Yesterday we mentioned the recent episode of Bravo’s Work of Art, in which contestants competed to see who could design the best book cover for selections like Frankenstein and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The winner was contestant John, for his futuristic pineapple. But today we’re going to look at the runner up, Nicole, who appears to have created a design for Alice that really could be a book cover–and, in fact, is.
John C. Ford, an author and GalleyCat reader, points us to a book by Heidi Durrow called The Girl Who Fell From The Sky, which shares some key characteristics with Nicole’s entry. Ford explains on his blog: “I’m loathe to speculate too much here, as I have no idea how the Bravo contestant came up with her design, how she executed it, or even when the episode was taped. Yet, at first glance, it would appear that the two designs share significant similarities. The female form in the Alice cover [pictured on the left] is facing the opposite direction, does not appear to have braids, and seems to have her legs positioned differently. But at the conceptual level–a stark, silhouette image of a female form falling in free space–well, they appear nearly identical.”
It’s a stretch, but he’s got a point. Again, there’s simply not enough to call foul play–people use silhouetted girls in art all the time. If she did copy the Durrow book cover, she’s guilty of being lazy. And if she didn’t, then she’s guilty of unoriginality. What’s worse?
