I'm pleased to report that a lovely art magazine has picked up on the DH Lawrence covers I've been working on for the last couple of years. I'll say no more on that until it hits the stands (just in case I get bumped), but the process did get my rifling through a stack of visuals for the various books I worked on.
For those that are unfamiliar with the world of publishing - 'visuals', or 'scamps' as they're sometimes known, are rapid little sketches that show ideas, and are used in discussion with picture editors - who may want to see a few different concepts before committing to key pictorial elements. They're not fully complete production drawings, so the level of finish is low, but they should convey the feel, energy and potential of the work they could possibly lead to.
Here's a few that came up along the way....
An early idea for 'The Fox' where a female character looks over a dark and dour landscape. In the end we went with a male/confrontational face - but the image for 'Lawrence and Italy' kind of echoes this one - albeit in a warmer more sensual way.
'Women in Love' - take one. I would have liked to paint this - but it was deemed (correctly) to similar the the previous covers. Would make a nice double portrait donchathink?
'Sons and Lovers'. The pregnant Gertrude Morel, minus the grubby apron. This was the first book I worked on for this project. I very much had in mind artists contemporary to Lawrence like Klimt and Munch. It's a nice image - but too soft for the book - which is an altogether grittier affair.
