Classic books enjoy gorgeous makeovers

We've been told not to judge a book by its cover, but nobody said we couldn't judge a cover by its design. Publishers know that some people prefer aesthetics and, based solely on the jacket design, readers may decide whether a book is or is not for them. Enter Recovering the Classics, a joint project from The Creative Action Network and DailyLit that hopes to make literary masterpieces, with their fresh cover art, appealing to contemporary readers.

"Sadly, many of the greatest classics in the public domain are left with poorly designed or auto-generated covers that fail to capture what makes these books exciting and inspiring to us. So we invited illustrators, typographers, and designers of all stripes to create new covers for 100 of the greatest works in the public domain."

Anyone can contribute, and aside from book covers, there are also posters, hoodies, and t-shirts available, with proceeds going to the artist. Below are some of the brilliantly designed covers from Recovering the Classics that you should add to your collection today.

[h/t: HuffPo]

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The Endurance Artist

I recently stumbled upon the work of Margritt Martinet , whose drawings are giving my brain a delightful yet exhausting workout. This French artist, you see, deals in the glorious, mind-bending borderland between the organic and the futuristic. She doesn't just create art; she crafts entire visual universes that are so immersive and dynamic you feel like you should be wearing a spacesuit just to look at them. My mind simply cannot wrap itself around the sheer volume of focused physical labor that goes into these things. The pieces are intricate, layered, and incredibly consistent. But what truly inspires—and simultaneously mocks—me is her patience. This, my friends, is the real superpower. I once attempted a similar large-scale, intricate project. It started so well: my early lines were sharp, and my geometric shapes were perfect. Then, slowly but surely, as the hours stretched and the cramping started in my wrist, the inevitable descent began. The sharp lines became... a little mo...

Where Fantasy Meets Folklore

Timothée Humbert creates wild, zoomorphic sculptures that pull the viewer into an imaginary world. This place is full of strange, funny, and sometimes grotesque little beings. His creatures feel ancient and childlike at the same time; one can't tell if they are jokes, spells, or something sacred. Humbert was born in Paris in 1979. While primarily a ceramic artist, he also draws, paints, and engraves. He earned his Fine Arts diploma in 2004, and a year later, he set up his studio. Since then, he has created nothing but one-of-a-kind pieces. These include monsters grinning like kids who know something you don't, skulls with attitude, and oddball geniuses who might be ghosts. His style mashes together global traditions and pop culture. You can trace the lines from Japanese ceramics, African sculpture, and Mexican Día de los Muertos, then, out of nowhere, find manga, fantasy, and sci-fi. Together, they create a kind of postmodern language—a jumble of hieroglyphs that hum with life....

Brett Kern fuses 80's pop culture icons into Hellenistic sculptures

Brett Kern is best known for making ceramic art pieces that deceptively look like inflatable toys . But over the course of the last few months, the West Virginia-based clay master and professor have been working hard at finishing a new series of sculptures. The series is based on 80's pop culture characters and inspired by the Hellenistic period. In this set, you'll find everything from a drunken E.T. (a recreation of the The Barberini Faun ) to a Rafael/ The Dying Gaul mashup. Perhaps my favorite of the bunch (pictured below) is ALF Strangling Cat , which is based on the Greek original Boy Strangling Goose . "I am choosing characters that I sympathize with in some capacity," Brett was quoted as saying by Nerdist.com . "When I used to play Ninja Turtles, I pretended to be Rafael because he was the badass rebel that didn't want to listen to anyone else. Fittingly, my older brother was Leonardo and we clashed often." Br...

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