Llosa Series
Author: Mario Vargas Llosa
Designer: Philip Pascuzzo

I asked Philip if he could talk a bit about his cover for Llosa's "Death In the Andes". The hand-done qualities of this cover's typography and imagery are what first drew me in. Not only is the image quality so interesting, but the secondary imagery created by the leaves is great! Philip also sent along the rest of the books in the series, as well as some thoughts on designing the series as a whole.
—Jason Gabbert

In Death in the Andes, two civil deputies travel to a village in the Andean mountains to investigate the disappearance of three men. Death, starvation, local militias, evil spirits, and alcoholism are prominent themes within this book. Not an easy read. Mario Vargas Llosa’s remarkable writing tells a brutal story of modern Peruvian culture.

What resonated the most with me, were the beliefs of the locals who thought that evil spirits and pishtacos (vampires) were responsible for the disappearances. The investigation sends the two deputies to question a palm reader who had predicted a grim fate for the missing men in her cocoa leaves.

Getting the right tone for this series was very important. My first attempt at the cocoa leaves was too literal and so with the great art direction of Henry Sene Yee, we tried to make the imagery a little less obvious. I feel that my long relationship with Henry and the editor at Picador, Frances Coady, fostered the trust to explore this design and the series as a whole. There were no initial constraints, we just all felt it had to be strong and iconic. Since book covers are viewed from a distance at a bookstore or at no more than 200 pixels online, I feel it is very important that they work tiny as well as up close. Almost like mini posters.

In the end the illustration was digital, executed in Photoshop and Corel Paint. Using a Wacom tablet for the past six years has really streamlined my workflow and allowed me to integrate the hand done with digital. Allowing me to scan in wood type, as I did for this series, and manipulate with postscript type to fit my needs. The simplicity and boldness of Paul Rand’s cut paper work came to mind when working on this project. So I did actually cut out some of the images, like the woman on Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, and then photograph for the final illustration.

10.21.08 // Ian Shimkoviak said:

Yeah, it really does not get better than this with book covers. I like the idea of a cover holding up at small sizes. It's something many publishers seem to ask for nowadays with the need for everything to hold up for online shopping...

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1.13.09 // Anonymous said:

just perfect!