Wednesday, September 17, 2008

"Sarah, Plain and Tall", the artwork


Here is the full painting of the "Sarah, Plain and Tall" book cover, showing that nice old house on the back.
I've loved Andrew Wyeth's work since I was at school, and I think I was trying to achieve a little of the flavour of his work in this piece.
It wasn't until I got to art college that I discovered the work of his father, NC Wyeth, who then became one of my all time favourite artists.

4 comments:

Susan at Stony River said...

I loved this book when I first read it, especially Sarah's personality and homesickness. I think you've got a great Sarah there.

When you get a book cover commission, does it include guidelines about how much blank space to put and where, for the title, author name, Newberry Medal and the like? Or can you arrange for yourself, after which they work around the art?

(I've always been curious about book cover design)

PJ Lynch said...

Thanks Susan
Sorry for the delay in answering.
The rule of thumb is to leave the top third of the front of the cover for type. It always seems to be too much, and I cause headaches for my designers because I usually fill the space up.
Not in this one though!

Susan at Stony River said...

A third, wow, that is big.
All that empty sky suits a prairie setting however, doesn't it?

My kids were watching Monsters Inc. a few days ago and at the end, one of the monsters is excited about being on the cover of a magazine--but when it arrives, the barcode was right over his face. I remembered this post and the book covers!

cowboy boot said...

Nice artwork I'm looking for your updates.