Evaluation

These are my final images for my cover and blurb of my book. At the start of the project i thought about using tweedle dee and tweedle dumb as my main images for Alice in Wonderland. I think i have shown this with the use of my images. It shows the friendly and playful side to the twins in the extract of the book. I used gels and a clear white background for my photoshoots and found using gels harder to set up but it was definitely worth it to get a imaginative creative identity for my photos. By using the pink gel i think it has made my front cover stand out more. When editing the images i wanted to make them all similar which included the writing. To do this i used smudge stick on both images and used the same writing. Changing the effect of my images made the colours brighter and more luminous, this added to the overall effect and made my ideas more creative. Following my drawn layouts i am happy with the final results and i dont think i would change anything about them. The makeup and hair colours were not my original plan but i like the fact that it is simple and childish as it adds to the character and mood of the images.

Editing Blurb

These are my steps for editing my blurb. I began with the original image and used smudge stick like i did on the front cover. This image looks a lot better after this effect as it makes every part of the image brighter, it also creates contrast which makes this image more eye catching. I copied the layer and shrunk the image down so that i could position it like on my drawing. This meant you could still see both the images so i copied part of the background image and enlarged it to cover the larger image. I then used a photo from my shoot of the tea pot and added it in the corner, i put it in the corner so it looks like the image carries on outside the frame. Finally i used the same font from my front cover but in black, i used the synopsis as the writing about the book and framed it around tweedle dee and dumb, i left the writing over the teapot so it was easy to see.

Editing Front Cover

These are the steps for how i have created my final front cover. I began with the original photo and put it into photoshop, i used smudge stick to make the colours more clean and bright, i did this so you could see all the strange colours of the hair and the gels for the background. I then added the writing on a new layer and chose to put it in white. I positioned it near the bottom of the page in a way that compliments the image. To show that they are tweedle dee and tweedle dumb i added the initials on their dungarees but not the full name. Its quite a simple front cover but i think that adds more to the effect.

Decision Making

For my writing i looked at different font’s and which i thought would make my look cover more like a fairytale. I didn’t want it too over the or too simple. My final decision for my writing is the font circled in red. This one i found stand out more for me as its not over the top and will compliment my images i am going to use. I am going to use the same writing on my front cover and blurb.

Using my images for my book, i drew a mock up of what i want the layout to be. I have used the writing to compliment the images and arrange the order for my perfect cover. The writing on the blurb is the synopsis i wrote at the beginning of this unit. I am happy with the choice of layout and framing.

Photoshoots

This is my first photo shoot for the blurb of my book, i have dyed tea with red food colouring and poured it from the teapot into the cup. I chose a tiny cup and the tea pot because the patterns are more like alice in wonderlands tea party. As i poured the tea i took the picture. I took the photos from different angles and i have decided to choose the one where the tea is being poured from the top of the image. I am happy with the colouring of the image and i might make the tea a bit brighter as it should stand out more.

This is my first shoot for my front cover. I used my two models as Tweedle dee and Tweedle dumb and got them to act like they do in the book. I got them to argue, fight and mess about, i like the image where one of them is behind the other as it gives depth and distance to the image. The makeup and hair colour made it more childish and fun, also it relates more to the weirdness of Alice. Some of the images were not framed right and i could have taken more accurate ones. I have chosen an image off of this shoot for my blurb.

This is my next shoot for the cover and i have used different coloured gels to create a more fun wonderland scene. I decided i liked the pink the most as it was brighter and complimented the colours on the models. I used one of these images as my front cover and i definitely prefer using the gels. The orange gel was too bright and glarey so i didn’t spend too much time using this gel. The green looked more like a forest but it wasn’t weird enough for my ideas. I enjoyed using the gels more as it was more my style of photography and i got to be more creative.

