Various Themed Book Covers

[GarryP]

For a bit of fun at the weekend I thought I'd make some basic book covers, all set within an overall main theme but with each as its own story and genre. I've tried to match each cover with that which can be seen on existing books with the same sort of story/genre.

The stories are (vaguely), in no particular order:
* Animal Farm 2 - Intrigue and revenge behind the pig arks;
* Comes Around - A gritty tale of abuse, betrayal and consequences;
* It's a Policeman's Lot - A whimsical story of a "Bobby on the Beat";
* Stealing Henry - A thriller where a cruel father tries to kidnap his son;
* Bartleby's Wake - A collection of awful poems by a grizzled old farmer;
* Gin Galore - A hapless dreamer tries his hand at being an artisan distiller.

Listeners of a certain long-running UK radio drama might be able to guess the overall theme (particularly from the authors' names).

They're all silly throw-away experiments - just a few hours of messing around so there are probably lots of problems with each - but if anyone has any suggestions or comments I'd be happy to hear them.

[Kasper-V]

I like 'em! I've made a couple of spoof covers for fun after seeing a Penguin Twenty Seventeen send-up of Nineteen Eighty-four, but I won't copy them here because I pinched some copyright covers. I shall have to try some 'original' works.

 

(Don't let Bert Fry see Joe's book!)

[GarryP]

Thanks Kasper-V. I like spoof stuff so I'd be interested in seeing your work when it's done.

(Joe basically stole most of the poems off Bert to make some quick cash selling the book in the village shop and Bert's actually in one of them - under the name of "Albert Sprat" - as someone who can't plough straight. He would be horrified.)

[Kasper-V]

Here's a couple of innocuous ones I prepared earlier with AD ...

 

[Kasper-V]

I shall have to try something a little more adventurous ...

[Alfred]

Here's a couple of innocuous ones I prepared earlier with AD ...

 

 

 

 

[GarryP]

Oh dear, what terrible puns. I like them!

[jer]

It took me a while to catch on to Seymour Nix, being as I'm not east of the Atlantic. :D (Maybe "Knix" mighta got me there quicker)

 

@GarryP - good cover work! I really like Stealing Henry: the tracks, the shadows, the silhouetted man & boy, the color choices.

:)

[Kasper-V]

A modest piece of self-promotion! If I can just get a publisher interested, I might have enough to fill a small book. Meanwhile ... I really love some of those Victorian and Edwardian illustrated book covers, and I've been meaning to make up a few of my own for ages. There are too many styles to chose from, that's the problem. Still, here goes ...

 

 

Feel free to criticise! I can see one or two things that don't quite work or need a little more attention.

[GarryP]

Thanks jer but I can't take credit for the base image I used which I got from here: https://pixabay.com/en/father-and-son-happiness-love-2258681/I just messed around with it adding the stars and a colour wash. (For simple throw-away stuff like this I tend to look for a wheel that's already been invented, although it took me a while to find something I liked.)

Kasper-V, I like your cover but I'm not too sure about the title fonts. They don't seem quite right but I can't really say why. Maybe something simpler would be more fitting? Or maybe not. Also, the title colour looks a little bit too green to me for some reason but that could just be my monitor (or my eyes). It's got a nice "whimsical" look to it though.

[Kasper-V]

GarryP, yes, they are a bt over the top, aren't they? I based the style on books like this one ...

 

... which I have a copy of. Mine has a green ground, and all the lettering is gold-leafed (and much dirtier than this), except the author's name. It's difficult to re-create real gold, of course; and perhaps I've made it a bit too green. And there's not enough contrast between the smaller lettering and the ground. Still, it's a fun earning curve.

[GarryP]

When it comes to the Victorians I don't think there's such a thing as "over the top". (For people not aware of the Victorians, consider the interior of Crossness Pumping Station: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3698938/Who-knew-sewage-stylish-Inside-beautiful-Victorian-Pumping-Station-opened-doors-public-London-s-newest-tourist-attraction.html and that was just the inside of a building that only pumped sewage about!)

