Illustrations for a Brave New World

I mentioned a couple of months back that I would be entering the House of Illustration and The Folio Society's competition to illustrate Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.....well, I got an e-mail from them the other day to say that my entry was unsuccessful. While there are possibly no words to describe how disappointed I am not to at least make it into the top 25 (and if there were it would be a little depressing to list them all anyway) over the last few days I have been trying to look at the positives: 1) They e-mailed me to let me know. There's nothing worse then having to assume it didn't go well through lack of any form of communication. 2) As clichéd as it sounds, I'm still proud of myself for entering because it wasn't the type of text I would usually have chosen to illustrate and although I struggled hugely I managed to complete it. 3) I am pleased with the work I produced. That is a big achievement for me! Even if they're not the best pieces of art ever done, I still like them and (I cringe slightly at the cheesiness but it is definitely needed in this case) that's what counts. So here, I am proud to present.....the illustrations that should have won ;)

 Cover.

 "And this," said the Director opening the door, "is the fertilizing room."

 "The on a low bed, the sheet flung back, dressed in a pair of pink one-piece zippy jamas, lay Lenina, fast asleep and so beautiful in the midst of her curls."

"I claim them all" said the Savage at last.

Mustapha Mond shrugged his shoulders. "You're welcome," he said.

And here, for those of you interested, is The House of Illustration's chosen top 25 

Brave New World.

The House of Illustration have launched their new competition to illustrate a book for The Folio Society. Last year the book was Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber and this year it will be Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. It's the chance for illustrators who have not previously worked with The Folio Society to get their work seen which is great for people like myself. I know little about the book in question except that it would probably not be on my ideal reading list given the choice (dystopian prophesies of a new age isn't quite the thing I'm used to reading, or indeed, illustrating! as former posts will show) but I think because of that it could be a unique challenge to set myself. Certainly the cover of the book I've been lent by my dad is in dire need of redesigning (although dad argued that you can't go wrong with Masaccio! It's true but there's a time and a place and a thumbnail size version of The Expulsion on a plain chocolate brown background is definitely neither). In the same way that you can learn something from arguing the opposite point to what you believe in a debate, I feel that I just might do the same from trying to illustrate something that I would usually not even look at twice. In a way, you become less preciouses about the result that way and in these cases great things can sometimes happen. I am flexing my fingers in readiness. This could be fun!