Nowhere to Run: A Senior Narrative Book Jacket by Calvin Camin (2017)

After Elijah is found guilty of second degree murder he must serve a sentence of 15 years. The victim’s mother has ended her bereavement and resorted to a plan of vengeance. While prison may be intimidating, the real danger begins once he is freed. How long will this maternal vow of bloodshed continue to haunt Elijah?

While making my book jacket it was hard to create a piece that would entice readers and accurately portray what my story was about. I wanted to use objects that represent the themes brought up in the story instead of recreating events that occur in the story and slapping it on the cover. The book cover is very simple and minimal at first look but I added a lot of subtle details to create the overall feeling that can be seen through reading the story. The backdrop is a meant to look like a piece of paper so as to represent how Elijah’s guilt during the story becomes official as it is documented and becomes public knowledge. The imperfections and rust look given to the text and statue on the cover were meant to show the problems with the society Elijah lives in which I believe mirrors our very own. During production there were also some problems with the proportions of my jacket. When creating the artwork on photoshop, the size would end up being smaller when moved over to InDesign. With what I’ve learned from this project, I believe I will be able to make minimal yet effective artwork for any kind of advertisement project. If I were to change anything, I would most likely make the quotes less comedic so as to match the tone of the story that is a drama. Overall I am proud of how the jacket came out because I believe it’s visually pleasing while also giving a sense of what the story is about.