It's amazing to see all 21 of Laura Ellen Anderson's new covers for The Famous Five together on the shelf! Laura was approached over a year ago by Alison Padley, Art Director at Hodder Children's Books, with this exciting project to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the first book publication - and we've been keeping it under our hats ever since!
Laura's art brings a modern, fresh take to these classic adventures. With a nod to the originals, we hope this rebrand will attract a whole new generation of readers who haven't yet discovered Blyton's most famous gang. We asked Laura to share a bit about her experience working on the project...
"When illustrating each of the 21 covers, I approached it (as I do with most covers), as if I were designing a movie poster for each story. My favourite part was designing the four children and Timmy. I needed to update their look to make them more appealing to a new audience, but also make sure they wouldn't become dated a few years down the line - cue quite a lot of back and forth just on their clothes! Blyton's stories have been firm favourites for kids (and adults) for decades now, so the aim of the new cover illustrations was to hopefully continue this tradition. One particularly challenging aspect was to make sure all five characters were featured on every single cover, while keeping the designs varied and interesting at the same time."
Interestingly, Timmy does bear a passing resemblance to Laura's family dog, Scooby... To see some development work throughout the cover process, please scroll down.
Laura's art brings a modern, fresh take to these classic adventures. With a nod to the originals, we hope this rebrand will attract a whole new generation of readers who haven't yet discovered Blyton's most famous gang. We asked Laura to share a bit about her experience working on the project...
"When illustrating each of the 21 covers, I approached it (as I do with most covers), as if I were designing a movie poster for each story. My favourite part was designing the four children and Timmy. I needed to update their look to make them more appealing to a new audience, but also make sure they wouldn't become dated a few years down the line - cue quite a lot of back and forth just on their clothes! Blyton's stories have been firm favourites for kids (and adults) for decades now, so the aim of the new cover illustrations was to hopefully continue this tradition. One particularly challenging aspect was to make sure all five characters were featured on every single cover, while keeping the designs varied and interesting at the same time."
Interestingly, Timmy does bear a passing resemblance to Laura's family dog, Scooby... To see some development work throughout the cover process, please scroll down.