Gulliver’s Travels Front Book Cover [Graphic Design]
Description/Abstract/Artist Statement
Artist Statement
The premise of this project was to create a unique cover for the book Gulliver’s Travels. We were tasked with not portraying the cover in the typical fashion of having the giant Gulliver strapped down to the ground with many tiny men all around him. This cover focuses on the scene in Gulliver’s Travels where he goes to the island of Laputa. The inhabitants are a bit unaware of things that are going on below and around them. Professor Shields suggested the illustration capabilities of “having your head in the clouds.” Gulliver is walking around blissfully unaware that he is completely destroying the world below him while happily exploring the world of the Laputians. Everything on the cover has a representation, the island dwellers are represented by being the actual clouds itself and the ladder that they used to let Gulliver aboard shows in the negative space down his leg into pirate’s boots since most of the traveling is done by boat.
With this project I made use of Adobe Illustrator after the initial sketch was scanned in.
The artist influence here was David Plunkert. He uses basic shapes in combination with one dominant color. The use of black in combination with the negative space brings more focus to the items which have the color applied to them.
The outcome of this project is to create a series of covers based in the same style all inspired by Jonathan Swift’s writings. This book cover has won a 2017 Silver Student ADDY Award for Publication Design.
Faculty Advisor/Mentor
Ivanete Blanco, David Shields
Presentation Type
Artwork
Disciplines
Graphic Design
Session Title
Art Exhibit
Location
Learning Commons @ Perry Library, Northeast Atrium
Start Date
2-3-2018 8:00 AM
End Date
2-3-2018 12:30 PM
Gulliver’s Travels Front Book Cover [Graphic Design]
Learning Commons @ Perry Library, Northeast Atrium
Artist Statement
The premise of this project was to create a unique cover for the book Gulliver’s Travels. We were tasked with not portraying the cover in the typical fashion of having the giant Gulliver strapped down to the ground with many tiny men all around him. This cover focuses on the scene in Gulliver’s Travels where he goes to the island of Laputa. The inhabitants are a bit unaware of things that are going on below and around them. Professor Shields suggested the illustration capabilities of “having your head in the clouds.” Gulliver is walking around blissfully unaware that he is completely destroying the world below him while happily exploring the world of the Laputians. Everything on the cover has a representation, the island dwellers are represented by being the actual clouds itself and the ladder that they used to let Gulliver aboard shows in the negative space down his leg into pirate’s boots since most of the traveling is done by boat.
With this project I made use of Adobe Illustrator after the initial sketch was scanned in.
The artist influence here was David Plunkert. He uses basic shapes in combination with one dominant color. The use of black in combination with the negative space brings more focus to the items which have the color applied to them.
The outcome of this project is to create a series of covers based in the same style all inspired by Jonathan Swift’s writings. This book cover has won a 2017 Silver Student ADDY Award for Publication Design.