I have been slowly inching and working my way on a children's/young adult book promotional of which I thought "I like making book covers, I should add some in the promo." So, I am.
The reason: I never understood the original cover design of The Catcher in the Rye. A bull? Really? Like most 20-something girls, I have been pining to re-design and re-draw it since forever. Here was my chance. Plus, we all have a little bit of Holden Caufield in us, don't we?
The intention: For my version of the Catcher, I tried to make 16 year old Holden Caufield as having just enough prep with just enough edge*. I see Holden as being pissed, realizing the idiocy of society and human behavior. People are fake and he can't take it anymore. He wants to save us from this game, he wants to be the catcher in the rye, but he's too confused to save us, or himself. The only one who can is his little sister; a return to simplicity, the innocence and fun of childhood.
The process: Eek! This came out exactly the opposite of what I envisioned. There's no hand drawn typography! I thought that would look super bad like a hand written note, but executed it looked lame. Sometimes you just need to use a real font. I also tend to forget that just because I give a character a peacoat does not mean they look modern and edgy. The pencil and tea stains really aged the whole piece. It looked like it belonged in the history section of the book store. I had to fix that issue with design and strategic color placement. I'm really comfortable with this illustration style right now, so I need to work on how to freshen it up for the kids.
*I was going to attempt a witty joke in which I compared Holden to perpetual rebel prep extraordinaire Scott Disick, but that would be like spitting in Salinger's face. So I didn't. I really should stop watching reality TV.
