"The Girl Beneath the Sea" Endpapers
Due to the nature of endpapers, it was imperative that the illustrations established a strong first impression as readers start their journey and a lasting memory as readers finished the book. I achieved this through strong compositions, colors, and balance of detail.
Beginning Endpaper (photo courtesy of @giota_the_reader on Instagram)
Foil Cover (photo courtesy of @acourtofsongsandstories on Instagram)
Endpaper 2 (photo courtesy of @ridiculusreads on Instagram)
Endpaper 2 Foil Cover (photo courtesy of @dnjreads on Instagram)
01. Initial Sketches
The Problem
At the time, "The Girl Beneath the Sea" was not yet published and so I had no source material to draw from, only selected excerpts from the Axie Oh, the author. This meant I had to fill in the gaps with my own imagination (which is a practice I'm familiar with being an avid reader myself!).
Endpaper 1 was to be a depiction of what Mina, our protagonist, sees as she first steps into this otherworldly, undersea realm. The scene was described as a glowing, grand city-skyline against the backdrop of an open ocean. A dragon slips through the air in the distance. A beautiful and terrifying sight.
Endpaper 2 is an depiction of our two main characters Mina and Shin privately enjoying a festival from a distance on the waterfront. The water is quiet, the sunlight dappled, and the garden serene.
Visual Choices
The two endpapers share a framing device as a reference to traditionally illustrated fairytales as well as a vehicle for context and storytelling. The scene of the first endpaper is contained by this frame while the second endpaper extends beyond the frame, indicating the end of a journey. What is notable about the first endpaper is that Mina is approaching from the outside in, as she is an outsider to this world.
Despite similarly sized elements such as the city and lotus flowers, the characters remain as the focal point through use of the Rule of Thirds, allowing the composition to be dynamic as well as balanced.
02. Color Blocking
My goals when introducing colors are to establish depth through values and mood through lighting.
Endpaper 1 appears otherworldly, mysterious, and magical through use of deep blues and purples with the deep sea as a point of inspiration.
Endpaper 2 has an air of happily ever after through use of pastels, striking greens, and dappled light across the water.
Revising
While I had an image of the city at dusk, Axie imagined it at dawn when the fog lifts from the city. With this feedback, I moved away from deep blues into more jewel tones with an emphasis on red and gold, similar to how the sun breaks the horizon in the morning.
To create an added level of grandeur, the dragon moved from being in the distance to taking center stage. I was initially concerned about detail being lost due to the gutter, but was assuaged by the Fairyloot team that it would lay mostly flat due to the nature of printing endpapers.
Author Card and Foil Design
Foil Cover (Photo courtesy of @acourtofsongsandstories on Instagram)
Foil Cover and Author Note (Photo courtesy of @sumayyahreads on Instagram)
Foil Cover (Photo courtesy of @ridiculusreads on Instagram)
Illustrated Cards
Spades—Daughter of the Moon Goddess
Clubs—Only a Monster
Diamonds—Six Crimson Crows
Hearts—Jade Fire Gold
Foil Cover (photo courtesy of @ridiculusreads on Instagram)
Suits of Six Crimson Crows (photo courtesy of @nelthewhichcraftsbooks on Instagram)
