Burnt Cook Book Party — cover artwork — 2023
Uncials and Adventures
About
Burnt Cook Book Party is a D&D podcast featuring a real play campaign set in an original medieval fantasy world. I created a fan-made cover artwork for the show as a means to explore blackletter type design and medieval book design.
Role
Type Design
Graphic Design
3D Visualisation
Graphic Design
3D Visualisation
Self-initiated Work
challenge & Execution
Burnt Cook Book Party is as much a show about four player-characters goofing about and causing a ruckus as it is about war and magic. It only made sense for its cover to be just as expressive and intricate.
The show is set as a medieval fantasy with societal systems and environments inspired by a variety of historical eras. I used this as a cue to design the cover as a book pieced together with elements drawn from several medieval periods and regions.
The game master, Justin Green, is a meticulous world-builder who crafted an in-game universe with convoluted lore, politics and magic systems that I wanted to do justice to by capturing as much of on the cover as possible.
The show is set as a medieval fantasy with societal systems and environments inspired by a variety of historical eras. I used this as a cue to design the cover as a book pieced together with elements drawn from several medieval periods and regions.
The game master, Justin Green, is a meticulous world-builder who crafted an in-game universe with convoluted lore, politics and magic systems that I wanted to do justice to by capturing as much of on the cover as possible.
I drew a custom Schwabacher-inspired logotype for the show. Initially, I treated it as a half-uncial type revival exercise (of a specimen referenced from Renner’s ‘The Art of Typography’). Eventually, I decided to simplify the organic forms of the specimen and create stronger structures inspired by contemporary blackletter interpretations like Harbour and Fleisch.
Special thanks to Eva Silvertant for her pointed critique on the type during its development.
Special thanks to Eva Silvertant for her pointed critique on the type during its development.
1. While book covers during Schwabacher’s heyday were highly utilitarian and didn't serve decorative purposes, I took some creative liberty to model the book with elements borrowed from different medieval periods. I ensured appropriate graphic hierarchy for the logotype to be legible at small scales, since the cover artwork is likely going to be viewed on a mobile screen.
2. The central plate houses motifs (visually inspired by circular Gallifreyan) representing the show’s protagonists; they add an element of science-fiction to the medieval fantasy foundation, fitting the themes of the show.
3. The plate is framed by a portal-like gold ring which doubles as a traditional 24-hour double-XII clock tower, representing the time travel elements of the storyline.
2. The central plate houses motifs (visually inspired by circular Gallifreyan) representing the show’s protagonists; they add an element of science-fiction to the medieval fantasy foundation, fitting the themes of the show.
3. The plate is framed by a portal-like gold ring which doubles as a traditional 24-hour double-XII clock tower, representing the time travel elements of the storyline.
