WIND IN THE WILLOWS

                                                           
I HAVE LOOKED AT MANY WIND IN THE WILLOWS COVERS AND FOUND THAT THEY ARE ALL VERY TRADITIONAL IN DESIGN. IT WILL BE QUITE A CHALLENGE TO GIVE THE BOOK A MORE CONTEMPORARY EDGE.

I am thinking of illustrating the wild wood, to give the book a darker feel. After all fairy stories are quite dark traditionally. I have looked at lots of wood/forest images, here a just a few.

                     Here a few preliminary sketches, although ratty is a bit too traditional perhaps.?

Neil suggested I take a look at Mark Hearld Lino cut man. I need to think lino when drawing my images.

                                                                             

 

Wanted to lino cut this piece, but did not work out. I thought it was simple enough until I started cutting and realised lines were too confusing so back to the drawing board. Going to look at card cutting perhaps? Will experiment further.

 

Like this graphic image, the green signifies the Willow, the black shows the Wild Wood and its prying eyes and the white, the snow with ratty on his way.

I think I will use this image and complete in Photoshop. Works well as cover. Simple but bold with a limited colour palette to catch a buyers attention.