Skoutz Award 2021
I am very happy that my cover for Yuna & the Guardian of the Clouds (by Erik Kellen) won the Skoutz Award 2021 in the book cover category 🙂 Chosen by the expert jury and the community from over 350 book suggestions.
Quote from Ronny Altendorf (Skoutz juror in the book cover category):
When the Skoutz team approached me at the beginning of this year with the request to be a juror for the Skoutz Award, I felt very honored.
That’s why I’m even more pleased that I can honor such a fabulous work.
I’ve only been actively working as a cover designer for almost two years, but illustrated covers have always fascinated me immensely.
That’s why I would like to take this opportunity to pay my deepest respect to Andrea Baitz, because you don’t see such a loving and expressive cover every day.
That’s why I think this year’s Skoutz Award in the covers category rightly goes to Andrea Baitz for the cover of Yuna & the Guardian of the Clouds.
And to put it in the words of Andrea Baitz:
The cover should reflect the fairytale and fantastic and be based on the style of “Princess Mononoke” and “Howl’s Moving Castle”.
She definitely succeeded.
I would like to thank the Skoutz team and the community again 🙂
If you would like to know what the Skoutz Award is and who is behind it, please take a look at their website:
Skoutz.de
And here is my interview with the Skoutz team (in German)
interview
Illustration / cover illustration
Yuna & the guardian of the clouds
Project description
Life writes stories, or something like that 😉 Who would have thought that a private project that I painted for myself many years ago (and that still hangs in my living room) would result in a wonderful collaboration and a great book. And when he was looking for an illustrator for the cover, he found exactly this picture from me 😀 That was probably fate.
The book “Yuna & the Guardian of the Clouds”* is a fairy tale book for young and old. The cover should reflect the fairytale and fantastic and be based on the style of “Princess Mononoke” and “Howl’s Moving Castle”. Both from Studio Ghibli. The main character Yuna meets the guardian of the clouds, who is portrayed as tall, wise and majestic. While Yuna is the contrast in her little boat. The moment of encounter is presented on the cover, embedded in the bright colors of the setting (or rising) sun. The colors range from the dark blue of the deep sea, through turquoise, yellow, orange to dark purple and the blackness of the starry sky. The focus in terms of color and content is of course on the Guardian of the Clouds and Yuna.
The illustration was first created as a sketch and drawing on my Microsoft Surface. I then did the coloring again on my desktop computer with my trusty Wacom graphics tablet. There is another “Making Of” of the illustration below. The cover has already caused a storm of enthusiasm among both Erik Kellen and readers 😉 Further projects with him will follow.
You could listen to fairy tales all night long.
Or devour them by day.
But a true story simply begins.
Exactly here. Now.
She feels this is her hour.
So move closer and listen!
For once upon a time in a far away land
not far from your heart.
Two girls, two fates.
An ancient power trapped in the dark mist.
The only hope lies hidden
on the sea of a hundred names…
This story is for all those
who know the feeling of loss and sadness.
But actually it is a journey into life!
Book illustration / cover illustration
Yuna & the guardian of the clouds
Creation in pictures – From the sketch to the finished picture
* = Affiliate links/advertising links
