Flowers of the Gods – Front Cover

Unumbered work; 210mm x 148mm, acrylics on paper

A Medusa to appeal to everyone

When I was commissioned to produce this children's book cover I was told by the author he had a very particular idea what he wanted the cover to 'feel' like. He knew he wanted Medusa to appear on the cover. She is, after all, the main bad guy in this book. But he wanted the image to appeal to both boys and girls. Therefore Medusa had to have a scary edge to appeal to the boys. Not hard – she has snakes for hair! But also she had to appeal to girls.

This was much trickier. Medusa has always been known for looking rather hideous, not something that is known to be appealing to young girls. I sat and pondered and came up with the Medusa you see to the right. I thought if I could make her look beautiful then she should appeal to the small females.

A beautiful Medusa?

The painting is based on a photo of Liv Tyler. Giving her little fangs and red eyes helped to make her look suitably evil for the young lads in the target audience. But keeping that mass of writhing snakes under control and giving them a much more 'styled' appearance helped to keep Medusa beautiful. I just can't imagine what kind of hairspray Medusa would use!

I feel rather happy with the final image. I feel it's a very original Medusa and not one you would see anywhere else.