These Covers were created for a Skillshare Class taught by Peter Mendelsund. My final cover (COVER C) was chosen as one of three to win individual feedback and a pair of books designed and written by Mr. Mendelsund. Here is the feedback he gave:
"Rosana, like the other three finalists, shows a talent for deep reading and critical thinking. Her analysis of Eliot’s poem was insightful; and her sketches were amazing. (Honestly, so many of you students sketch so much better than I ever could.) I particularly loved the row of coffee spoons and the close up of J.A.P’s tie-pin. Ultimately, it’s the cleverness of the final that won me over here. Measuring a life in teaspoons, beautifully rendered. Clever; simple. The deadpan typography gets out of the way of the image, allowing the illustration to be the star of the composition. Well done!"
COVER A
So the first image I found that I liked was of an extinguished match and I really loved how dark it was and how unromantic—making it a nice contrast to the idea of a "lovesong."
I kept the fonts very understated and tasteful (like Prufrock himself) and I wanted the quote to contrast—more flowing and scripty—to signify that the poem was beginning here and that it was different information than the title and author.
COVER B
So after that I went digging for a period-appropriate image of a man's collar and tie. It was hard to find an image that was large enough to use for a book cover but I ran across a handful of possible candidates. I wanted to cross the ideas of a tastefully elegant tie accented with a tie pin and a bug impaled on a pin for close scrutiny.
I kept the information on the cover the same but wanted to try a more modern typeface. I wanted something that was a heavier weight face so that it would read more clearly when used semi-transparently against the image. I also wanted to see if I could push the swash-y handwritten quality of the quote.
I found a few images of actual pinned bugs to use but somehow throwing a photographic image over another photoraphic image didn't really have the effect I wanted and looked somewhat cheesy. So I found a diagram on the proper way to pin bugs and used that overlayed on the collar/tie.
I originally thought I would use blue as the color wash to imply all the water imagery he uses in the poem but it seems so dull and recessive that I switched to red.
COVER C
Kinda had a flash of an idea and wanted to do a cover that was super graphic and iconic.
I did a conceptual mash-up of the idea of measuring out life in spoonfuls and those spoonfuls running through an hourglass like sand. Thought it was the most concise set of images I could throw together that would capture some of the futility and wasted opportunity.
I wanted the colors to be somber but to use teacup/hourglass in a cutaway view and show the interior as a peach color both to recall the line "do I dare to eat a peach?" and to suggest a curvy feminine shape of perhaps the beloved he's letting slip through his hands.
