The ornate flourishes I often add to borders in my illustrations have long been inspired by the intricate designs I often see in antique book covers. The gold-embossed designs I find in old bookshops and on dusty library shelves have always mesmerized me, blending abstract elements with floral flourishes, and beautifully balanced with symmetry.
This is a self generated project I began because I too have wanted to try my hand at book illustration, and thought it best to start with a fun daily prompt that would let me play a bit. Instead of redesigning books I've recently read, or book covers that I thought needed improvement, I decided to base my designs on content that did not have a book cover yet, because they are not actually books, they're Netflix shows! This allowed me to create designs that would be more widely recognized by my audience, because who among us doesn't spend a few too many hours a week with this beloved TV platform.
I also wanted to create a few interior illustrations that demonstrated how these cover designs would translate into related art for the rest of the book, things like maps of a fictional world, family trees to show the intertwining relationships between characters, and chapter introductions.
A family tree is more of an infographic than anything, so I had to put on my designer's hat on for this illustration. I still found opportunities to have fun with flourishes, like the frames around the four main characters.
This project was a blast and I hope that I'll have opportunities to do more book-related client work in the future!