Tell us a bit about yourself…
I am a part-time illustrator, part-time Library worker and full-time bibliophile. I was born in Surrey to a family of Londoners so unfortunately I’m about as southern as it gets! I followed my sister to Nottingham in 2019 after I found the cost of living in London was becoming pretty stifling and I have honestly never regretted it. Moving here has given me the space and freedom to be the creative, book-worm, cat-mum that I always aspired to be.
What was the inspiration behind the cover?
The main visual reference is obviously the Wizard of Oz. I felt like it was a really good visual metaphor for what Nottingham has become to me, as well as being a nice analogy for the month of April when we first start really stepping out of the grey and dark of winter and start to see colour coming back to our environment with bulbs and blossoms starting opening up. There are references to some of my favourite things and places in and around Nottingham, as well as some of the things it’s most famous for. My cat, Florence (or Flo-Flo as her friends call her) even appears as my Toto stand-in, mostly because she is the only one of our cats that would actually let me pick her up in real life.
How does it compare with some other projects you’ve worked on?
I’ve really only just started seriously putting my work out into the world for other people to see so this is definitely the most nerve-wracking project so far- there’s really nowhere to hide when it’s on the front of a magazine!
What was the biggest challenge that you faced in creating the piece?
I was given carte blanche with it which was super exciting and inspiring… but then I am faced with a piece of paper full of scribblings of ideas and have to pick one! One thing I have learnt about myself as a creative is that my first idea is usually the strongest even if it’s initially the least developed. There’s always the nagging doubt that I went with the wrong one, but to be fair that isn’t unique to this piece!
Tell us about some projects you’ve worked on in the past…
My work is really inspired by the things I read- mostly fiction and poetry. Unfortunately I’m not a great writer (evidently!) so my way of responding to the inspiration I get from these things is to draw. Pretty much everything I’ve made in the past has its basis in literature or storytelling.
What have you got planned for the future?
At the moment I am working on a self-directed series of twelve book cover designs of 20th Century novels, one for each month of the year, that you can see on my Instagram. Towards the end of the year I hope to turn them into a 2025 calendar. Cover design and book illustration are my dream projects, so I figured I would set myself a little pretend brief in the meantime!
Is there anything else you’d like to tell the LeftLion readers?
My favourite maybe true historical fact is that Mozart and Marie Antoinette had a pretend wedding in her playroom when they were children. That’s the most interesting thing I can ever think of to say at parties.
Find more of Rebecca Evans’ work via her website: rebeccaevans.myportfolio.com
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