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Princesse Angine

JANUARY 12, 2012
Sometimes a project gets in and it's just like you're a kid again.
In french I'd say un moment de bonheur.
There was anything crazy, impressive or huge about this project, it was in fact a pretty simple book cover project, for a small novel, only it was written in 1967 by one of my favorite artist, Roland Topor.
I'm not as familiar with his writting as I am with his images, but the fact is he was a pretty good writter. 
I don't know if his words are translated in english but you can still (re)watch The Tenant by Polansky, adapted from one of Topor's book.
Samples of the inside images
The cover of the first book in this collection.
So in this project, the main difficulties  were that there was a dozen illustrations of Topor inside, all of them composed as rébus, (sort of a puzzle of elements that put one after the other form a sentence), and the fact that a first book has already been published in the same collection with one of Topor illustration on the cover, which spirit I was asked to keep for mine.
Briefly, the story is about a princess, may be a girl, may be not, on the road with and old drunk man, inside a truck looking like a pink elephant, a treasure inside that looks more like a yard sale, trying to escape vilains, true or not, etc... It's as crazy as Alice could be, but with Topor's sauce.
The back cover résumé ends with this words: « I've stopped smoking, but I don't feel better». 
Some sketches
The final cover
I know I'll never match someone as great as Topor, and it had never been in question; my only concern was not to disappoint myself of course, but also Topor's fans who will buy this book.
 
It is for this kind of thrill and simple moments that I still enjoy being an illustrator.
© 2024 Gerard DuBois