Project: Create cover artwork for a children’s novel, based on elements and characters detailed in the story - ‘Robot Alert’, written by Suzanne Martel - Canadian Paperback Edition published by Ginn & Company.
Although it’s not current, I have a real fondness for this piece. Earlier in my career, I produced a lot of book illustrations for an educational publisher called Ginn & Company. The contact and valuable art direction with Ginn came through Word & Image Design, a creative agency who also co-ordinated the artwork layouts and assigned appropriate artists for each job. I was supplied with a previously published edition of the Sci-Fi themed book to read so that I could pull out the relevant characters and events that would inspire a good cover illustration.
Although the story itself was well written, it suffered from descriptions of technology that were terribly outdated, reflecting concepts of computerization and robotics that belonged in a 1950’s view of the future. This became a huge stumbling block when I began creating rough sketches, since contemporary kids that grew up with Star Wars & video games just wouldn’t accept the images if rendered exactly as described by the author. As I recall, the robot character (as written), exhibits the configuration of 2 shiny metal cylinders with narrow, pincer-ended arms and 3 tricycle-like retractable wheels... My solution was to be true to the basic shapes but enhance the level of surface detail and metallic qualities of the character.
I’m not a huge fan of book covers or movie posters that blatantly give away major plot details, so I focused on representing the intelligence and appeal of the 2 main characters, interwoven with various sci-fi elements of the novel. Real children from my neighborhood were used as models for the story’s hero and heroine, complemented by my reinvented robot and a communications satellite that plays a pivotal role throughout. The futuristic city in the background wraps around to the back cover of the paperback.
Addendum: Publisher, Ginn and Company was quietly absorbed by a larger corporation quite a few years ago, with all the stored artwork by hundreds of Canadian artists tragically destined for landfill. One of the employees took it upon herself to save as much original art as possible and return it to its creators. (Thanks Mary, wherever you are - You’re an angel). I was one of the fortunate freelancers contacted and was able to reclaim most but not all of my illustrations produced over an eight year period. A number of paintings for Ginn’s English Reading Program books were lost or had 'left the building' - mementos I suppose, for ex-employees as offices were systematically vacated. Notably missing was a book cover I painted for ‘Marty Hollit and the Amazing Game Machine’. I had used a close friend’s daughter and my father as models for characters that appear on the cover which gave the artwork sentimental value to me - so I was rather depressed about its apparent loss... Additionally, a friend of the family who had posed for a character in a series of illustrations lost her battle with cancer shortly afterwards and those paintings are lost as well... On a brighter note: Robot Alert was one of the last original pieces to return home and still adorns a wall in my studio.