only covers The Last Skin

The River Wife

By Barbara Ras

By Jonis Agee

Heavily edited covers The House Of Hades

By Elizabeth Hunter

By Rick Riordan

The Scribe

Photographic based collage covers Girlchild

A Death In Summer

By Tupelo Hauunan

By Benjamin Black

Tradi#onal collage covers The Goldfinch

BuLerfly in the Typewriter

By Donna TarL

By Cory MacLauchlin

Art based cover All Change

Blankets

By Elizabeth Jane Howard

By Craig Thompson

Graphic covers Double Shot

You Had Me At Hello

By Anna Blundy

By Mhairi McFarlane

The River Wife

By Jonis Agee Genre : Fic#on

Synopsis : When the earthquake brings Annie Lark’s Missouri house down on top of her, she finds herself pinned under the massive roof beam, facing certain death. Rescued by French fur trapper Jacques Ducharme, Annie learns to love the strong, brooding man and resolves to live out her days as his “River Wife.” hLp://www.goodreads.com/book/show/281691.The_River_Wife

The front cover of The River Wife visually illustrates the contents of this book by showing a woman that look like she's drowning in water, wearing a white dress that could be seen as a wedding dress which links well to the name of the book. I think that the front cover helps describe the book because the woman in the picture is shown to be drowning and is facing death, which is what happens in the book where the main character ‘Annie Lark’ is faced with being stuck under a roof beam, facing death.

I think the effect of the placement of the text is that is really focus’ the reader to the woman and helps link the two together. I also like how the font is a clean san serif, I think that this makes the picture s#ll stand out, and makes the picture look pure and links to the white dress again pushing more of the face she looks newly married.

The formal elements that the designer has used to create this cover is the colour, because of her white dress, the designer didn’t want to distract you from it, so by choosing a white font, it in a way merges with the dress and looks like its apart of the picture so it doesn’t look out of place and unnatural. The designer has used a clean font, this helps carry on the sodness of the picture which means there's nothing that is to harsh which will ruin the picture, and I think that this is successful. The composi#on was also something that I think is successful because having the woman go from top centre to boLom centre really gives the sense of her floa#ng, which helps link with the dress which also looks like it’s floa#ng because of the water. This floa#ng feel links with the pureness of the picture and give an angel feel to her and something that is able to float. The way the woman looks pure creates confusion as it makes the reader feel that she's purposely drowning rather than she's gasping for air. The way the designer has used the reflec#on of the water works well because it shows that she is underwater, and it also obscures her face, which makes the reader want to know more about her and wants to try to connect to her, to find out what's happening.

I think that this front cover is successful because it will intrigue the reader, but I think that from the synopsis given its hard to understand where the river part comes into the story, this helps me understand when I make my book covers I will want to make sure the cover and the synopsis link well. I do feel that the picture is visually strong and powerful which is very eye catching.

The Scribe

By Elizabeth Hunter

Genre : Fic#on

Hidden at the crossroads of the world, an ancient race baLles to protect humanity, even as it dies from within.

Ava Matheson came to Istanbul looking for answers, but others came looking for her. A reckless warrior guards her steps, but will Malachi’s own past blind him to the truth of who Ava might be? While ancient forces gather around them, both Ava and Malachi search for answers. hLp://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18298132-­‐the-­‐scribe

The front cover of The Scribe visually illustrates the contents of this book by showing the place that it is set in ‘Istanbul’ and also shows one of the characters Malachi. This helps the readers get familiar to the sehng and cant picture what it looks like and what Malachi looks like. Having the character topless shows he's strength and makes it look like he is gehng prepared for a baLle.

I think the effect of the placement of the text is that the reader is able to s#ll see the main part of the cover and it isn’t intrusive, yet it is large text so it stands out to make it no#ceable. The font links well with the story as its got an ancient look to it, making it look quite old and fantasy like.

The formal elements that the designer has used to create this cover is the composi#on, making the man in the centre of the cover makes him the main focus, and in the background is the ancient world, that he is looking over, this gives the sense of a baLle or something that the character is going to have to face with.

Another formal element that the designer had to use was the depth of field as he had to make the man in focus and the world out of focus.

I think that this front cover is quite successful in portraying the story of the book, I think that it’s a strong front cover and has been edited well. The cover definitely shows some main parts of the story, such as the sehng and I think this is good because people can then have a beLer understanding of what it is like.

Girlchild

Tupelo Hauunan Genre : Fic#on

Synopsis : Rory Hendrix, the least likely of Girl Scouts, hasn’t got a troop or a badge to call her own. But she s#ll borrows the Handbook from the elementary school library to pore over its advice, looking for #ps to get off the Calle—the Reno trailer park where she lives with her mother, Jo, the sweet-­‐faced, hard-­‐luck bartender at the Truck Stop.

Rory’s been told she is one of the “third-­‐genera#on bastards surely on the road to whoredom,” and she’s determined to break the cycle. As Rory struggles with her mother’s habit of trus#ng the wrong men, and the mixed blessing of being too smart for her own good, she finds refuge in books and language. From diary entries, social workers' reports, story problems, arrest records, family lore, and her grandmother’s leLers.

The front cover of Girlchild visually illustrates the contents of this book by showing the home of where Rory Hendrix lives. The picture shows how distant it is from any civiliza#on and life, this gives a sense that they’re very recluse and distant form them world because of the big field and the few cars that are parked.

Also having most of the cover the sky again esensuates the fact that they live somewhere quite empty. The empty open area that this picture portrays makes you feel that Rory Hendrix and her mother are quite poor and haven't got much luxury in their life. the struggle of their life. The use of the collage of the leLer, makes you think that a big part of the story is revolved around leLers or some form of reports that is stated in the synopsis because it is the main focus of the cover. Also the front cover includes the main characters name ‘Rory Hendrix’ which illustrates the contents of the book.

