Friday, March 18, 2016

Friday Flourish: The Broken Crown

Happy Friday Everyone!

It's been a cover reveal kind of week this week on the blog, and today I have one of my most recent designs to share with you. I've admitted to my love of illustrated covers before, both as a reader and as a designer, so I'm especially excited about today's Flourish!

Author Amryn Cross came to me wanting an illustrated cover with a strong type treatment, something to catch the eye as well as create a brand for the series, and I may or may not have tripped all over myself in my hurry to get started. There's very little that makes me happier than perusing font sites looking for the perfect typeface for a particular design, and when I came across the one you see below, I knew I needed to look no further for this project.

I started with the title since it was going to be the primary focal point, manipulating the individual letters to make them fit together in a way that made the title an illustration in and of itself. Once I was happy with how the letter shapes flowed together, I moved on to the rest of the illustration. Illustrated covers tend to take me quite a bit longer than photography-based covers, so I sometimes like to submit rough versions of a layout to my clients to make sure I'm heading in the right direction. I thought it might be fun for you guys to see the in-progress black and white version of The Broken Crown before taking a look at the final cover, so below is the proof I sent to Amryn for overall concept and font approval:



I was madly in love with the type treatment and the crown, and luckily for me, Amryn gave her enthusiastic approval, but there were still some things that needed tweaking. I felt like the title and the crown were too separate, something that became even more apparent when I started adding color and texture, so I sought to make them visually relate to one another a touch more in order to unify the design. I also simplified the cityscape at the base of the crown to make it more recognizable at a smaller size, and redrew a number of the flame shapes in the background. A few additional adjustments were made to the title, and after working and reworking the overall color scheme a couple times I arrived at what ended up being the final design:



Princess Emilia Aurelius was only seven when she watched her mother die at the hands of her father—martyred for believing in the God of the Atlas Empire’s Insurgo rebels. At seventeen, exiled to a military outpost where no one knows her true identity, she’s vowed to leave her royalty behind and explore the truth of the Insurgo rebels her mother loved.

When the Emperor of Atlas summons the princesses from each of the provinces to the imperial city to choose a wife for the crown prince, Emilia must leave her military life behind to join a royal court rife with cunning and intrigue. Navigating the waters of court politics and budding love are treacherous on their own, but Emilia fears for her life should anyone learn of her Insurgo sympathies.

With an unlikely ally in the captain of the emperor's guard, Emilia must uncover the truth of the Insurgos, start a revolution, and learn to become the princess she’s vowed never to be, all while protecting her heart from a prince who could sign her death warrant.

Find The Broken Crown:
(releases May 23rd!)

AmazonB&NGoodreads 

Find Amryn:


You can check out more of my cover design work at Seedlings Design Studio 

36 comments:

  1. I was all you gonna leave it black and white, a bit dull..oh *headdesk*
    I am silly ;) Of course there would be colors

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh.my.gosh!
    Jenny, this is absolutely stunning! I think this is absolutely my favorite cover from you. I love the font, the colors, the crown, the city scape! What a PERFECT cover!
    I LOVE IT, Jenny!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. THANK YOU NICK! It's one of my favorites too:)

      Delete
  3. This looks gorgeous Jenny. It reminds me so much of Leigh Bardugo book with the style and the font. Lovely post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah thank you! That's definitely what we were going for:)

      Delete
  4. Love the colors, Jenny! Well done! You are really on a roll!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Christina! I've had some epic projects lately and it's been fantastic:)

      Delete
  5. I love the pop of colors Jenny but the black and white is equally gorgeous!

    Wonderful, amazing job! Have a nice weekend!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lovely, Jenny! I absolutely love how intricate the cover is and the colour combination is superb. You are a goddess. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Joy! I so love how this one turned out:)

      Delete
  7. I thought it was gorgeous even before you added the colours Jenny, but the with the colours? Phenomenal!! I'm loving all of these flourishes my friend, keep 'em coming ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Micheline! I have another recent one going up next Friday and I can't wait for you to see:)

      Delete
  8. I love this cover, Jenny! Fonts are so important in setting the tone and I'm in love with what you picked. Before even looking at the synopsis I thought it was a fantasy read so you nailed the design. Beautiful as usual! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw this font and fell in love instantly Rachel! It was everything I wanted for this cover:)

      Delete
  9. Even in black and white it was fantastic but with all the colours?? It's a stunner! You know illustrated covers are my weakness and I adore this one!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Illustrated covers are my weakness too Pili, I just love them:)

      Delete
  10. You continue to amaze! Beautiful Jenny

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh wow! I love this! The font and design is great but once the colors were added it just made it absolutely stunning!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Candace! I'm looking forward to May when I can hold a copy of this one in my hands:)

      Delete
  12. I love how those small changes made a difference. I love this and I really love the colors you use. Brilliant!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Melissa! I go through a lot of tweaks with my designs, I can't stop messing with them sometimes, but I'm really proud of this cover!

      Delete
  13. That one's stunning, Jenny! The colors really bring it to life. Love how the tiny tie-in changes the whole look!

    ReplyDelete
  14. The first one alone can already be a cover, but wow the colored one looks even more fantastic. And I agree that font is amazing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Chel! That font makes me happy every time I look at it:)

      Delete
  15. Jenny, you already know how much I love this cover. :) Everyone I've shown it to can't stop talking about how gorgeous it is. Thank you so much for being so easy to work with, and I am just amazed at your talent!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank YOU Amryn! I had the best time working with you on this cover and can't wait for May to see it in print!

      Delete
  16. Love the font and the colors on the cover.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Jenny this cover is stunning! I love the colors :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I really love the font and how you made the crown into a castle. Very cool!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Beautiful as always, Jenny. I like when you show us different steps in the process.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Jenny, this cover may be one of my new favroites - so stunning and vivid. I love the colors but I really love how the crown is also like a kingdom unfolding!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Jenny, this cover may be one of my new favroites - so stunning and vivid. I love the colors but I really love how the crown is also like a kingdom unfolding!!How to tell if your furnace is leaking carbon monoxide

    ReplyDelete