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Thia is how the episode kicks off, with six Helvetica question marks (props to Miles for calling out the Helvetica type-set).
The goal is to create a cover for one of six famous literary works. This is an interesting challenge because it's very practical... a working artist needs to know how to market their abilities to get side jobs to pay for all those art supplies and their loft and parties and all that other good stuff. But I wonder if it isn't a bit too commercial. This challenge falls more in the territory of art design than it does art.
I would imagine that publishers want a book cover that is as eye-catching as possible. I wonder if the artists will be judged on how true their design is to the book moreso than their ability to create a bold image. The book cover that will always stand out in my mind is the cover to Dean Koontz's "Intensity", which was nothing but neon yellow and orange diagonal lines. It was certainly eye-catching, but was bold enough to give you a headache.
Ryan points out that visibility is important for an artist, which means that he is embracing the opportunity to bring more awareness to his work by creating this book cover. I agree that it is a good move for an artist to make, but I question this challenge as being good for this competition.
John makes a strange comment. He says that he makes art based on his own reality, which he describes as, 'gay culture, or what I would want to drink in a bar'. I think every artist has to create using their own personal experiences, but the 'drink in a bar' thing sounds sort of flaky to me. However, his design is shaping up to be the most commercially viable one - strong, bright colors that contrast each other. I can easily imagine customers in Borders spotting that book on display from across the store and walking over to see what it is.
And Jaclyn decides to get naked... for her cover of Pride & Prejudice... I've never read P&P, so I'll have to take the show at their word when they describe the book as a love story. What I do know is that the book is at least 150 years old, from a time when seeing a naked woman on the cover of a book was unimaginable. This seems like a really bad idea, but I would be a fool to complain about Jaclyn getting naked.
I'm surprised that Judith is the only one who feels that this challenge is a bit to commercial, but I'm not surprised that she's being grumpy about it.
I have to say I really enjoy Simon. His comments to the artists are spot-on. It's amazing how artists (not only on this show, but in the art world in general) can get so caught up in their Big Ideas that they sort of lose focus. I hope that artists outside of this show are able to turn to Simon for guidance.
In the middle of Simon's critique, Jamie Lynn mentions that she is attempting to do the opposite of what Mark, who is also making a cover for Dracula, is doing. I think it's a mistake on Jamie Lynn's part to compare herself with Mark. She should not let Mark's work or Simon's comments have any effect on what she is doing.
Peregrine also compares her work to John's, saying that John's cover is superior to hers. Again, I think it's very risky to compare your work to someone else's. But then why did Bravo have the artists double up on books like this? Were they afraid that having 12 books would be too many? I doubt that many of the artists have read more than a few of the six books presented for this challenge anyway.
I don't like seeing people get eliminated, but I'm happy to see Judith leave. Her book cover was ugly, and having the title spelled out packwards was just stupid. And she's just a crazy bitch anyway - she didn't have to slam Jaclyn on her way out either.
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