One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - final

So after working something like 72 hours straight with very little sleep, I submitted both this and the Grimm Tales cover well on time. After which I collapsed and slept all day. Woke up again round dinner time by a rumbling stomach. Realized there were still some 2 1/2 hours to go for the contest deadline at noon in the UK .......
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Didn't have dinner. Resolved to go for it and put the 3D brain cell thing /slash/ something you might see on a bad trip, back in. When I asked a designer/illustrator friend to have a look at the drafts for this, apparently she suffered a fit of violent revulsion and started to read me the riot act on the basic principles of book design (which I did not need) - however she made the valuable point that the central design was drawing far too much attention, and the title was barely readable.

So after I tried to do something about it, changed the font and toned the design down a bit (the "semifinal" version) --
I looked at it and though well, this is reasonably competent but kind of boring. And if the other design was shrill enough to induce a fit of actual violent dislike, well, I guess that reaction is preferable to bored indifference, for at least I will have got someone's attention!

So there. Love it or hate it, that's my take on this book cover design and I stick by it. orange/magenta/cerulean, and all.

Done in Adobe Illustrator, insert design: Illustrator & Lightwave 3D