What I Meant Book Cover Illustration
I Have been commissioned by Randomhouse from New York, to produce a book cover for the Title, What I Meant, Authored by Marie Lamba. A brief excerpt of the book, Sangeet Jumnal, 15, has a crush on gorgeous Jason in her high school in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She knows he has noticed her and thinks she is “exotic,” but even if Jason asks her out, her strict Sikh dad forbids her to date until she is 16. But why does her American mom go along with that? Then Sang’s best friend, Gina, suddenly stops speaking to her. Is Gina bulimic? Worst of all, Dad’s demonic, widowed sister-in-law, Chachi, has moved in, and she spies and steals and gets Sang into big trouble. Everything blows up when Sang tries for a secret date.
This is a Young Adult book, meaning the targeted audience is 12-years-old and up. The cover design is pretty and girly. I achieved this by adding elements, which were girly such as butterflies and flowers with the main character (named Sang) worked in. Her Profile was illustrated to be the prominent feature of the front cover. I created objects from her life, which I incorporated into the pattern around her. An important theme of the book was Sang’s Indian heritage, I integrated an Indian style and flavour into the front cover illustration, which was important to bring across. The Indian pattern was achieved using traditional Henna Patterns designs, which are distinctively ethnic.
