Frankenstein

booksIllustration

28 Oct

A New Vision for Frankenstein: Drawing the Gothic Soul

This project began with a very open commission from Stephen Hipkiss from Hipkiss Publishing for a complete series of illustrations for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I initiated the idea myself, presenting Stephen Hipkiss with the vision of publishing Frankenstein as a personal endeavour with the core objective to illustrate the book and stay true to the original text and the era in which it was written.

Concept & Artistic Inspiration

The central artistic goal was to create illustrations that would reflect a dark, Gothic atmosphere true to the novel's mood, while ignoring the Hollywood clichés that have overshadowed the original text. The process involved diving deep into Shelley's words to capture the deep, emotional intensity.

My creative spark came from the desire to reflect the novel’s original dark, Gothic atmosphere and the dramatic, expressive work of masters like Rembrandt and Goya for the line drawing style. I specifically studied Goya's dark, expressive works, including "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters" and "The Disasters of War," to capture that emotional intensity.

A key image that ignited the idea was the Creature’s chilling "yellow eye," which sparked the use of yellow on the cover, leading directly to the final yellow lightning bolt design. This choice of yellow became the central colour motif. The final concept aligned perfectly with the goal of presenting a new, textually authentic vision of Frankenstein by focusing on the novel’s original dark mood.

Production and Design

The illustrations were created using a mix of traditional and digital methods. I did most of the roughs on paper and then executed the final artwork in Photoshop using different brushes and pen tools to achieve the dramatic, expressive line drawing style.

This project did not rely on consumer research; the creative decisions were driven by the singular goal to create a beautiful book that had a handcrafted feel. To bring this unique vision to life, the book cover and dust jacket are printed with spot UV over the Pantone yellow. The book is also hardbound with a yellow bookmark ribbon.

The entire process, from inception to delivery, took approximately 8 months.

Project Message & Vision

The main message of the illustrations is to return to the original novel’s core feeling and imagery, away from pop culture tropes, by reflecting a dark, Gothic atmosphere and the deep, emotional intensity of Shelley’s text.

My ultimate hope is to create a book that people would treasure. Beyond this, the project aimed to position Hipkiss Publishing as a leader in classic bespoke books within Australia and internationally by standing out in a crowded marketplace through this faithful, dark, Gothic interpretation.