Cover story: Iris and Me
Author:
Philippa Werry
Cover designer:
Sarah Bolland
Artist:
Sarah Pou
Publisher:
Ahoy! (The Cuba Press)
ISBN:
9781991150844
Date published:
01 March 2023
Pages:
182
Format:
Paperback
RRP:
$25.00
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Kete’s cover story feature puts the spotlight on those who do one of the most vital jobs in the literary landscape – designing the cover for a book.
Completely unscientifically and from a book buyer’s point-of-view, rather than a designer’s well-honed eye, each month we judge books by their covers to come up with one we deem to be the most alluring. Then we seek out talk to the people who created it.
This is true of our March pick, Iris and Me by Philippa Werry which features an original art work by Sarah Pou. Here’s how the cover came together, starting with Sarah who tells us more about her stunning cover picture.
How did you come to illustrate Iris and Me? It was all cosmic chance. I emailed the team at The Cuba Press to offer my services as an illustrator in December 2022. A few days later after looking over my work they said they may have something for me very soon. I was delighted!
What’s your prior experience with book cover illustration – or was this a first? I have illustrated a few children's picture books and covers. But this is the first book cover that is in my usual ‘artwork style.’ My artworks (which differ from my children's book illustrations) are designed to be as striking as possible and celebrate scenes that I find beautiful. I was very excited to do a cover image in this style as I had been thinking about it for some time. I loved the idea of conveying Iris as she may have felt at the beginning of her journey. It was really a pleasure to work on.
What was the process of creating this artwork i.e. what themes/ideas were you trying to communicate? As an artist I felt connected to Iris’s passion and creativity. I also wanted to show her courage and sense of adventure as well as suggest some of the challenges that she would face. The enormous ship looming over Iris’s small figure signifies the huge journey she was about to go on and suggests its challenges. Iris standing, shoulders back, cane in hand confronting it, represented her courageous nature. I used the striking colour in her coat and hair to represent her passion & creativity and to let the viewer know that the story is hers.
What were the challenges and, equally importantly, the joys of producing the cover? I had a very tight time frame. Initially, I came up with three design sketches so it was a challenge keeping each image as historically correct as possible and each design strong. I didn’t want anything to look out of place, from the timber on the wharf to the details on the ship, the clothing and Iris’s hairstyle. I really enjoyed this initial research stage. It took me back in time to the 1930s when Iris was travelling and it really helped me connect with her. The story is so beautifully written by Philippa Werry, I felt connected with Iris's passion and wanted to do them both proud.
“I’m often overwhelmed by how beautiful things are so I use colour to ‘celebrate’ how I feel about them and how I see them in my mind's eye.”
How different was it from producing your other art and why do you love colour so much?I guess the main difference would be that my artworks are mainly of everyday places or scenes in New Zealand. I love painting scenes in a way that makes you look at them differently and become captivated by things that you wouldn't usually even notice. I’m often overwhelmed by how beautiful things are so I use colour to ‘celebrate’ how I feel about them and how I see them in my mind's eye. With the cover image of Iris and Me, I was portraying the idea I had about how Iris may have felt at that time. So, the image was something that I imagined from Philippa’s story and the information I had been given about Iris’s life in the cover brief The Cuba Press editor Mary McCallum sent me – as opposed to working from photos as I usually do.
What other book covers, or art works, inspired you or fed into the creation of this cover? Surreal architecture painter Michiel Schrijver often paints very tall, looming buildings in a very soft palate. I find them very powerful and beautiful. The looming ship in the cover image may very well have been influenced by his work.
Who – what – has influenced you creatively? Do you have any favourite book covers? I love images that jump up and hold you. For me it's not just about getting my attention, I want to be captivated for a moment, not able to move. One of my favourite artists is contemporary Scottish artist Francis Boag. He uses layers upon layers of paint and collage. I love his use of colour to create excitement and interest. A book cover I love is Touring Edwardian New Zealand by Paul Moon. I love its quirky use of colour and the older style illustration. (Touring Edwardian New Zealand was Kete’s inaugural Cover Story winner. You can read about it here)
We're told that we should never judge a book by its cover but we all do. Is there a book that you've bought or picked up to read because of the cover? I could not help but pick up After She Wrote Him. The cover is really eye-catching with a beautiful image, great design and colour.
