Adrian Mole

I have spent today making some rough designs of book covers for the penguin books brief.  I ma not completely happy with any of my designs but the process has given me some ideas that I think could work. For most of my designs I wanted to keep the cover simple so I tried to illustrate the main character Adrian Mole. I found that the designs didn't seem light enough to be a children's book cover, I think it was a combination of the colours I used and the way I drew the characters face. I tried to make the spot on his face a focal point of the cover as it is a focal point of the book. I also wanted to try and capture his misguided arrogance and distain for his surroundings but don't think I managed it. I want to find a way to show him using his diary as a pedestal that puts him above everyone else. I found out today that drawing spots is quite difficult especially with block shapes, The shape is too simple and I don't think I've made it clear enough that it is a spot.

I like the composition on this image but want to make it clearer. I need to work more on facial expressions to make sure I convey the emotions that I want. I think the colours are too dark for a children's book cover. I really like the bold textured glasses and would like to experiment more with the proportions of the facial features. I have been trying to keep my compositions quite simple recently as I have a tendency to keep making additions until the concept behind the image becomes lost but in this case I don't think I have managed to capture enough of the character of Adrian mole.

The idea behind this image was to play with scale and imagery. The character is sitting on a giant spot, however I haven't done a good job of making it clear in this image. I want to make the oversized spot and skin into a landscape and add some of the other characters from the book with Adrian raised up above them all. I want to show the separation his diary provides for him. I am thinking of drawing him standing up looking deep in thought, observing the chaos that surrounds him. the spot may be entirely unnecessary, I could use a giant oversized diary instead.

I want to try and find ways to illustrate the contrast between his surrounding and his own interpretation of them. I could use mirrors or reflections, or could try and find a way to make is diary into a doorway. I should also explore the idea of the diary being secret and ways to communicate it as top secret or classified.

The first step for me is to go back to roughing and test out each of these ideas in an many ways as possible. I need to be careful to keep a balance and try not to add too much information. I have to remember the image I am creating is a book cover and that it should create intrigue not tell the story. That being said Adrian mole is very popular with people that read in when they were younger and already know the story, it might be a good idea to try and make the cover a celebration of the book or at least a nod to its history.