Crônicas do Rei do Sul

llustration for the cover commissioned for the book "The Chronicles of the Southern King" written by Johnny Green.

STORY TELLINGCONCEPT ARTFANTASYBOOK COVERLITERATURAPUBLISHINGILLUSTRATION

Luigi Alquimista

1/17/20244 min read

The Chronicles of the Southern King

Front cover illustration commissioned for the book "The Chronicles of the Southern King" written by Johnny Green.

The Chronicles of the Southern King is a book that portrays the story of a young immature and reckless man who, upon receiving a sign from the heavens, decides to leave everything behind and begin his personal redemption.

In his journey, he is confronted by Satan and aided by one of the "first princes," in a war that lasted for years until one side fell.

Challenge: Develop an illustration for a book cover that represents a memorable scene from one of the chapters. The scene should set the location of the "battle" and represent a kind of trial. The attention of the scene needed to be focused on the main character, shifting the focus to two antagonistic characters, and finally revealing a female figure lurking in the situation from afar.

Client: Jhonny Green

Publisher: All Print

Planning: Luigi Alquimista e Jozuel A. Pereira

ilustration: Luigi Alquimista

Year: 2022-2023

Select language

Thumbnails - Composition tests

While the image needed to convey a tense atmosphere, representing judgment, it was also necessary to portray a magical and divine scene, without the characters necessarily having explicit features, highlighting the darkness of a scene full of curiosity and mystery, while the desert sun shines upon them.

Considerable care was required to capture the essence of this scene, with elements such as distant silhouettes and a supernatural atmosphere. The choice of colors and lighting contributes to the enigmatic nature of the illustration while maintaining a sense of depth and realism. The overall result is a laborious and captivating piece that effectively conveys the desired atmosphere of mystery and judgment, with divine proportions and in a dark setting, even under a bright sun.

Development of the illustration - Click to enlarge images

In order to ensure that the reading of the image followed the desired order (Center of the image → judging characters → judged character → girl observing), the concept of the Golden Ratio was applied to the drawing. The Golden Ratio is a mathematical constant present in nature that indicates the viewer's direction of gaze when applied to a slightly more complex image. Thus, four golden ratios were inserted into the illustration, closing the image into two main quadrants, where the "judging" characters were positioned. To focus the center of the image as the starting point of the "reading," the element with the most contrasting and "warm" color of the figure (the sun) was positioned. Just below, following the horizon line generated by the Ratio, the "judged" character was placed, and finally, outside the positions generated by the Ratio, the "observing" character was inserted. The other elements of the illustration were repositioned to follow the curves of the Golden Ratio, organizing the visualization of the scene in the desired order.