Written by / Maixenn Alix
Cover illustration for Nobleza Obliga by Maixenn Alix, published by TBR.
The novel is a dystopia set in a contemporary France where the French Revolution never took place. The country continues to be ruled by an absolutist monarchy, Louis XXI. To distract the people, the court organizes reality TV shows, the most popular being “Noblesse Oblige,” where young women are selected to marry nobles in a mixture of entertainment and political strategy.
The key concept on the cover is anachronism. Although the book is set in the present day, and the television program “Noblesse Oblige” uses espionage and surveillance technology to keep its contestants in line, the aesthetics of the dresses and settings remain those of the 18th century. That is why we combine “period” elements with others that are completely incongruous.
Check it out in TBR’s website →
Sketches & Creative process
First, I gathered several references of the Rococó style. Specifically, illustrations by various artists from the 1920s who took that era as inspiration for their characters, their ornaments… Below you can see some by George Barbier, Chéri Hérouard, and Dubas. Also, a color palette created from Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette.
I prepared two sketches combining all the previous inspiration with key elements from the novel: the shoe, the mirror, the surveillance cameras, the lights, the microphones… Then I colored both, based on the previous palette.
I always color my cover sketches; I think it’s extremely important because it will define many things later: the perception of the cover at the point of sale, the tone, whether the different elements can be clearly seen from a distance…
Finally, we reviewed some aspects of the sketch and opted for a limited range of pink and peach colors. We corrected some elements (adding the guitar and microphones) to move on to the final rendering, which you can see above ✦