Grimms Fairy Tale Book Cover Design

[Matthew Crowe]

Hi, this is a book cover design I entered into Penguin design awards for their children competition, Puffin Books. The book which required the cover was Grimms Fairy Tales. I would like to get your opinion on how it all looks. Here is my brief description.

'Dream Catchers are a fascinating tradition. The traditional dream catcher was intended to protect the sleeping individual from negative dreams, whilst letting positive dreams through. The positive dreams would slip through the central hole and glide down the feathers to the sleeper below. The negative dreams however, would get caught up in the web and expire on the first ray of sunlight. I feel the tales are quite mystical and set in a fantasy land. Within dreams anything is possible, much like these stories. To show the dreams/tales I vectored a web to literally capture the title of the book, the dark background is also used to set the mood and feel of the stories.'

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If you like it, can you please appreciate it on my behance. Thank you if you do.

 

[Levi]

If you like it, can you please appreciate it on my behance. Thank you if you do.

nope as to me it has no relevance to grimm tales whatsoever... I know my memory is getting rusty and it's been a while since I read the book but there's nothing in it about american indians and the 'dreams' bit seems like marketing waffle....

My memory of the stories is quite rusty but iirc most of the stories are set in woods in countryside or that type of theme....

And I can't actually read the title very well, what's the point of having a 'childrens' book cover if you don't know what the covers for

 

[Matthew Crowe]

Ok. The Native American description was perhaps not necessary as if I am right in saying that is when they first came from. I used the idea of the stories being set in a fantasy land, therefore not true, so linking that to dreams. The woods theme is so overused so I wanted to avoid that, Penguin are looking for something completely out of the ordinary and unique. Making it look like a forest or what not I feel would be to simple and safe. Well legibility is something I can work on if it gets further. Penguin stated they wanted the book to appeal to children but also the adults.

Overal it was not a safe route to take, so if it doesn't get far in the competition it doesn't get far. This was a project to go a bit mad with, experimenting.

 

[vectoranvil]

Nice experiment, but I must agree with Levi. You can't use Native American dreamcatchers to illustrate German folktales, there's no common ground. And it's overall too dark. :batman: My first impression was a hardcover graphic novel of the comic book serious of a similar name.

You may google Gebrueder Grimm: Kinder- und Hausmärchen

Grimms Märchen / Illustration | Flickr - Photo Sharing! :clap:

 

[Matthew Crowe]

Nice experiment, but I must agree with Levi. You can't use Native American dreamcatchers to illustrate German folktales, there's no common ground. And it's overall too dark. :batman: My first impression was a hardcover graphic novel of the comic book serious of a similar name.

You may google Gebrueder Grimm: Kinder- und Hausmärchen

Grimms Märchen / Illustration | Flickr - Photo Sharing! :clap:

Ok thanks for the feedback. To sort of sway it towards children I did experiment with different colour covers, however I could only submit one design...I guess i could show more on behance. Nonetheless I take your comments on board, thank you.