Animal Farm - Initial Sketches/development

I initially wanted to develop the idea of having knacker glue as the focus of this piece as it showed a more unique approach to the story and conveys one of its most sinister aspects. I began sketching the designs, considering approaches, angles and how the bottle should look. I considered that photographing a bottle of glue might be more impact and unique - none of the animal farm covers I looked at used photography.

 

Not only did I want to use photography but I also wanted to use a distorted, bright and clinical approach to this. I was particularly inspired by the 2017 offset posters, which used bright colours and strange imagery to convey their point well. I thought this style would work particularly well for Animal Farm as it moves away from the traditional - just as the book had to break through traditional ideals and went through a big struggle to get published. The cover should move away from the red, white and black illustrations of angry pigs.

I also remembered seeing one of the previous covers for the penguin random house competition which used photography successfully. This was by Holly Knowles for the Adrian Mole design. I liked the way it used miniature versions and models to convey a distorted reality. I wanted to use models myself to convey glue in the initial designs.