Skip to main content

This is how you sell classic novels to a new generation


Not feeling drawn to that classic novel with a minimalist design on the cover? Well, the eye-catching book covers from Pulp! The Classics just might grab your attention. I saw copies of The Great Gatsby, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Wuthering Heights in a bookstore a few days ago and I just had to pick up the paperbacks for a closer look.

In a competitive book market, Pulp! The Classics is a great idea. They take some of the most famous works of literature and redesign the covers so that they look like vintage pulp novels – complete with clever strap lines, cheap-looking colored edges and fake scruff marks. Some of them even feature faces of movie stars.

The cover of their Tess of the D'Urbervilles gives us a barmaid-ish Marilyn Monroe. There's also a Colin Firth version of Mr. Darcy (Pride and Prejudice) with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and the tagline, "Lock up your daughters…Darcy's in town!" How about a glaring, ruffed-up Mr. T as Othello? Or Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor as Romeo & Juliet?

Check out Pulp! The Classics' website for more. I really like the hippie Alice. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

She Knows You’re Looking

To be honest, the first thing I noticed in these portraits wasn’t the texture, the lighting, or the color palette. It was her. Who is she? Is she real, or is she imaginary? Does she have an Instagram? I was hooked right away. I mean, I’m a guy. So yeah, I felt something at once. If you caught yourself staring a little longer too, don’t worry. You’re not alone. In most of these Roberto Martin Sing pieces, she looks straight at you. Her gaze isn't aggressive, but it isn't shy either. It's more like she's saying, “Hi. I know you’re looking. It’s fine.” In one painting, the young woman is rising from the water with full nymph energy. Men have been falling for this stuff since ancient Greece. She’s the goddess in the forest or the woman in the lake. There’s soft light, glowing skin, and zero real-world problems. She looks very feminine without being flashy. Inviting without trying too hard. And you can’t help but wonder what she’s thinking. The work moves between contempora...

Weirdly Charming

If you’re a fan of art that makes you do a double-take, you need to check out  Richard Brener . Based in the UK, Richard is an internationally collected artist who works primarily with ink, fineliners, and gouache. When you first see his pieces, they actually look pretty playful. Then you realize the entire canvas is packed with thousands of tiny, ghost-like shapes he calls "champs." They’re all squeezed together like commuters on a rush-hour train, and the level of detail is honestly mind-blowing. Richard spends hundreds of hours drawing these little guys over and over. It’s obsessive, very intentional, and a little bit wild. The cool part is that the longer you stare, the more the vibe shifts. Check out more photos below:

'Star Wars' cutaway illustrations by Hans Jenssen and Richard Chasemore

These illustrations by Hans Jenssen and Richard Chasemore explore the inner workings of some of the most famous Star Wars vehicles, from the AT-AT walker to the Millennium Falcon. The interesting part about these images is that they're completely hand drawn, with no help from a computer whatsoever. Prepare to marvel at these wonderful examples of sci-fi art!  [h/t: Galactic Academy ]