The story "Gilded" follows a young woman named Serilda and her journey from her small village to the ghost and monster infested castle of the Erlking. For the cover of this book, I wanted to focus on Serilda's character growth throughout the story. There is a metaphor that is repeated frequently, which is the concept of turning "straw into gold," or turning "nothing" into something important. While reading the book, I felt as if Marissa was suggesting that Serilda was turning herself into gold, or making something of herself. I chose to work with this metaphor and design an illustration where our main character turns into gold.
