The tale

Enchanting and even cruel, fairy tales are undoubtedly the stories we grow up with. Tales of adventure, often imaginary, carry morals that we can transpose into our everyday lives. They are also a literary genre in their own right, and it would be a serious mistake to confine them to stories for children.

These stories with their overflowing imaginations make it a fabulous playground for our students at the Prépa Design in Montpellier. The aim of their teachers, Virginie Torsiello and Catherine Jean, was to enable them to create a book cover for a story. The aim was to give thought to the story and its graphic representation, and to create coherence between text and image.

SUBJECT OF THE EXERCISE

Illustrate a children’s story by Perrault and create a book cover.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE EXERCISE

• Select 2 stories by Perrault,
• Research the illustrations,
• Use the chosen style of illustration on the back cover,
• Choose a book format from those suggested,
• Make layout suggestions,
• Finalise the covers.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

The aim of this exercise is to create a link between the text and the image. The illustration chosen must be an extension of the story, serving to amplify, complete, describe or even extend the text. It should also be justifiable in terms of the angle chosen, the target, the scene, etc. It’s not about making a drawing for the sake of making a drawing.

Added to this is the fact that book covers are part of a specific literary collection, a factor to be taken into account both in the format and in the publishing house, which has its own guidelines.

TECHNIQUE(S)

Collage, ink, watercolour, felt-tip pen, pencil…