
This week’s topic from That Artsy Reader Girl was a fun challenge. Not only do you have to pick your favourite books by your favourite authors, you also have to decide who your favourite authors actually are.

This week’s topic from That Artsy Reader Girl was a fun challenge. Not only do you have to pick your favourite books by your favourite authors, you also have to decide who your favourite authors actually are.

As a graphic designer, I just had to do this week’s topic from That Artsy Reader Girl – Typographic Book Covers.
They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but it is after all the first thing you notice. Even when I don’t end up buying a book, it gladdens my heart to see typography that’s beautiful, fun and creative. To make it a bit more challenging, I decided to restrict the covers to science fiction, fantasy and other works of imagination.

I dug out my old art folder from under the bed while looking for materials for my next artwork, and got nostalgic looking through my old high school and university art and design projects. One of my favourites was this set of fantasy-inspired playing cards, done with acrylic paints and ink pen when I was in my final high school year. I must have run out of time, because it’s missing spades.
It’s a shame that I’ve done barely any painting or drawing in years; I used to love it but in between a full-time job and other creative interests it’s simply fallen by the wayside. Well, never say never again I guess.

I’ve yet to see a Guillermo del Toro film that made me a true believer, but this visually ravishing adult fairytale came closest, and is easily the one I’ve enjoyed the most. At the very least, you gotta admire him for tackling a premise that many would find way too icky with such sincerity.
I have a big soft spot for all things wacky and bizarre, and I enjoyed this colourful and wildly imaginative space fantasy from Luc Besson much more than I thought I would, after the so-so reviews. But if there was ever a movie killed by the horrendous casting choices, Valerian is surely it.
Neil Gaiman has become one of my favourite writers over the years and I was happy to get my hands on this latest third collection of short trips into the weird, shadowy country of Gaiman’s mind. It never really occurred to me to compare him to Ray Bradbury, but in fact Gaiman’s short stories have the same effect on me that I had while engrossed in Bradbury’s fiction when a teenager – a pleasantly uneasy sensation of looking at the world in a distorted mirror, or lifting the fabric of reality to find some dark, strange, disturbing things lurking underneath. Gaiman’s imagination is just as boundless, and his voice as a writer is just as distinctive (his books on the whole have a lot more graphic sex, though not in this particular collection).