You can see more of Sarah’s art at www.sarahpou.co.nz
Designer Sarah Bolland, co-director of The Cuba Press talks about designing Iris and Me:
How did you come to design the cover for Iris and Me? Unless we hire a designer – rare, but it does happen – The Cuba Press cover design is all done in-house by Paul Stewart or me.
What lead you to decide on an illustration for the cover of Iris and Me? There aren’t a huge number of photos of Iris Wilkinson/Robin Hyde and although we toyed with the idea of using one for a while, an illustration let us break away from the formal, posed feel that many of the photos had and Sarah Pou’s style felt like a much better fit for Iris’s story. She describes her work as being ‘full of colour, sensitivity and charm,’ and that’s exactly what she’s brought to the cover.
“Everything, everywhere influences me – I’m always taking note of how things are designed, how colours and type are used, the shape of labels, the weight and feel of packaging.”
What was the process of bringing it all together? Did you read Philippa's text first and did that have any influence? Iris and Me was shortlisted for the NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize, so I’d read it as part of the judging process but really, all I had to do with the front cover was not get in the way of Sarah’s amazing art. It sets the scene so perfectly that less was more in terms of my input.
Can you tell us more about the font you used? It’s really effective with the artwork. I’ve had Pine Forest (by Dikas Studio) tucked away for about two-and-a-half years, waiting for a book to come along that it would be right for. Its proportions evoke the time period of Iris and Me and it’s hand drawn, so it works well with Sarah’s painting. I was enormously pleased to finally find it a home.
Who – what – has influenced you creatively? Do you have any favourite book covers? Everything, everywhere influences me – I’m always taking note of how things are designed, how colours and type are used, the shape of labels, the weight and feel of packaging. Mostly it’s about asking why a particular choice was made and whether it achieves what it set out to do. Favourite book covers is a hard question. There are so many beautiful, useful, functional covers. One of my favourites, though, is a book called Hands On: Interactive design in print which has a full – front, spine, back – lenticular cover that shows some of the designs in the book in motion. It’s utterly brilliant because it encapsulates so much of what the book is about: it’s tactile, it’s intriguing, it encourages you to engage with it and it does something unexpected.
We're told that we should never judge a book by its cover but we all do. Is there a book that you've bought or picked up to read because of the cover? I pick books up because of their cover all the time! And I’ve definitely sought out editions of books I love and want to keep with a cover or binding that appeals to me. The Father of Octopus Wrestling and Other Small Fictions by Frankie McMillan (CUP) has the most gorgeously inviting and beguiling cover – colour, art, size and texture all working together. The design carries through the book, too, with black pages and copper ink starting each story, and I couldn’t resist it.
Author Philippa Werry on what she thought of the cover…
Did you have any ideas for the cover that you were able to suggest and what was your involvement with it? I talked with The Cuba Press about the general feel we wanted it to have, and I hunted out some images online of 1930s China/Hong Kong, including street scenes and also a wharf in Shanghai, and we also collected a number of images of Iris Wilkinson/Robin Hyde. After that I mostly sat back in admiration as Sarah Pou created this amazing scene.
What are your thoughts about the cover? I absolutely love it! Every time I pick it up, I notice how Iris’s stance conveys a sense of her courage, determination and daring, and how the ship towering over her suggests the adventures she embarked on but also the many obstacles that often lay in her path. Showing us this view of her was such a clever idea! It seems to draw us into seeing what she is seeing and to invite us to become a part of this adventure too. The colours are beautiful, especially the zing of Iris’s green coat. I also really like the typeface of the title that designer Sarah Bolland chose, and the author’s name and the nifty little lines under some of the letters (I think there’s a technical name for them!). I’m very grateful to both Sarahs for the attention they paid to the book cover and the thought they put into it to come up with such inspired and skilled artwork and design.
We're told that we should never judge a book by its cover but we all do. Is there a book that you've bought or picked up to read because of the cover? The gorgeous colours and the expression and pose of the girl on the cover of Fleur Beale’s The Calling made me want to read it straightaway.
