The Penguin Cover Design Award

The Process

I first let loose on paper and sketches and visual illustrations dealing with women, class, race, and sexuality. I always go a long way on this, but I find it difficult to illustrate something that reflects all these subjects at once. So, I took a break from my sketchbook and started reading the first chapter. When I started reading the book, it began with a scene where they mentioned the theatre. I did some theatre myself, and I remembered there were always saying “ don’t forget the red thread of the story”, so the thought of doing something with thread was already in my mind. I tried to stop illustrating the situations too literally and was focusing more on what it made the characters feel. The several topics made me feel stuck. And then the red thread comes in handy. I tried many things like making the letters stuck or one person, but I feel like it didn’t bring out all the stories of the book, I remember that I both thread to take photos for the book cover, and I was playing with the thread in my hand when I realize you can express so much with hands. We do things with our hands. Then everything was falling together fast. Subjects I have linked with hands and rope. All these hands visualize a topic; some are pulling, some are stuck, some are being played and some pick up the paces. I like that it doesn’t immediately give away what it is about but does connect well with the subjects. This would hopefully generate newfound curiosity when this book hits the stores.”