SCOTT MCKOWEN
Dakota, or What’s a Heaven For?
Brenda K. Marshall’s novel, Dakota, or What’s a Heaven For?, is set in 19th-century Dakota territory. The idea for the cover illustration was suggested by this evocative passage in the text: “The wagon turned off the road and directly into the prairie, setting out upon a land both solid and fluid, in which swell after swell of grass rhythmically lifted away from horizon and rolled toward another. The tall grass, parted by the horse and pressed down by the wheels, sprang up and closed behind the wagon, erasing its passage as thoroughly as waves forgot the passing of a ship.”
OFRA AMIT
Go Home Now, Your Wife Has Already Got All She Asked For In this collection of Grimm Tales, I wanted to create illustrations that are more like theatre posters rather than very detailed book illustrations. I thought the visual language of posters would work here since these classic tales, which are burned into our collective consciousness, are so familiar I felt I had the creative freedom to apply a more minimalistic approach.
MARK ALAN STAMATY
Love Goes to Buildings on Fire
I was asked to illustrate a jacket for a book subtitled Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever. I set out to represent some of the musicians written about in the book, as well as to put them in an environment that gave the feeling of New York City in the mid-1970s. This required a careful process of building a detailed composition piece-by-piece while creating an overall gestalt that conveyed the desired impact.
I was asked to illustrate a jacket for a book subtitled Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever. I set out to represent some of the musicians written about in the book, as well as to put them in an environment that gave the feeling of New York City in the mid-1970s. This required a careful process of building a detailed composition piece-by-piece while creating an overall gestalt that conveyed the desired impact.
HILIT SHEFER
Smiling Dish
It all started as a huge mistake. As an illustrator, I used the only tools I had to convince my son Yoel to eat. Every evening I prepared a new smiling dish for dinner. I’m not better than any other mom, I only wanted him to remember as he grows up that I tried my best. So I took pictures of the plates before serving. The funny thing was I failed to upload a little movie to Facebook, and instead uploaded the pictures of the smiling dishes. The response was overwhelming. Since then I was invited to share my plates on a weekly basis on one of Israel’s biggest web platforms, Xnet, and I have been doing it for the last year.
CHRIS BUZELLI
Entega Calendar, 12 Tales from the World of Energy
A total of 12 paintings were commissioned for a calendar by Entega, a German ecological energy company. Each month illustrated a myth or a lie about green energy and was accompanied by a beautifully written fable. The deadline was short and I dedicated about a month and a half to this project. The art directors from DDB gave me the creative freedom that I needed in order to illustrate this important subject.
SCOTT MCKOWEN
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Many cover illustrations for Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novella (first published in 1886) feature one or the other of the iconic title characters. My top priority was to find a way to include both the respectable doctor and his dark alter ego, and to give them equal emphasis in the composition. I have rarely employed the old “contrast the figure and its cast shadow” device, but it seemed the perfect solution for this problem. The title type was centered over Hyde’s shadow.
Zombie in Love
Mortimer is a zombie looking for love, and in this particular spread, he is feeling forlorn at home. I wanted to pack all kinds of little monster stuff in his house with him, and I felt that he needed a few pals to feel less lonely, so the worms are helping him around the house and enjoying themselves. I used a very earthy palette because Mortimer is a zombie and he lives in a grave made of earth.
Mortimer is a zombie looking for love, and in this particular spread, he is feeling forlorn at home. I wanted to pack all kinds of little monster stuff in his house with him, and I felt that he needed a few pals to feel less lonely, so the worms are helping him around the house and enjoying themselves. I used a very earthy palette because Mortimer is a zombie and he lives in a grave made of earth.
