Left: Romeo holds up a phone in one hand, making finger guns with the other. Text reads: “ “Juliet! My love, my light, I am your ONLY! (Please swipe right!) I know our families rage and fight, but will you be with me tonight?” “ Right: Juliet leans out of her window, face supported by her hands. Text reads: “ “Romeo! You silly fool!” But her pre-teen angst can’t help but drool. “How can we love? Where would we meet? Why must this rose smell so sweet?” “
Romeo and Juliet
At the start of 2019, I completed work on a Romeo and Juliet project. This original, modern retelling utilised rhyme and humour that could encourage a wide range of readers to enjoy Shakespeare. Echoing the tale's theatrical roots, the character designs were heavily inspired by Punch and Judy puppets. 
Illustrations, text, composition, and typography by Gabriella Wilde.
© 2019 Gabriella Wilde
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[ Image Description: 
Image 1: Left: Romeo holds up a phone in one hand, making finger guns with the other. Text reads: “ “Juliet! My love, my light, I am your ONLY! (Please swipe right!) I know our families rage and fight, but will you be with me tonight?” “ Right: Juliet leans out of her window, face supported by her hands. Text reads: “ “Romeo! You silly fool!” But her pre-teen angst can’t help but drool. “How can we love? Where would we meet? Why must this rose smell so sweet?” " 
Image 2: Book spread mockup. ]
Romeo and Juliet
Left: Rosaline stands in a diminishing spotlight. Text reads: “ “This forceful love, it makes me sick! That man’s no rose, he’s just a prick!” But Rosaline’s no longer in this story… Let’s leave her here and get more gory…” Right: Mercutio and Tybalt comically fighting. Text reads: “Montagues and Capulets are seen here fighting, as a result of the Capulets’ Romeo sighting. Unfazed, on the other side of town, a secret wedding is going down.”
Left: Romeo swigs from a bottle of poison in a spotlight. Text reads: “Dramatic Romeo, overcome with grief, threw himself upon her wreath. “Juliet’s dead! Our tale is done.” He necks the bottle down in one. Right: Juliet slowly picks herself up off the ground, waking up in her own spotlight. Text reads: “Typical Romeo! Quick to drink, but doesn’t ever stop to think. If he waited, just one minute more, he’d see Juliet rise from the floor.”
Narrative
Mixed media illustration, using black biro, orange, black, and pink watercolours, orange coloured pencil, and digital painting, with a white background. Cinderella stands centre left, her hair frizzy, dress ripped, and covered in pumpkin gunk and seeds. A pool of pumpkin gunk trails behind her, to the right. There is text to her left, and integrated into the pumpkin gunk on her right. The text reads: “Draped in seeds and gunk that fell, she trailed around a pungent smell.” There is a hand-drawn quality to the typography, with illustrative features for ‘gunk’ and ‘pungent’ that mimic the pumpkin gunk.
Circular spot illustration shows a pink snout and sharp teeth on a creature. The circles continue across the page as doughnuts, a large, pink hand reaches for a doughnut from the bottom left-hand corner.
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