I think that the effect of the placement of the text is that it really looks apart of the cover and story because it is used as the text for the leLer as well, this is good because it doesn't’t look obstruc#ve and out of place. By having a typewriter font, it makes the front cover again look like it is apart of the story, because it feels real. I do think that because the text looks apart of the cover and is very small, it doesn't’t stand out and capture someone's aLen#on.

The formal elements that the designer has used to create this cover is the composi#on, because they decided to put the picture at the boLom of the cover and have most of the background just the sky. They done this for two reasons, one being that because of the leLer taking up most of the space of the cover, the picture would be obstructed so having it at the boLom you are able to see it clearly. Another reason is that by having the picture at the boLom and most of the cover the sky, it pushes the fact that where Rory Hendrix and her mother live somewhere quite empty and open.

I think that this front cover is successful because of the collage of the leLer, doing this makes it look real, so you feel that you are involved in the story. I also think that the picture works well with illustra#ng the content of the book, helping show what the sehng of this book it like.

The Goldfinch Donna TarL

Genre : Fic#on Aged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart. Alone and rudderless in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to the thing that most reminds him of her: a small, strangely cap#va#ng pain#ng that ul#mately draws him into the criminal underworld. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty an#ques store where he works. He is alienated and in love -­‐ and his talisman, the pain#ng, places him at the Centre of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle. hLp://www.amazon.co.uk/The-­‐Goldfinch-­‐Donna-­‐TarL/dp/1408704943

The front cover of The Goldfinch visually illustrates the contents of this book by showing the pain#ng of the goldfinch, behind a piece of ripped paper. The goldfinch pain#ng is something that reminds the character Theo of his mother, who died in an accident. The pain#ng is obstructed by the ripped paper, this makes the cover looks a bit destruc#ve and that this pain#ng causes problems for Theo. The use of covering up the pain#ng with paper, also makes it look like the picture has been packaged up and is ready to be sent somewhere, this makes you again think that the pain#ng causes problems for Theo, and that maybe Theo decided by the end of the book to get rid of the goldfinch and move on.

I think the effect of the placement of the text is that it makes the book stand out as its quite large and covers a lot of the picture, this makes the book stand out and capture the buyers aLen#on. The use of having the text handwriLen, makes the cover look very personal because it looks like someone from the book wrote it and it connects you into the story.

The formal elements that the designer has used to create this cover is the composi#on because he had to work with the goldfinch being in the centre, and I think that he was successful because he was able to have the goldfinch in the centre but also have large text to catch the buyers eye. The desginer chose to have a handwriLen font, this is to make the book cover look personal and like it looks like someone from the book had wriLen the book and I think that this is successful because it connects you into the story. The designer chose the font to be black, this makes the goldfinch the main focus because it’s the only colourful part of the cover, also because it’s a dark colour it makes the text more prominent.

I think that this front cover is successful because its very prominent, which helps catch the buyers eye. I think that the cover does link to the synopsis but I don’t think It links very well. Ader you think about the synopsis you understand the cover more, but before hand the cover does seem quite strange. I think that when I come to make my book covers, I will think about how easy it is to link the cover and synopsis, and whether its quite confusing or not.

All Change

Elizabeth Jane Howard

Double Shot Anna Blundy Genre : Fic#on

Synopsis : Faith Zaneh doesn't’t much care who put the bomb on the flight TAA67, the plane that blew up over the #ny Scohsh village of cairbridge twenty five years ago. Wasn't it those Libyan blokes who went to prison for it? For a woman whose comfort zone is a war zone it seems like the boring assignment from hell.

But as the conspiracy theories start seeming less theore#cal and the threats get increasingly real, Faith realises she's ska#ng on thin ice. With the ghost of her dead father creeping out of her dreams as Sicily erupts in violence around her, and the screams of then dooming passengers ringing in her ears, Faith begins to suspect that the truth she seeks might be closer to home that she thought…

I don't think the front cover of Double Shot visually illustrates the contents of this book because it gives no idea of what the storyline is about. Other than the #tle of the book that may make you thing that there could be some violence within the story, the illustra#on itself doesn’t link to the story well at all, as all it is is a cup of coffee with a lighter. The storyline is about a woman who used to be in the war, who now has an assignment about a plane that blew up with a bomb in a Scohsh village, and starts to discover that this case is actually closer to home than she thought. I don’t think that this is shown in the cover at all. I do think the lips#ck shows that the main character is a woman, and gives the influence of her being strong and powerful, the lighter again makes you think she's powerful because its not a very feminine object. But apart from that its not clear what the story is about.

I think the effect of the placement of the text is that it makes the book stand out as its quite large, its in the centre, and takes up most of the cover. I do think that this makes the book stand out because the text is in a contras#ng colour to blue and black.

The formal elements that the designer has used to create this cover is the colour, because he had to chose colours that stood out to capture the readers aLen#on, so using contras#ng colours makes the cover stand out from other books because of the use of the black background and then the light colours such as blue and white, I think that that this is successful because I think the colours do stand out well. The designer also has to think about what font to use, for example a serif font would be hard to read, whereas a sans serif font would be more ideal as its more easier to read. I don't think the designer done a very good job with this as he used quite a few different fonts and most being serif, which will make it difficult for the reader to read and may detract any readers.

I think that this front cover isn't very successful because it does link well to the synopsis and the font isnt very clear. But I do think that the font placement does make the book stand out.