War of the Worlds!

A few years ago I was asked to create an original book cover illustration for H.G. Well's War of the Worlds for the Prestwick House Touchstone Classic book series.

War of the Worlds is in public domain and hundreds of covers have been created for it over the years. The challenge was to create something that stood out from the rest while engaging the intended audience which in this case were high school English students and their teachers. I decided it would be fun (and a challenge) to show one of the Martians actually exiting from it's ship and confronting face to face it's human prey. While depicting a human would be no problem–a Martian on the other hand....hmmm...

Thinking tentacles, I thought a squid might make a great stand-in for an alien invader but where could I get my hands on one in short notice and in March no less!? Living within driving distance of a large city with a sizable asian community might offer my best chance in locating one. After wandering around a few open air markets and shops I found a barrel full of squid (right next to the live bullfrogs) in a small seafood shop. After examining a number of them, to make sure all their tentacles were intact, I purchased one for the surprisingly inexpensive rate of $4.00! I dunno, perhaps that's high for a freshly caught squid (I would have easily paid more)–but it fit my budget.

Placing the deceased creature carefully into my cooler full of ice I sped home to set up the shoot before things got...well, funky. A quick stop to a deep discount store along the way–grabbing anything I thought might make a good prop–completed my day.

And now for the fun part...

The squid was purchased one dreary March Saturday morning in a seafood market located in the Chinatown district of Philadelphia.

The squid laid out prior to setting up the scene.

Most of the props I assembled for setting the scene. I hacksawed the plastic dinosaur's head thinking it might make a great mouth, fangs and all–but ended up not using it as it looked a little too fake.

Using two cans of paint and some bungi cords I began to set up the alien ship's hatch which is actually a drip pan for the top of a gas stove.

Setting up the scene.

Experimenting with the lighting.

The candles give off nice orange glow and hint at fires reflected on the ships surface.

I tried hanging metal coils in front of the alien to give the effect of alien machinery such as probes or weaponery flailing about, independent of the unfolding scene.

Alien exiting. The probe on the right is a hand held shower head.

That's actually a marble shoved into the squid's "funnel"

A new approach. A little more 50's sci-fi. I fjgured while I had the squid in a fresh state I may as well photograph it in as many poses as possible. Not really intending to use these for War of the Worlds but perhaps another project down the road.

50's sci-fi alien. That's a toy plastic brain I shoved in between the squid's neck and his body.

Who couldn't love this face?

A co-worker photographed and placed in front of the scene gives scale to the image.

Title page graphic

Chapter page graphic.

Note the "death ray" coming from his "eye" and the glowing tips on the smaller tentacles. All details I as a high school student would have loved to see in my book. London burns in the background.

Finished back cover, spine and front cover