James & The Giant Peach
A book cover re-design of the famous story "James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl.
I knew two things going into this project; that I wanted visual continuation and to give the cover its own story. It was important to me that the cover was an example of the beautiful story written inside but not give away too much. The cover had to evoke adventure, friendship and the sense of imagination. Leaving one to imagine this seems impossible.
Stage 1: Thumbnail sketches.
When sketching I like to go against the conventional approach of a classic book cover with at least one of my thumbnails. In this case I asked myself "What if the peach was already eaten? Would it give away too much of the ending?"
Once I came down to the following sketch, I saw the visual continuation I was desiring. That's when I proceeded to refine the concept further.
Stage 2: Refining
When refining I start inking everything I know is working for me. Then I go head first into the areas I'm not sure of yet. In this case it was the incorporation of the characters and how the birds would move from bottom to the top of the page. I remembered the story guidelines I gave myself "friendship, adventure and imagination", so I created the scenario of them holding onto each other and the birds. The idea of getting through this together.
