A fantastic story with so many visuals and ideas perfect for lettering. Excited about this project.

While reading the book, I took notes on each chapter. This helped me keep track of the plot, but also note intricate details and visuals. I will show just a couple examples of this process, because 14 chapters may be a bit much to show.

After this, I read through those notes again, and key passages I had highlighted in the book, and did my word brainstorm list. Since the book is a fantasy describing situations in Heaven and Hell, there are many dichotomies and juxtapostions.

Although the book is complex visually, the meaning is clear:

Hell = Grey, Selfish, "Valley of the Shadow of Death," Apathy
Heaven = Bright, Selfless, "Valley of the Shadow of Life," Glory

I circled the key words that I thought would make the best typographic visuals.

Here are some rough sketches. I first wanted to explore some letter Ls to see what shape might be best. Using the idea of the juxtaposition of Heaven and Hell, I thought the mirror shape of the more cursive L seemed fitting. But I did try other forms of lettering to see if that would lead to another strong idea.

I fleshed out some sketches below.
I feel strongly about splitting the letterform into two worlds to show this juxtaposition.

I think I will pick these as my top two that I will likely combine. I want to add more flourish and detail and color to the upper part and have the bottom be very stark and minimal, almost like it is not there. So, that's where I am at now, but any other thoughts are welcome.

I thought I would benefit from one more sketch before going on the computer.

Here's the vector so far, still rough and needs to be filled in. Not sure about the colors and if the rain is too much?

I cannot thank you all enough for the increibly helpful feedback. Here are some new versions, fleshed out, and closer to the final final.

I decided to tone down the top a bit. It is regal enough on its own maybe without fourishes, plus that acutally helps with the "solidity" aspect of Heaven. Hell is represented as a frame to add more interest. I still wanted a hollow, airy appearence, to help the "transparency" and greyness that Hell represents.

Does anyone prefer one over the other? Is the branch too much, better without it?

4

3

2

1

Ok guys, I think this is the final here. Thank you again for all your help and feedback. What an awesome class and incredibly fun project!