Hippo ears

hippo ears

Hippo Ears and the Stargazer

 

A pre-teen historical novel. I chose an silhouette illustration style borrowed from Grecian urns for the cover and internal illustrations.

Hippoarchus and his sister Sappho listen to enchanting stories about the stars, the sun and the Earth from their friend the Stargazer. But some feel his stories are dangerous. He must be warned before it is too late….

Cover design and illustration + 10 full page internal illustrations + small scattered illustrations

Doppelganger

doppelgangerDoppleganger

 

Something about the title inspired me to go for a 70’s feel for this cover. The burnt orange reflects the heat of the Greek Islands, where this coming-of-age story for early teens is set. Connor is spending his Easter holidays on a cruise with his mum and very annoying little sister to the Greek Islands and Turkey. Lucky he has his computer game Doppleganger with him to while away the time. But he seems to have become very unpopular with the crew and his fellow passengers. Could it have anything to do with the boy he glimpsed, wearing his favourite soccer shirt? The boy who looked exactly like him?

Cover design and illustration + 14 black and white photographic collage illustrations

Dark Stone Eye

dark stone eye Dark Stone Eye

 

A horror story and a love story at the same time. 12 year old Ben’s Nanna has told him of the mysterious jewel that looks like a dark eye – and the powerful effect it has on all who have owned it – many times. As the stone in the story makes its way around the world, you never know where it may end up.

This cover design is opalescent with a hint of the sinister reflected in the typography.

Cover design and illustration + 14 black and white photographic collage illustrations

 

 

Brain Storms!

Brain Storms!

 

One of the most enjoyable jobs I’ve had so far. This book showcases writing by kids for kids, aimed at the primary age group. These fantastic short stories are some of the finalists from the Nestlé ‘Write Around Australia’ competition, run between 1994 and 2005. Each of these young authors were mentored by an Australian children’s author, who helped them to polish the work into a final draft. The design brief was completely open, so I chose to emphasise the humorous and surprising aspects of many of the stories. The grey watermark of the brain on the cover represents a spot UV varnish.

Cover design and illustration + 11 double-page black and white internal illustrations + smaller illustrations scattered throughout.

 

 

Writing Better Stories

writing (better) stories

Writing Better Stories

This book for teachers is all about freeing up creativity in kids. How to inspire everyone in the class at the same time? Consequently, it felt like the only right approach to designing this cover was to be totally free. The base image on the cover is of a favourite indoor plant of mine – used to convey the explosion of ideas. Collage elements were added, including samples of kids’ text with editors marks. I had lots of lovely feedback from the client and colleagues on this cover design, and I’m sure it was because the fun I had with it was evident in the final result.

Text Next

text next Text Next

 

What to do when you have no great visual material to make an eye-catching cover? No problem, heh heh. A poor image of a teachers display was overlaid with samples of children’s text with a lovely burnt orange tint. Add some clean beautiful type, and a spot varnish on the title box and presto.

This book for teachers is all about literacy education. Hence the design needed to be warm, inviting and clear.