I am thrilled to present the final rendition of the illustration for the cover of Petit Lot et le Grand Cor de la licorne.
Littlelot celebrates the discovery of the Great Horn
11.5” x 15.5”
Watercolor, gouache, colored pencil
David Jones
During our biweekly progress meetings I had occasion to talk with David about his art. He quoted an early twentieth-century painter by whose work he’s inspired:
“I have inherited that strange love for things remote.”
—N. C. Wyeth
“I imagine a more romantic time before the Internet,” David said, “before television and the telephone—even before photographs. Characters in this environment are less distracted. They interact with the world in a more tangible way, and the interaction creates stories that transcend the setting.”
David prefers to illustrate for narrative works, including book cover and interior illustrations, comics, and graphic novels, as well as articles, poems, and book excerpts. He tends to use traditional, old-school media: gouache, watercolor, acrylic, and pen and ink.
In the painting above, as in much of David’s work, there is no digital rendering.
See the illustration at previous developmental stages in the category Couverture on the book’s website. Tomorrow on that site I’ll show the book cover for the electronic edition.
For more of David’s art, browse his website.
Born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, David Jones crossed the country to study art on the West Coast. He graduated from the Academy of Art University in 2016 and makes his home now in San Francisco. David’s art is influenced by John Bauer, N. C. Wyeth, and Arthur Rackham, painters from a more romantic time.
Stephen Wendell is the author of the Littlelot series of books for children and the grown-ups who read to them. The English translation of his latest title, Petit Lot et le Grand Cor de la licorne, will be the next book in the series: Littlelot and the Great Horn of the Unicorn.
Petit Lot
et le Grand Cor de la licorne
Stephen Wendell
Electronic edition, October 27
Paperback edition, November 3
Peregrine Publishing