Thursday, October 17, 2024

Something colorful

Andy Ross is apparently the house cover artist at Penzler Publishers, the crime fiction publishing house started by famed bookseller Otto Penzler.






I don't know how much of this is drawing or painting by hand and how much is done on the computer. My educated guess is that there's some silkscreen involved. But he's got a distinctive sense of style, and that goes a long way. Especially when so many book covers lack any kind of art beyond stock photography. I like to see something tailored to the book.


2 comments:

susan said...

It's not easy to find much information about Andy Ross but Penzler has been quoted as having said: 'I explained that I wanted something vaguely deco, to suggest the era, but also modern so they wouldn't look like yesterday.'

It looks as though that's exactly what he got too as part of his reissue of American Mystery Classics. He's been releasing new copies of Golden Age Mysteries monthly - a very good thing to do as many had been out of print for decades.

The artwork is excellent and you may be right about the silk screening. I've given up trying to tell one technique from another unless I can see the original.

***
Here's an entertaining article we saw this morning. You don't have to look at all of it - a couple of clips of Donald might be enough but you have to check out a bit of Kamala's prerecorded video. No wonder she didn't show up in person.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-brutally-roasts-dems-schumer-shocked-kamala-no-show-al-smith-dinner

Ben said...

Good find on the quote. Both deco and modern is a good way to describe it. A sign that Ross and the designer, Mauricio Diaz, work well together.

It is good that he's bringing them back into print. The Golden Age of Mystery was a fertile and creative period. Some freedoms seemed to be available then that writers don't take advantage of anymore. Of course the results varied, as they always do. Anyway, I actually read The Turquoise Shop and it was interesting.

Silkscreen is an educated guess. It's good for bright, flat colors.

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The Al Smith Dinner was a success for Donald Trump. It may have put him on an upward swing. Harris would have been better off just sending regrets rather than what she did.