Thursday, 14 October 2010

An Ape with a Cigar IN YOUR FACE

Coming next year from Vintage Classics UK is the somewhat new concept of 3D book cover art*. They're publishing a set of five science-fiction classics, each of which will come with a pair of red/green 3D glasses in order to appreciate the covers. Here are the covers... (click on the first three for much bigger versions, especially if you already own a pair of old anaglyph glasses)






These aren't bad at all, though the Lovecraft misses the opportunity to do something which actually hurts the eyes, which would have been appropriate.

(UPDATE: And as Óscar Palmer notes in the comments, the two Vernes are the work of Jim Tierney, who also did these gorgeous Verne covers as part of his student work. Tierney is now working for Penguin in the US, a well-deserved role.)

And here's another of the Vintage Classics D. H. Lawrences with a Carla van de Puttelaar cover photo (see here for the others).



* Relatively new for non-lascivious purposes, in any case. The only other 3D books that I've seen in bookshops are along these lines...




And for more unlikely ape action, look here.
at

5 comments:

  1. Matthew Adams14 October 2010 at 21:35

    It's a pity you only need the glasses for the covers. If they had cool 3d illustrations in them (or in the case of the lovecraft, the complete text in 3d to drive you mad, or to reveal hidden mysteries) it would make more sense. The coves are kinda interesting though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Óscar Palmer15 October 2010 at 01:00

    Those Vernes seem designed by Jim Tierney, don't they? I'm not sold on the whole 3D idea, but I really like the illustrations.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous15 October 2010 at 01:50

    A bit of a wasted opportunity...

    ReplyDelete
  4. JRSM15 October 2010 at 16:55

    What I also like about these covers is that they're attractive when you're not wearing 3D glasses, rather than being a hideous red/blue mess like most 3D images.

    Oscar, thank you--I'll add that info to the post.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Craig D.16 October 2010 at 14:32

    What I also like about these covers is that they're attractive when you're not wearing 3D glasses, rather than being a hideous red/blue mess like most 3D images.

    I'm not sure the Apes cover passes that test. Parts of the Cthulhu and Lost World covers look sketchy, too. I get the sense that these generally very nice designs would be much better used as glossy, raised image 2D covers.

    ReplyDelete