Jul 13, 2017

HOW SAINTS DIE - Carmen Marcus

Set in a small Yorkshire fishing town in the 1980’s, How Saints Die is Carmen Marcus debut novel which portrays adult mental breakdown through the eyes of a child.

The cover, paw print on the spines case, and inside fraying rope were all illustrated by Owen Gent. Below Owen talks about the cover.

For the How Saints Die cover illustration I worked in watercolour and gouache, as well as editing subtle elements of the image in Photoshop. The brief was to include the Sea wolf, the sea itself and also Ellie, the young protagonist: the challenge with the cover was to create a balance between these elements which reflected their relationship within the novel.  Ellie and the wolf look at each other across the boundary between land and sea, a visual divide which also represents the opposing worlds of reality and the turbulent imaginary world that Ellie conjures up as a way of dealing with her situation. The bright red figure of Ellie, set against a de-saturated and expansive Yorkshire coastal scene, portrays her bravery and tenancy, as well as the isolation she finds herself in.

It was a real pleasure to also work on some pen and ink illustrations which were used as pauses in the narrative, these were created using dip pen & Indian ink.

Published by Harvill Secker today

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