I missed the episode, but loving the art of book covers as I do, I was eager to scour the Internet for pictures of the contestants' entries. As I did, something seemed a little off.
It was this entry in particular that caught my eye. It's a cover for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by a contestant named Nicole:
It may be difficult to see at this scale, but the silhouetted image is that of a female figure falling through space. Now, I don't love this cover in its totality, but the image is quite arresting.
Something about it, though, gnawed at me. And then I remembered:
This is the cover art for The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, a debut novel from Heidi Durrow released in mid-January to widespread praise. I put this my reading list some time ago--part of its appeal being the striking cover art.
I'm loathe to speculate too much here, as I have no idea how the Bravo contestant came up with her design, how she executed it, or even when the episode was taped. Yet, at first glance, it would appear that the two designs share significant similarities. The female form in the "Alice" cover is facing the opposite direction, does not appear to have braids, and seems to have her legs positioned differently. But at the conceptual level--a stark, silhouette image of a female form falling in free space--well, they appear nearly identical.
Did I miss anything in the episode that explains this?
UPDATE: Nicole herself has chimed in with a comment, explaining that her design was entirely original. I have absolutely no reason to doubt her. Apparently, this is just a case of two talented artists traveling down similar paths (or rabbit holes, as it were). Case closed on this one.
Yes, you missed the fact that Nicole's design was participatory. The rectangle with the girl is removable, and underneath there is a real consumable cookie. I kid you not. It's a neat way to invite further vermin into a publisher's warehouse and bookstores.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'm more appalled that she didn't even spell the author's name correctly.
ReplyDeleteJohn, stick to writing, not design critique. And when you decide to do criticism and actually write about it know your facts or at least watch the episode..god. They are two apparent different designs. Its Alice falling down the rabbit hole, was not copied. Its a graphic silhouette, I also posed for it myself. We didn't have any references or use of internet, magazines, newspapers..you get the idea. The concept & focal point of the book cover was the interactive "eat me" cookie inside a box which was recessed inside the book and cover, to initiate the reader to feel like they were engaged further into part of their reading journey. I wanted to use all senses when reading.
ReplyDeleteedfu: thankyou for clarifying, but as for the typo- what they didn't show you on bravo was they wouldn't let me apply the last L, because I was out of time..call it bad time management...but I knew how to spell my authors name.
On the show, Nicole is shown modeling for her image, posing for the photograph face down with her hair hanging loose. She reversed the photograph for the falling image, which is famously associated with Alice falling down the rabbit hole. No pigtails appear in her image, and the body falls differently. Why would she go to the trouble of posing if she had been copying something else? I call it coincidence that another cover image might resemble her art, but Nicole had only her own ideas to fall back on, so to speak.
ReplyDeletePublisher: Algonquin Books; 1 edition (January 11, 2010)
ReplyDeleteSIde note: This book was published January 11, 2010. Nicole made this cover months before, in about October 2009.
Nicole: John has the right to have his opinion. who are you to tell him to stick to his writing.
ReplyDelete