Pop Hole – Book Cover
I did this cover of the adult novel, Pop Hole for Les Éditions du Léopard Masqué. The illustration captures the rich yet intriguant world of The Beatles. The narrative is a parody of their story and revolves especially around the conspiracy of “Paul is dead”. Every single element represents a song, an idea or an iconic visual of The Beatles’s world.
Moodboard
Research
Listening to over 100 songs
(the songs’ titles are written in italics)
1 and 7 – Because: “Because the sky is blue it makes me cry”: The cloud and the eye, “Because the wind is high it blows my mind”: Harrison’s hat with the balloon inside.
2 – Blackbird: The bird.
3 – Happiness Is A Warm Gun: Gun in the blackbird’s hand.
4 – All You Need Is Love: Rainbow with a heart.
5 and 9 – Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds: The woman with diamonds, and the tangerine tree, mentionned in the song.
6 – Strawberry Field: A strawberry field.
10 and 26 – Help: The hand with the speech bubble and the umbrellas from the music video.
11 – The Long And Winding Road: The road.
12 – Nowhere Man: The strange figure on the road, as seen in the visuals related to this song.
13 – Roll Over, Beethoven: “You know she winks like a glowworm”: The “glowworm” winking.
14 – Can’t Buy Me Love: Money with hearts.
15 and 29 – Yellow Submarine: The yellow submarine and the pointing hand from the song’s artwork.
16 and 32 – Many Songs: The piano, referencing their instrument and the spiral behind the submarine for their psychedelic side.
17 – Yesterday: The watches.
18 – Eight Days A Week: Calendar showing eight days a week.
19 – Revolution: The hand symbolizing revolution holding the phone from No Reply.
20 – No Reply: In the song they try to call a woman but she doesn’t answer: The phone with “x” as eyes.
21 – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (album): Drum of the octopus with little hearts recalling the title.
22 – Octopus Garden: The octopus behind the guitar.
23 – Abbey Road (album): The Beatles walking.
24 – While My Guitar Gently Weeps: Guitar with cords that transform to tears.
25 – Glass Onion: The onion with glasses.
27 – Across The Universe: “Like endless rain into a paper cup”: Colors and planets coming out of a paper cup.
28 – Maxwell’s Silver Hammer: They mention “pataphysics,” and the character with a cone-shaped hat represents it.
30 – Twist And Shout: The shouting guy with a twisted tongue.
31 – A Day In The Life: The weird glasses can be found in the music video of the song.
33 – I Am The Walrus: The walrus.
Process
Maya Akiki - Illustrator 