I was thinking more about the typefaces themselves. I keep thinking they look too "new" but they're the sort of thing that is used on circus posters of the time so that can't be it. I don't know what it is. Probably just ignore me and I'll go quietly mad by myself.

I agree, gold is tricky to get just right, especially if it has to have some "heft" on the page. It's easy to get something that looks sort of okay but to get it looking really good is difficult as it needs to reflect some of the colour of what it's near. It's a reflective metal after all.

[Kasper-V]

It may be due to me aging/distressing the book cover, but underneath the text: the lettering looks too pristine. They typefaces are ones I got of t'interweb by Googling "Victorian typeface free download" and picking those that looked authentic. It's the kind of thing I used to doodle in lessons many, many years ago. I shall have to have a go at making some like yours, with real artwork.

 

BTW, I don't listen to The Archers myself, but I'm a victim of Passive Archers on Sunday mornings. :)

[Kasper-V]

PS That pumping station really is out of this world, isn't it? If only they'd had steampunk in the 70s, I'd have been as happy a a pig in, er, a sewage works!

[Alfred]

When it comes to the Victorians I don't think there's such a thing as "over the top". (For people not aware of the Victorians, consider the interior of Crossness Pumping Station: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3698938/Who-knew-sewage-stylish-Inside-beautiful-Victorian-Pumping-Station-opened-doors-public-London-s-newest-tourist-attraction.html and that was just the inside of a building that only pumped sewage about!)

 

Thanks for the link, Garry: that's quite impressive. (I notice that the text and one of the captions refer to the "sewage system" instead of the "sewerage system", but this is the Daily Mail we're talking about!)

 

Fun fact: Peter (now Sir Peter) Bazalgette, the great-great-grandson of Sir Joseph Bazalgette, is the man responsible for bringing us the UK version of the TV show 'Big Brother'.

[jer]

Thanks for the link, Garry: that's quite impressive. (I notice that the text and one of the captions refer to the "sewage system" instead of the "sewerage system", but this is the Daily Mail we're talking about!)

 

Fun fact: Peter (now Sir Peter) Bazalgette, the great-great-grandson of Sir Joseph Bazalgette, is the man responsible for bringing us the UK version of the TV show 'Big Brother'.

Err, I think the Daily Mail got it right:

Sewage - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewage

A system of sewer pipes (sewers) collects sewage and takes it for treatment or disposal. The system of sewers is called sewerage or sewerage system (see London sewerage system) in British English and sewage system in American English.

 

Obviously, the Daily Mail is a global periodical! (Oh, yeah, I know it's rep in the UK.)   :lol:

 

Also, we wish Big Brother had remained in UK!  :P

‎

[jer]

:lol: P.S. I don't even know what to think about that pumping station!

 

Are you guys embarrassed about that expenditure... or proud of it? I'm not sure which way to lean! :D

 

If it is a museum, okay, I guess.

[GarryP]

Kasper-V: Distressing the cover above the text might make a good bit of difference. (Passive Archers listening can be harmful to your mental health.)

Alfred: You're welcome about the link. (Yeah, so Joseph Bazalgette was responsible for taking cr*p out of people's homes and Peter Bazalgette is responsible for pumping the cr*p back in!)

jer: I don't think £2.7m is too bad for restoring a piece of heritage, especially as the money comes from the National Lottery (participation in which is voluntary). Consider that the annual repair bill - paid by taxpayers - for the Scottish Assembly Building is around £1.6m and that's only been open for about 13 years. (The total repair bill since it was opened is larger than one of the initial estimates for building the thing in the first place.)

Or, to put it another way, you can get one Wimbledon winner for the same price as restoring Crossness Pumping Station: https://www.aat.org.uk/news/article/%C2%A327-million-cost-winning-wimbledon(Which one someone thinks is more important is, of course, entirely up to them.)

[Alfred]

Alfred: You're welcome about the link. (Yeah, so Joseph Bazalgette was responsible for taking cr*p out of people's homes and Peter Bazalgette is responsible for pumping the cr*p back in!)

 

:lol: