Thread by @francisvallejo

Thought it might be fun to make a thread going over the process used to create the Anansi Boys covers! @foliosociety @neilhimself

The inescapable familial relationship between Anansi and his boys Charlie and Spider was the most intriguing and explored theme that I wanted to explore for the covers (slipcase and book). At the top of my thumbs you'll see a diagram I created of Anansi and the Boys:

...the slipcase (represntd by Anansi) surrounds & envelops the book (the boys each given a side) similar to how a father envelops his children with his influence. The way the book is pulled from the slipcase is similar to how Anansi (& the boy's mother) birth/create the boys.

Even when they seemingly escape their father (meaning the book has been pulled from the slipcase) they are still enveloped by their father Anansi (represented by the green webbing on the fore-edge). This concept was a breakthrough for me.

I then physically mocked up the book by gluing printouts of the thumbs on an existing book & building a slipcase out of balsa wood. I filmed me interacting w/ the mockups & the final direction was chosen from the vids. Next, extensive color and value studies were created.

Tadanori Yokoo was a substantial reference for the color & approach. Not seen are shots from the reference photo shoots costumed by @ccs_modelcoordinator. Sketches were created from the reference images, &once approved I moved to the finals. I included some spine options as well.

Finals were began with digital block-ins of complimentary colors printed out via a giclee printer onto 22x20 Arches 240 lb. watercolor paper. Flat tones were printed on top with house paint. Rendering was done with acrylic paint and pastel.

For the slipcase cover I used pumice and Cray-Pas oil pastel for texture. To speed things up, I scanned them in and finished the last 25% digitally.

Finally, I provided block ins for the foil and UV-coated texture that was printed on both covers. Sheri took those blocks and explored extensive printing options until the finals were produced. I'm discovering the experiential design of book making is VERY appealing to me!!!!

Thanks for reading :)

Here is a video detailing the printing techniques used on the covers: