Book Front and Back Design for Guillermo del Toro's gothic romance movie Crimson Peak (2015) - Personal Project 2024
Sketchbook Page for Crimson Peak
Crimson Peak Illustration
Symbolism and colour play a big part in Crimson Peak. Yellow, black and red underline the plot. The dresses of the main character Edith Cushing are always resembling a monarch butterfly. In the beginning of the movie, when the lively Edith is aspiring to become an author her costumes are of a strong yellow color. As the movie progresses alongside her mysterious sickness the fabrics of her dresses and Edith's skin become more pale.
For the front of my book cover design I wanted to keep the butterfly theme, making her dress and face resemble one. The black tea cup and its overspilling tea symbolizes the forbidding events of the story. The tea is blood red, flowing to the ground. In the movie the Crimson Peak mansion is built on red clay, obviously hinting to a dark secret, which the house and its inhabitants are hiding. The back of the book shows a ghostly hand reaching out of the sweeping mud, holding on to a gravestone on which the blurb is written.
As for the title of the book, I decided the give the letters Edith's yellor hair colour, while giving the bottoms of the letters the red colour of the mud and the tea in order to accentuate the dangerous secrets of the mansion.
Costume Design of Edith Cushing