Book Genre

Alice in Wonderland is classed as a fairytale book. These are made up stories to target a young audience. The original fairytale books were based on more weird adults fairytales that didn’t really end happily like they do now. Disney and other authors changed this as it was more appropriate today. A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features made up characters, such as faries, goblins, elves, trolls, giants, mermaids or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. Fairy tales may be distinguished from other folk narratives such as legends (which generally involve belief in the veracity of the events described) and explicitly moral tales. A “fairy tale” or “fairy story” can also mean any farfetched story or tall tale; it’s used especially of any story that not only isn’t true, but couldn’t possibly be true. ‘Something blessed with unusual happiness’ In cultures where demons and witches are perceived as real, fairy tales may merge into legends, where the narrative is perceived both by teller and hearers as being grounded in historical truth. However, unlike legends and epics, they usually do not contain more than superficial references to religion and actual places, people, and events; they take place once upon a time rather than in actual times.

These are some examples of fairytales in the same genre as Alice in Wonderland.

     

Diane Fenster

Diane Fenster is an internationally exhibited digital photographer and photoillustrator. She began using the computer as an artistic tool in 1989. She views herself as an alchemist, using digital tools to delve into fundamental human issues. Her work is literary and emotional, full of symbolism and multiple layers of meaning.Her style is an innovative combination of her photography and scanned imagery. Her images appear in numerous publications on digital art and photography and she is a guest lecturer at many seminars and conferences. Her well known photoillustration style is an outgrowth of the explorations she has taken with her personal work. Her commissions range from editorial to advertising to web.On September 7, 2001 in Tampa, Florida Diane was the first artist to be inducted into the newly formed photoshop hall of fame sponsored by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals and Adobe Systems, Inc. She has a long list of credits to her name including many one person exhibits, group exhibits, lecture and panel credits, awards, and publications.Her style of work is scanned images put together with her own photography to create weird images in a dada surreal style. She uses photoshop to mess around with everything about the images and make them into one original image. Dianne changes colours and exposure of each image to make them more colourfoul and stand out. Not one of her images are alike.

This is the indesign cover it was made for peachpit press to go on a cd as the main cover. This picture is one of Dianne Fenster’s many photo illustrations. She has used scanned images and original photos to create this surreal eye catching image.Dianne has used: clouds, a butterfly, writing, a face, a hand with a mouse and a shell as the main parts of the image. By putting these images together the meaning has changed and made the whole idea original. All the colours look like ink blots on paper, these look random but there may be a reason for being placed there.There are more colours at the top of the image and the colours graduate out too yellow down the page. The fact that the image is messy and some of the images are off the page makes the image more interesting and the messy outline of the image adds to it all. The composition of the image is very direct and lined up, theres enough images on this that makes it just right. She has used different textures and patterns on the image to push the whole image forward. Dianne Fenster has used a mix of blurred and sharp on the image to make the more important parts show up.

This is the next image it is called Mourning becomes Electra. It was a poster made up of her photography to advertise for Seattle Opera company. All the photos on the picture have been placed purposely to create a new image. The image seems dark and deathly, made up of deep tones of purple blue and black. Even the dull lighting makes i seem moody and dark.The symmetrical pattern on either side of the image makes it look like an opening to the house, which seems to look like the opera house. The foreground images are all slightly transparent, allowing you to see through so you can see every detail in the image and it also makes the hands and the grave stone look invisible and ghostly.When it came to editing all her imaes she used different colours and transparency on all the images to make the colors stand out. This image has more detail towards the bottom and is based in a clean cut shape, so sharp edges and smooth lines. This image is very gothic and suits the title perfectly.

Dianne Fenster has used a mix of dull and bright colours to make out each part of the image. This image is called Parsifal it was also made for Seattle Opera house. This is part of a collection of images that were used in brochures and online as advertising. The top part of the image is quite dark and yellow almost antique made of different parts of a person and a grainy background, all her photos on this area are sharp and contain clean depth. The bottom of the image is made up of plastic looking, bright coloured, transparent shapes. The main image being a pink sanned leaf that catches my attention first. The next image looks like stepping stones or an old pyramid print like an etching. The fact that all these iages are in boxes of there own makes the composition unique and messy. It looks like one big collage of cut up photos. What makes it more interesting is the yellow lines that cut the whole image apart. Its mixed circles wih the rectangle shapes and made it more intresting, if the lines were not there the image might have looked more clean and sharp but adding the lines completed the image making it look more fun and messy.

