these are 2 book covers for the wind in the willows that interest me a lot. I think the natural earthy colours work really well, and in my own book cover I'm going to use a lot of green/brown yellow and orange. the original ink illustrations is where i am heading with my own design as i feel these reflect the book best. i want to design a cover that mixes the original covers to something more modern, although i dont want it to be so different that you dont relate to the wind in the willows. so its trying to find that happy medium that works best. on the top cover the engraving down the spine of the book works really well for adding detail without being all over the cover and the simple tree in the right corner of the book is effective too. the typography in my opinion is to simple and i think it would of benefitted from a more detailed font face. the pale blue background works well to accompany the bright illustration on the front. the illustrations are again by E.H. Shepard one of my favourite illustrators of the time.

the second book cover is a very modern interpretation of this classic book. it has a  printed willow tree in the background with "toad" on the front cover. the illustration has captured his image well as an extravagant creature. the colour scheme is very bright so is really good for a children's book. i want to use some bright colour but also some dulled down colours in my cover. i don't want the colours to over power my illustration/image.

so far I've had the idea to draw all of my images free hand a scan them into the computer and touch them up in photoshop or maybe trace them in illustrator. either way i will choose the software which will best benefit my design.