Beasts!: BEASTS! Hardcover
Beasts!
Designer: Jacob Covey
Illustrators: Multiple
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Typefaces: Braggadocio, Brothers, Gloucester Extra Condensed, Minion, Playbill, Unknown found typeface. Essentially, an eclectic mix from different periods and perhaps the result of a typesetter with too few letterforms to properly finish the job with one type family. The interior is an even
bigger cacophony.
Specials: Hardcover is 2c foil stamping on 2c, uncoated stock, with cloth spine and silkscreened page ends. 5c throughout. Paperback is 4c plus metallic gold on glossy stock, with gatefold covers. 5c throughout.
I contacted the talented Jacob Covey a few months ago and we have been conversing back and forth about this project and some of its related materials. Jacob sent me a copy of "BEASTS!2", and believe me, every bit of this book matches the beauty, detail, and interest of its cover. Thanks for all your interest and input Jacob!
—Jason Gabbert
BEASTS! is a two-volume modern bestiary illustrating mythological and folkloric creatures depicted by 180 international artists working in the fields of comics, skate graphics, rock posters, children's books, and the commercial and gallery arts.
These books are my personal project. I acted as curator (a more fitting term than editor) and designer and, as such, answered only to the publisher. Since I worked on the book largely on my own time and (along with everyone involved) also waived any payment, I was allowed an uncompromised level of production while maintaining a relatively low price point. ...An arrangement that originally seemed ideal until I realized that the presentation of the book had to encapsulate and, as an object, justify the incredible work generously created by my dream list of contributors and it had to make money for my bosses.
Art book audiences are very design-savvy so as a starting point I decided that the hardcover would be approached as a collectible object and any future softcover printing would be redesigned with a more "commercial" solution for the cover. In the end, the hardcover books have two-color foil stamping on 2c covers with an uncoated stock, which has great contrast and tactility. The spine is stamped cloth, in the tradition of any respectable bestiary [a traditional encyclopedia of real and unconfirmed beasts]
I think a successful cover design has to distill the essence of a book and not necessarily depict a literal synopsis of the contents. This is a common principle in fiction prose books but is much less commonly applied to something like an art book. Eventually I designed a logomark that complemented the feel of the interiors without using one specific piece to represent all the artists (or, worst of all, a collage of work that shamelessly and in a hoarse voice begged the viewer to pick up the book). Having a strong icon also allowed for seamless branding with the gallery shows that have followed. From there I just mined my affinity for Victorian ostentation.
The design seems to have worked since the first book went into paperback (now in the fourth printing). For the new second volume I simply created a similar feeling icon, but sought to give this cover more interest, so I relaxed on the clean look, stamped the back cover text huge and slightly messy across the back paper and cloth, and generally loosened up.
For the paperback cover design I felt a more blunt solution was in order but I also wanted to play off the hidden and gargantuan aspects of the creatures inside. So gatefold flaps fold out to reveal a 24" detail from Jordan Crane's Lestringon. The cropped image insinuates that the browsing book buyer isn't seeing everything, that this single work isn't the whole story about the contents. (And I couldn't resist that this caused the creature to literally engulf the contents when the reader folds the flaps together.) The simple addition of these flaps made the whole book feel more interactive and lavish with very little expense.
Beasts!
Designer: Jacob Covey
Illustrators: Multiple
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Typefaces: Braggadocio, Brothers, Gloucester Extra Condensed, Minion, Playbill, Unknown found typeface. Essentially, an eclectic mix from different periods and perhaps the result of a typesetter with too few letterforms to properly finish the job with one type family. The interior is an even
bigger cacophony.
Specials: Hardcover is 2c foil stamping on 2c, uncoated stock, with cloth spine and silkscreened page ends. 5c throughout. Paperback is 4c plus metallic gold on glossy stock, with gatefold covers. 5c throughout.
I contacted the talented Jacob Covey a few months ago and we have been conversing back and forth about this project and some of its related materials. Jacob sent me a copy of "BEASTS!2", and believe me, every bit of this book matches the beauty, detail, and interest of its cover. Thanks for all your interest and input Jacob!
—Jason Gabbert
BEASTS! is a two-volume modern bestiary illustrating mythological and folkloric creatures depicted by 180 international artists working in the fields of comics, skate graphics, rock posters, children's books, and the commercial and gallery arts.
These books are my personal project. I acted as curator (a more fitting term than editor) and designer and, as such, answered only to the publisher. Since I worked on the book largely on my own time and (along with everyone involved) also waived any payment, I was allowed an uncompromised level of production while maintaining a relatively low price point. ...An arrangement that originally seemed ideal until I realized that the presentation of the book had to encapsulate and, as an object, justify the incredible work generously created by my dream list of contributors and it had to make money for my bosses.
Art book audiences are very design-savvy so as a starting point I decided that the hardcover would be approached as a collectible object and any future softcover printing would be redesigned with a more "commercial" solution for the cover. In the end, the hardcover books have two-color foil stamping on 2c covers with an uncoated stock, which has great contrast and tactility. The spine is stamped cloth, in the tradition of any respectable bestiary [a traditional encyclopedia of real and unconfirmed beasts]
I think a successful cover design has to distill the essence of a book and not necessarily depict a literal synopsis of the contents. This is a common principle in fiction prose books but is much less commonly applied to something like an art book. Eventually I designed a logomark that complemented the feel of the interiors without using one specific piece to represent all the artists (or, worst of all, a collage of work that shamelessly and in a hoarse voice begged the viewer to pick up the book). Having a strong icon also allowed for seamless branding with the gallery shows that have followed. From there I just mined my affinity for Victorian ostentation.
The design seems to have worked since the first book went into paperback (now in the fourth printing). For the new second volume I simply created a similar feeling icon, but sought to give this cover more interest, so I relaxed on the clean look, stamped the back cover text huge and slightly messy across the back paper and cloth, and generally loosened up.
For the paperback cover design I felt a more blunt solution was in order but I also wanted to play off the hidden and gargantuan aspects of the creatures inside. So gatefold flaps fold out to reveal a 24" detail from Jordan Crane's Lestringon. The cropped image insinuates that the browsing book buyer isn't seeing everything, that this single work isn't the whole story about the contents. (And I couldn't resist that this caused the creature to literally engulf the contents when the reader folds the flaps together.) The simple addition of these flaps made the whole book feel more interactive and lavish with very little expense.