This picture is called 12 again, Dianne Fenster made this for the front cover of a childs book. The rabbit completes the image and makes it more child like. She took a picture of a young girl reading a newspaper, as this book is for children this image seems out of place as newspapers stereotypically are read by adults. You can tell it is based on some sort of extract as the rabbit all so has words based inside it. The background is a very dull blue and green colour which is just a dull version of a meadow. The rabbit has a glowing line around it which makes it look stained and ripped. As the rabbit has no face it doesn’t give it a personality or charecter, its just a shape an outline of the main image. The composition of the image is direct and central and you don’t really notice the background over the middle of the image. She has edited the image and made it look tatty and old with marks all over the background. Also by adding the reflection of people and the black rabbit it makes it look surreal, its hard to understand why you would want a rabbit in a rabbit? But it definitely makes the image more interesting.

This image is called Look, Listen, Think and Feel. It was used as self promotion for Dianne Fenster to advertise her work. All these images are quite straight forward but have a twist, an example of this would be the feel image as you can feel with your hands and your heart and thats why she has shown a hand containing a heart. She has made all the images yellow so they all link together, and just changed the colour of the rough edge on each image. They all have their own square and it makes them seem like canvas wall art. Dianne has made them look old like she does with all the images. SHe has scanned in images over her own and given them depth, made them eye catching.

Photographed book covers for similar books

This first image is a weird cover for alice in wonderland. They have used the colours to show how it is similar to the original story. I think the mug also has similarities as it relates the the flowers with the faces also the tea party Alice goes too and meets the Mad Hatter.  THe makeup looks odd as it’s not really child like makeup for this sort of book, this makes it seem more weird and interesting and even more appealling to readers. Using a plan black backdrop brings the model forward and adds sharpness around the edges. Her lacey clothing add to the whole weirdness of the story it is telling.

This one is based on the tea party, i don’t know weather this was shot in the studio or outside as the lighting is a cross between the two. The blue looks like sky and is clear and clean. The angle of the picture makes it more effect because it makes it look like your standing below the cups which are built up like a tower. The synopsis on the back is arranged in an odd way as it starts out as normal writing and slowly looks like its falling off the page. The colours make this picture elegant and effective.

You can tell straight away that this book is Alice in Wonderland as you know these are the shoes she wears. This book is by penguin a well know childs book publisher. The image does not give anything away it just shows it to be a child in a very bland world. They have definitely thought about where to place the girl when taking the photo. They have un focused the image in the background for depth of field. The background looks painted as the colours look misty and hased. The angle of this image and the way it has been cropped, it looks like ‘Alice’ is alot taller than what she might really be.

This final image i think i like the best because although it doesn’t really link to Alice if  you don’t know the book it links more to other characters. This is something i want to incorporate in a different way. In the top corner you can see a mug this deffinately shows the hint towards the tea party which i think is clever. Creating th title out of playing cards makes it more part of the image, whereas the others have overlayed writing. They have used good depth of field in this image as you can still see the cards towards the back of the image but its clear that they are focusing on the writing.

I am going to base my book cover on Alice in Wonderland as it would allow me to be more creative with the images and the writing.

Synopsis:  “If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. What is, it wouldn’t be and what it wouldn’t be, it would, You see?” Falling for what felt like for ages, she suddenly came to a stop, looking through the key whole of a tiny door to see a new world. A world of her own. The rabbit had dissapeared inside, leading alice into an abnormal world filled with all the nonsense she could want strange creatures and people waiting for her just one tiny door away, and what had alice lead her self in too? A mysterious adventure in wonderland.