Chris Haughton Case Study

For this case study I will look at a by created by Chris Haughton which follows the story of an owl that has fallen out of his nest and is trying to find a way back.

CONTEXT AND CONTENT

Little Owl Lost is a Children's book that follows a baby owl that has just fallen out of his nest and is trying to find a way back. By comparing these two case studies you can see that they are both book covers for children’s book but the Little Owl Lost is a much more modern book cover to Winnie The Pooh. This book cover follows the conventions of modern children’s books by having large, bold, bright text which is easy for kids to read and bright, eye catching colours that will draw people to the book if it is mixed with other books. The front cover is a contrast to the rest of the pages in the book as the cover is very basic and simple whereas the inside pages are more adventurous and shocking as colours have more intensity and the imagery becoming slightly more complicated with the overlapping colour layers.

FORM

The colour palette for Little Owl Lost is very bright and striking with the colours focusing mainly on the primary colours but just with changes in there tone. Chris Haughton uses colours as layers especially in the background with the very light colours being at the deepest part of the background and as you progress to the foreground get darker in tone. They do this until the layer in the most foreground is practically black. For example on one page the colour in the background goes from yellow, to an orange/ red to black in the foreground. This however is not portrayed on the front cover as the colours are made up of the darker tones used in the book with only the white of the writing being the brightest colour on the cover. The layout of the front cover is very basic with only the title and an image of the owl being shown, the composition is very symmetrical with the two elements being in the centre and surrounded by the background colour. The cover is heavily influenced by computers through the range of colours used and layering of the colours and crispness of the lines. Texture is not featured through this book as the illustrations are very 2-dimensional. There is a large contrast between the dark and light colours on the page giving the image a sense of depth and perspective.

PROCESS

This book cover is made using very modern techniques with mostly computers, with it possibly being drawn out before hand then being coloured and put together on the computers. There is no bleeding within the illustrations with the colour being held within very crisp lines. On some of the double page spreads there is use of the four colour process (CMYK) which allows the colours to stand out on the page more. With some use of overprinting in the background.

PERSONAL RESPONSE

What I like and drew me to this front cover is the unique style and colours that it gives the reader. The drawing style and background patterns are very stylised and powerful and stay in your mind even after you have finished reading. I also like this cover because of the text style that are very influenced by the artist and draws your attention to it. Also the image of the owl is very sweet and makes you want to look inside the book at the rest of the images.