book cover and front matter: the cheese monkeys

molly lamoureux

book cover

inspiration

inspirations from other covers

other than the content of the book itself, other book covers inspired me to come up with my final project. i loved the handwritten element of the upper right-hand corner cover, and know i wanted to incorporate scribbled handwriting as my focal point, then go from there.

sketches

himilsey was the main inspiration from the content of the book, and i wanted her ont he cover (pictured in many of the sketches above.)

draft options

i chose three designs to create rough mock ups. the top one was inspired by the green walls of the art room and was the only option that didn’t have himilsey on the front. i ultimately ended up choosing the third rough, which is on the following page.

draft options

chosen draft for final project

photos

setting the scene

the scene i was recreating for the cover was himilsey in the classroom with her whiskey. she had drunkenly snuck into the art room and was altering the other students’ pieces in the nighttime. i felt this represented her as a character the best, and also had editorial elements that would look nice on a cover.

photos

photos

photo used for final project

drawn elementstitle used for final project

cover drafts

final cover

reflective paragraph after reading “the cheese monkeys”

“the cheese monkeys” is a book that is full of vivid imagery and colorful language. chip kidd uses vocabulary to his advantage, painting pictures in every single chapter - on every single page - so the reader can imagine what’s going on. by easily being able to picture the story, it makes reading (or in my case, listening,) more enjoyable and less of a chore. No one likes to read a book with no visual descriptions. it’s nearly painful.

some of the most successful scenes/places/people that stood out to me are as follows: - hims’ outfits (handmade dresses, novelty earrings, boys’ shoes)- the walls of the art room (snot-green with 4 windows)- the kids’ artworks (the matches project, the polaroid, the jigsaw puzzle)- the cave bar (the bouncer, the drinks in jars, the dark walls and low ceiling

i think by mixing chip kidd’s collage-piecey-style with an example of this visual imagery, I can create a really successful book cover.

final thoughts on cover

this has been my favorite project so far. it was just challenging enough to keep things interesting without bringing on discouragement. there’s lots of room for creative judgement and decision-making. i’m very happy with how my cover turned out, and it portrays the exact “i don’t give a” vibes that i was hoping to acheive. if i saw this cover, i’d want to check out the book.

front matter

front matter

front matter

final thoughts on front matter

when creating the front matter composition, i wanted it to be cohesive with the cover as well as show-ing its own character. with the absence of color, character can be lost, so i added the “deconstructed” placement of subtitles and a bit more handwriting. overall, the cover and front matter as a whole portray the message that i wanted to deliver. with that, i am happy with my piece.