judging a book by its cover

When I want to be surrounded by creativity, I go to a bookstore.

Not just to be inspired by stack upon stacks of brilliant writing, but also to ogle at the ever-increasing array of artful book covers. With more distinguished artists like Frank Miller, Tomer Hanuka, Roz Chast and Art Spiegelman joining the ranks of book designers, the modern day bookshop has become a veritable art gallery.

Recently, Penguin Books (in partnership with Creativity Magazine) launched a Cover Design Competition for Sam Taylor's upcoming novel, The Island At The End Of The World.

Here's the synopsis:

"It is a chilling novel about the near future, when most of the world has been destroyed by catastrophic floods. As a father and his three children begin to rebuild their lives on an island, the youngest son Finn begins to question how they arrived there and why their family alone has been spared.'

'Things take an unexpected turn when a strange man named Will swims ashore, and he appears to know quite a bit about the family and the circumstances that surrounded the floods. But Finn's father is determined to keep him silent and is willing to do anything to prevent Will from disturbing his family's idyllic life on the island.'

'Sam Taylor's The Island at the End of the World is a riveting post-apocalyptic tale that explores the darkness that lies within the hearts of men."

Penguin editor Alexis Washam, creative director Paul Buckley, and the editors of Creativity Magazine selected the 25 finalists and the overall winner of this book cover design competition.

Below are my 8 favorite designs (which include the winning entry). Congratulations to the artists!

Left: Winner Matthew Taylor (no relation to the book's author).
Right: John Rice

Left: Philip Witak
Right: Mai La Thai

Left: Pillow Fort a.k.a. Seth Jablon and Mehmet Irdel
Right: Alan Vladusic

Left: Ryan Doggendorf
Right: Justin Walsh

One literary idea spreads to eight imaginative book covers! Let me put it this way: creativity is contagious.

That's why I visit bookstores as often as I can. :-)

Top photo: The Bearbrick-reading-a-mock-up-of-the-Sam-Taylor-novel is one of the eight bears that belong to the Comic Cue Series. It's called the Manga-San Bearbrick, designed by Japanese manga artist Hishashi Eguchi. I chose it for this post because of its eyeglasses, obviously – haha! :-)

Info and Book Cover Images from Creativity-Online / Bearbrick info from www.fourxthree.com / Bearbrick pic by Yours Truly.