“Escape By Sea” Book Cover

Escape By Sea, a young adult historical novel by L.S. Lawrence, takes place during the Carthaginian-Roman wars. Sara, the fifteen year-old daughter of a wealthy Carthaginian senator, transforms herself by force of circumstance, from an over-protected child into a leader of men during a time of war. I had not done anything from this time period before, so it was fun doing the research to get the styling and scenery right. A bit of a challenge, too, since apparently there is practically no surviving art from the culture of ancient Carthage. In the end, I created the costume based on a synthesis of Roman and pre-Islamic Arabic dress. The model was photographed against a white backdrop, and the background created separately from images in my archives. Then the two images were composited in Photoshop.

CLIENT: HOLIDAY HOUSE
ART DIRECTOR: CLAIRE COUNIHAN