[Old School Project: The Wizard of Oz by L.Frank Baum book cover]
vvv Long process thread below vvv
Not like anyone would read this so... I had an old project from school where we had to redesign books cover.
2 books specifically (one local book and one foreign book). Naturally, the first thing that came to me was children's books/fairytales and Jurassic Park. Because those were the only foreign works of literature I have read.
Lemme tell you a fact... I can't draw dinosaurs. So the 1st option is it. But there are so many to choose from that it took me 2 weeks in total to choose the right one.
Usually, for school projects, I like to go off rail and choose rare niches. But this time, I'm feelin' funny, want something funky so my first thought was Alice in Wonderland- which got taken by a classmate immediately lol.
Alright...The Wizard of Oz should be it.
I downloaded the book, read it twice so I can highlight as many canon details as I can. One detail I found funny was the disappearance of Dorothy's pink sunbonnet halfway through the book. The 4 cries awfully a lot... As in, the yellow brick road is flooded with their tears. Don't even talk about Tin Man's backstory, why is it so graphic? Kids back then is a different breed I see.
Fascinating how I use Art Nouveau inspired styles, which I know NOTHING about, except for itsy bitsy tiny details that go in each painting, and lots of flowers. Luckily, Oz has a whole field of poppies that puts people (me included) to sleep. The hardest part truly is adding details. Small buds, leaves, swirly lines, Toto's fur(?).
Fun fact, I did NOT remember Dorothy has a dog, added him last second.
Anways, I sketched out the compositions. This is when the brain worms tickled, my fav is the 2nd + 6th sketch. The 4th (chosen composition) is just in there for shit and giggles, i didn't think my teacher would actually approve that. >:^(
feel free to use the composition or whatever
So, I got to work, selecting color palette is the second hardest. Colors were not my main field... black & white won't be fun with WoOz, so I tried my best to paint lillies and poppies (w my blood a har har...)
I also did character sketches but it got lost to time.
I'm proud of how it looks in the end! Not proud of the printing house for messing up the colors grrr >:^(
Okay that's all folks <3
