THE DARKNESS OF SHERWOOD

Book Cover
Digital Photography, Adobe Photoshop, InDesign (2015)
This book jacket is designed for a novel titled "The Darkness of Sherwood." Synopsis: When James Tiller moved to the inconspicuous suburbs of Sherwood, Kentucky, he thought life would be smooth sailing. He had a new job, a new house, and a new life. But after getting lost in the city government district, he began to notice some strange things. The buildings were entirely empty, with only mannequins sitting at the desks. All the cars in the parking lots were models from the 1970s and looked like they hadn’t been touched since. Even stranger, when he asked his neighbors about what he saw in those downtown buildings, they insisted that everything was normal, and that he should go back to distracting himself with golf. What secrets are the people of Sherwood hiding? If no one occupies the city government buildings, who’s in charge of Sherwood? 

Process

I began this project by thinking of several ideas for stories based on the title "The Darkness of Sherwood." Eventually, I chose to tell the story of a person trapped in a North Korea-like fake town. This gave me opportunities to show both the seemingly normal aspect of a suburban town on the surface and the ominous underbelly. In particular, I imagined Sherwood as a 1970s suburban town, populated by stereotypical white families (a mom and dad, a son and daughter, and perhaps a golden retriever).

After deciding on the story, I considered a variety of ways to portray this narrative visually while incorporating 3D typography thoughtfully.

The final idea was to place 3D letters on a field of grass like the Hollywood sign, except one letter would have fallen over, showing a hollow interior. This would subtly hint at the secrets hiding behind the plain and innocent facade of Sherwood.

I created the set for the photograph using a grass mat and laser cut wood letters. 

I experimented with a variety of angles and compositions, and played around with the lighting. I tried out several different light sources, including a lamp, a flashlight, and a phone light.