March: Book Cover WIP- critiques please

Nyrryl Cadiz

Hi, everyone! I hope everyone’s doing great. I’ve been sketching some ideas for this month’s contest and so far this is what i’ve came up with. For my piece i chose The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and boy was I in for a treat. For a short novella, this book has so much metaphors and symbols that I don’t know which to prioritise. For those who are not that familiar with it, it’s a book that details the experience of a pilot who crash lands in the sahara and meets this little prince from outer space who also happens to be on his own adventure, exploring Earth. This book tackles love, friendship, the dark side of adulthood, and the death of our Inner child as we all grow up.

I figured I should include the little prince and the pilot since they’re the main protagonists but then, there’s the fox, the rose and all those fun stuff. I also felt that I need to showcase the desert, the crashed plane, outer space, etc. I feel like There’s still so much elements that i need to cram into the cover such that I also feel like I’m over doing it. Any suggestions on how I should approach this? Do you have any specific story elements that you feel i should or shouldn’t be on the cover? Is there any of the sketches below that resonates with you? If there is please let me know. I’d love to hear all of your feedback. Thank you!

ArtofJoseGalue

@nyrrylcadiz I personally like a lot of movement. The bottom two and especially the one on the left has the most potential. I see that you did a half pilot and half little prince sketch I did something similar for my book cover! Good luck.

StudioLooong

I agree, the one on the bottom left seems like a really cool concept!

Nyrryl Cadiz

@josegalue25 @StudioLooong thank you so much for the input. I’m kinda scared that that sketch at the lower left is too cliche though. What you guys think?

ArtofJoseGalue

@nyrrylcadiz Cliche? not at all, the style will give it your own voice. You can say "i love you" in a very cliche way with a rose and candles but it is how you do it that makes the difference. I don't know if that makes any sense.

demotlj

I love The Little Prince but actually had to think about it a little when you said the pilot was one of the protagonists. I would have said the fox, the rose, and the Little Prince are the main characters because it is their relationships and the lessons the Little Prince learns from them that I remember the most, so I like your first and your last thumbnails the best.

Nyrryl Cadiz

@demotlj i’ve been definitely thinking about that. That’s kinda why i’m so confused on with which elements to use. I think we can agree that we really need the little prince on the cover but i really don’t know who/what to add next. On one hand we have the pilot who is narrating the story but on the other hand we have the fox and the rose whom greatly teaches and affects the prince’s journey. I wanted to use the fox/ rose but then I thought that the prince is a metaphor for the pilot’s inner child whom he’d supressed so i kinda felt they should both be on there. I’m just really torn. Hopefully this wiil be resolved soon

demotlj

@nyrrylcadiz I think It depends on the audience to whom you are directing the book as well. When I look at your pilot thumbnails (which are really nice, by the way) I immediately think of Saint Exupery because he was a pilot and wrote other books about flight so the cover with pilot pictures would definitely lend themselves to an adult audience. Children, however, are going to most interested by the Little Prince's adventures, not the narrator's adventures, which would mean using covers with the fox and rose or his planet. Either covers would work but would definitely point to different audiences.

braden H

I'm a big fan of the very bottom left with the inverted prince and the flying papers. I wish there was a way to work it so you could read the title from either direction so it was impossible to tell who was 'right way up'.

Really lookin' forward to which one you'll choose

Coley

@nyrrylcadiz I love the little prince. Funnily enough, I have never read the book but have heard so much about it and my son and mother in law are reading it together in French. I'm catching some of the translation trying! My son is in late French immersion. Also I heard a documentary on the author and watched the animated movie which I realize is a different story altogether. Odd that I have the attachment to the book but have never read it! I will have to get my butt in gear and read it!
Anyhow, long lead up to saying I love your thumbnails. Bottom left is my favorite. Love the papers connecting the characters . But the other ones are quite nice too!
Looking forward to updates

saciia_

If you should choose one of the airplane versions you could always have the fox sitting somewhere in the distance so that you recognise him at second glance. I also like the left on the bottom the most, I think the composition is the strongest there. Otherwise you have a lot of good ideas here that could work as well! Look forward to see your progress!

Sas

@saciia_ Or have the fox sit in the plane!

Sas

I love your thumbnails! They're so clear and to the point.

You do want to have a lot of elements in your piece (the way I read it). Maybe think of a way to combine them? Maybe give the airplane a painted rose on its side? Have the fox sit in plane? Something like that? Braden's idea of having the text read both ways is also really cool! Maybe you can use the papers for something?

CobaB

For sure the one on the bottom left! Can't wait to see the final result!

I've never read the book either but always heard a lot about it! I think i like the bottom left one too in terms of composition and as much as i love the bottom right one too it's too similar to the film cover, so maybe you could put more of your own stamp on that one as that would be a beautiful design if it was in your style but you just made it a bit different?
Really looking forward to seeing where you take this!

djly

@nyrrylcadiz - maybe you could do the bottom left but incorporate some of the planets into the landscape to make it more interesting - if you are concerned about it being cliche?

Nyrryl Cadiz

Hi, everyone! I’m going to share some updates. After thinking the about the project a little bit more, I decide not to go with the papers flying in between the pilot and the Little Prince. I think I’ve seen that approach done in a lot of posters already. So instead, I thought why not incorporate Antoine de-Saint Exupery’s original illustrations from his book. I really think his simplistic style has its own unique charm and innocence to it. I was planning to fit in his illustrations in the flying papers but now, i’m planning to make them more prominent in my piece.

Here are some of his illustrations.

Anyway, here’s some new sketch. Though, I plan to incorporate Antoine’s illustrations, I wanted to make my own version of his work. While sketching this, I was making this story up in my head that in an alternate reality, after the pilot survived his ordeal in the desert, he held on to the sketches he drew for and of the Little Prince. He went on to write a book about his experience but as he is painting the “book cover”, he questions himself if the Little Prince was ever real. That is why his sketches are strewn all over the painting while he is contemplating if whether he should include the Little Prince. He’s not sure if the boy was just a figment of his imagination due to his delirium in the wilderness but one thing’s for sure, he is forever changed by his encounter. In a way this story mirrors my dilema with this book cover. Lol maybe i’m just sketching my own experience.

Please let me know if you have any critiques or suggestions. I am open to all of your input. I’m still at the planning stage. nothing is set in stone. Thank you so much!