Kamikaze Girls Book Cover

For my Projects and Illustration class I've been working on a book cover illustration for Novala Takemato's 'Kamikaze Girls', also known as 'Shimotsuma Monogatari' (Shimotsuma Story). I really enjoyed the book, loved the movie (meh on the manga) so I decided to redesign the cover for this project. Old designs: Hardcover Paperback

My design:

For those not familiar with the story it is about a selfish Lolita named Momoko (lolita as in the japanese street fashion) and a biker Yanki chick named Ichiko who become unlikely friends while searching for a legendary embroiderer, Emma.
I used watercolors, ink, acrylic paint, and colored pencil on smooth Arches watercolor paper. I really enjoyed using the paper and watercolors and I will definitely be using them in the future. It was also my first time stretching watercolor paper for use and it worked well. It all went smoothly thanks to advice from my good friend Erin. She's doing a really cool series of illustrations; she's making up a monster for different periods in art history using different media. Check it out at her blog!

Next up: Dr. Sketchy's sketch post, comics, and more!