Phillip k. dick series
instructor: Scott Laserow
institution: Tyler School of Art & Architecture
For this project I created covers for three of Phillip K. Dick's books. I chose these books, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", "A Scanner Darkly", and "Ubik", because they all share common themes. They all bend the rules of reality and explore what it means to be human. I wanted my covers to capture these deep concepts but also leave room for the viewer to guess what each book might have in store. I used neon lit duotones to capture the sci-fi genre. The use of simple san serif type is to highlight the images and let them be the main focal point.
UBIK
Set in a future where psychic powers and advanced technology are commonplace, "Ubik" follows Joe Chip who becomes embroiled in a complex conspiracy involving a powerful corporation and a mysterious substance called Ubik. As Joe delves deeper into the mystery, reality itself becomes increasingly unstable, blurring the lines between the living and the dead, the past and the present. For my cover I wanted to replicate what this substance might look like and how it would react after being sprayed. The substance in the book can be used to shift time and reality so I used the arm of an older person and the hand of a younger one. This is to show that the liquid is reversing the aging process and transforming reality.
A SCANNER DARKLY
Set in a near-future America plagued by widespread drug addiction and surveillance, the story follows an undercover narcotics officer named Bob Arctor as he investigates the drug trade while battling his own addiction to Substance D. Arctor's double life becomes increasingly complicated as he struggles to maintain his identity and sanity, leading to a surreal and tragic exploration of surveillance, identity, and the nature of reality.
DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP
Set in a post-apocalyptic world where most of humanity has emigrated to off-world colonies, the story follows Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter tasked with "retiring" (killing) rogue androids who have illegally returned to Earth. As Deckard hunts down these androids, he grapples with questions of identity, empathy, and what it means to be human, especially as he begins to question the nature of his own reality.
