alice’s adventures in wonderland
classic book redesign
illustration • typography • layout
When I was presented with the opportunity to redesign a book jacket, I jumped at the chance to work with one of my favorite stories. Coming from a background of illustration and especially being a fan of children’s book styles, I knew my art could fit perfectly into a new cover for Carroll’s classic tale.
The challenge for this project was to create a jacket that would better attract modern children, and to make sure I included reference to a scene or theme from the book.
discovery
The concept behind this book jacket redesign was to move away from the vintage, Victorian-era style typically associated with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Most of the current editions of the book use this style, so in contrast I wanted to lean into a more modern children’s book art style that would appeal to children today and entice them to pick up the book with a more colorful, cute look.
sketches
I came up with a multitude of sketches focusing on depicting central themes and characters in the book, such as using scale to reference the theme of growth and aging present throughout. I also tried illustrating key scenes like Alice at the Mad Hatter’s tea party, and Alice falling down the rabbit hole. In the end, I pulled three of these sketches to make slightly more detailed, and two of those to move onto a digital draft.
digital drafts
My first drafts were of the cover playing with scale, and the cover showcasing the tea party scene from the book. I used friendly, playful serifs for the title to keep things from feeling too modern, and in both covers I gave the letters a chaotic, jumpy pattern to match the chaos and wonder of the book. My illustration was done digitally, but I used brushes reminiscent of my inspirations in current children’s books which often use a gouache-like texture.
final designs
reflection
It’s been a dream of mine to illustrate for a book for many years, so getting a taste of it with this project was so exciting! I would love to return to book covers in the future and continue honing my illustration skills with them.