Biography book cover final

Changes I made for the final were adding details to her face and changing the pattern on the chair to be less distracting. People seemed to like the 'melting' chair effect.

Here's a mock-up of how the book would look:

Biography book cover proof

And here it is, the proof! I think it turned out pretty well. While I was making it, I decided that I really liked the idea of parts being unfinished and having her face have the most detail for emphasis. I will probably add even more detail to her face--blending the shadows and adding highlights to make it have more depth. I changed the background from grays to brighter blues (too depressing otherwise). The spine design is there as well. Click for bigger images.

Biography book cover concept

Here is the composition of the cover, which I pieced together with some photos. It looks scary right now but it will be better, I promise! I used one photo for her dress/sitting position, and other for her face (I liked the positioning better). Then I found a more sophisticated chair for her to sit in, since the original was not as much her style. The french arm chair I found was fantastic--just a picture off Google, which is unfortunate because it's such a great chair I wish I could take my own picture of it. It would have been awesome to keep the photograph of the chair and add her as an illustration, but (1) I don't have permission for the photo and (2) the edges aren't big enough for a bleed on the cover.

The font is pretty awesome, but I'm blanking on the name right now (I'll find out). Click image to embiggen.

Biography book cover brief

Client: Penguin Publishing

Project: Biography book cover illustration

Specifications: The design will be for the front and spine of a biography of a person of the designer's choosing. The over must have the title of the book (who the biography is about), the designer's name, and an original illustration. The illustration must convey the subject's personality through the use of color, composition, lighting, line, or distortion.

Reproduction: The cover will be printed in full color. There are no requirements on the size of the book.

Justification: I'm going to do a cover for my friend, Jaime Hough. She joked that one day she will have a biography/memoir, so I thought she would be a good choice. She also has a big personality, so it will be easy to portray in an illustration using color.

Inspiration for a biography book cover

These are some inspirations for the biography book cover. I had difficulty finding actual biography covers that had illustrations (most are just photographs), so I looked up some other book covers and portraiture. I like how in each of these cases, the background or other elements of the image indicates something about the character's personality.

Houdini illustration, by Pat Kinsella

William Shatner illustration, by Karen Klassen

Novel book cover illustration, by John Vogl

For the biography cover I will be doing for my friend, Jaime Hough, I was inspired by the style of books by Amy Sedaris. They feature photographs with handwritten text, but I think Sedaris' style is similar to that of my friend. So, although mine will have an illustration, I'm going to go for a full-body, colorful, playful, and feminine cover for Jaime.