The magic of making incredible cover art
What’s in the Video?
A book cover has a BIG job to do. It needs to be memorable, and it needs to tell you something about the story without giving away all of the story’s secrets. PLUS, it needs to stand out so you want to choose THAT book from the shelf! Learn all about making a memorable book cover in this creative lesson.
Video Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:23 Meet the creators
01:45 Secrets to illustrating a book cover
02:32 How do illustrators come up with cover ideas
04:26 Why the right cover illustration is so important
05:45 Final words of advice
06:29 Here’s what we’ve learned
Learning Intentions
1. Learning about the parts of a book cover, and the information a cover can convey about a story.
2. Creating book covers that are planned and purposeful.
3. Exploring our library or classroom collection and discovering new books to read.
SUCCESS CRITERIA:
1. Analysed a range of book covers and identified how these communicate information.
2. Created different cover options and annotated these to demonstrate the thought process behind their creation.
3. Created a list of new books to read.
Discussion Questions
PRE-VIDEO:
- Have you ever picked up a book because of what was on the cover? What interested you about that book? What was on the cover that made you want to pick it up?
- Have you ever NOT wanted to read a book because of the cover? Why did that cover make you feel that way?
- What do you think is the purpose of a book cover?
POST VIDEO:
- Heidi tells us that a cover is important because it’s the first thing people see. And she showed us an example from her book, 'Floof'. Can you remember this cover? What did Heidi do in the artwork that made it stand out? (see related stories at the bottom of this page for a link to 'Floof').
- Jess told us some things that a book cover needs to do. Do you remember what those things were?
- Heidi mentioned that she begins her covers by using a pencil to ‘rough out’ different options. Do you remember what she thought about as she did this?
- Jess showed us some different covers she created for her book 'Iceberg'. And she said that she often creates 10-20 rough covers for each book.
- Did you expect an illustrator would create so many covers for a book?
- Why do you think trying out so many different ideas can be useful?
- Jess also told us that the cover decision is not hers alone, but the whole publishing team decides on a book cover. What did she say her publisher looked for?
- Heidi and Jess both said that it’s important to give readers an idea of the tone of the book and what the story might be about, while leaving some mystery so that readers want to pick the book up.
- What do you think Jess means by ‘tone’?
- Can you think of any other book cover examples that clearly set a tone?
- Why do you think it’s important to give readers an idea of what the book is about AND leave some mystery too?
- Can you think of any book covers that do this?
Curriculum Links
Language:
● Language for expressing and developing ideas: AC9E5LA07, AC9E6LA07
Literature:
● Examining literature: AC9E5LE04, AC9E6LE04
Literacy:
● Analysing, interpreting and evaluating: AC9E5LY05, AC9E6Y05
● Creating texts: AC9E5LY06, AC9E6LY06
LITERACY
Reading and Viewing:
● Understanding texts: Comprehension Level 7-8
CREATIVE AND CRITICAL THINKING
Analysing:
● Interpret concepts and problems: Level 4
Generating:
● Create possibilities: Level 4
Reflecting
● Transfer knowledge: Level 4
CREATORS
Resources
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