A Strangeness In My Mind
This one's a personal project I picked up during some free time. I reimagined the book cover of Orhan Pamuk's A Strangeness in My Mind.
This was my first long-form novel I ever read. And once I started, I couldn’t put it down. It’s so beautifully written that I could imagine every character and every street corner in my head.
The book is about Mevlut, a Boza seller (fermented drink made from chickpeas) in Istanbul and his quiet, emotional journey through love, family and the city.
When I finished the book, I kept thinking about it and eventually felt like drawing my own version of the cover.
Mevlut walked the streets of Istanbul at night selling Boza and these walks became moments of deep reflection for him. This stood out for me the most and I wanted to capture that feeling in my illustration.
I began by jotting down words that kept circling in my head: boza, long walks at night, the cityscape of Istanbul. From there, I collected some references and started sketching.
I wanted to keep the colour palette minimal to give the feeling of quiet stillness of the night, which turned out to be a challenge, but I enjoyed working through it! It’s a personal take and I really just wanted to draw how the book felt to me.
Mood board compilation of inspiring visuals.
Selling boza, walking at night, moon, buildings of Istanbul.
