Book Covers and Posters

Ornamental Lettering is often desirable, but it should not overshadow the main design of a book cover or poster. On the other hand, it is advisable to ornament the lettering in order to enrich the pictorial aspect of the design.

Posters may have much ornamental detail, and, as in the case of a book cover, the more gracefully the letters are drawn, the better becomes the general effect of the entire combination.

Simple Human Figures, harmoniously inclined, surrounded by a graceful and ornamental design may be added, usually make a pleasing cover. It is necessary, however, to guard against an extravagant use of ornament, which is a common fault.

Designs for Book Covers should at all times avoid complexity, and the style and quality of the embellishment should not detract from the legibility of the lettering or the prominence of the main figure or scene introduced into the design, for if this occurs the result will be a bewildering confusion.

Heavy Lines – In drawing a poster or book cover, especially in the case of the former, let the lines be heavier than in an ordinary drawing. The drawing, completed, should be held off for inspection at a distance greater than would be usual with an ordinary drawing. Little defects that would appear upon a close view will seem to disappear, whereas much that in an ordinary drawing would not appear complex would, in the latter case, seem blurred and inexpressive.

Simplicity is stronger at a distance; multiplicity of line and detail proportionately weaker.

The comic figures in Figs. 27 and 28 are given importance as a border design simply by being repeated.