Color Theory Part III: Book Cover

The final part of this week’s Learning Activity was a lot of fun and hard work! We got to choose from three different books, and then illustrate the cover of that book with a set of rules:

Design a book cover for one of the following: a.) “Rosemary’s Baby” by Ira Levin: use complementary colours to express anguish and uncertainty. b.) “Animal Farm” by George Orwell: use analogous colours with a contrasting accent to express disagreement and discontent. c.) “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett: use secondary colours to express naivety, honesty and harmony. The book cover must contain the title and the author’s name. You must clearly make use of colour to express the desired effects.

“Animal Farm” by George Orwell

I chose to illustrate Animal Farm, because I really like the premise, as a commentary/parody on the events from the Russian Revolution, leading to the dictatorship of the Soviet Union. Of course, it’s set on a farm, and the animal characters rebel against their farmer. They eventually end up worse (or the same) than when they started, under the dictatorship of Napoleon the Pig.

The colors served as a basis for the rest of the sketching, as it seemed fitting to take inspiration from old Soviet propaganda posters. I chose warm “rebel” colors, against a contrast of dark blue oppression.

Napoleon is oppressing the farm animals at the top of the composition. I added some barbed wire to the font and in front of the farm, to strengthen this theme even more. And finally I added some texture, to make it look like it’s printed on old poster. The original photos were taken from the free stock photo website Pexels.com. I have used a LOT of effects, editing and drawing to make them fit the style of the book.