The Lovely Reckless Blog Tour: Interview with Cover Designer Natalie C. Sousa

Welcome to my stop on The Lovely Reckless Blog Tour! Author Kami Garcia was so nice as to ask all participating bloggers what type of content they'd most like to feature, and since cover design is such a point of interest for me (and I know so many of you as well), I asked if it would be possible to ask the designer a few questions. To my delight, Natalie C. Sousa, Creative Director at Imprint (Macmillan) and the cover designer for The Lovely Reckless, agreed to an interview and let me pick her brain about her overall process. I hope you guys enjoy!

How does a cover design typically start for you? Do you begin with sketches? Idea boards?

Natalie Sousa: I start by sketching concepts as thumbnails, and take it in stages. Usually I begin just after reading a summary. This puts me in the same mental space a consumer might approach the book from. I sketch some more ideas half way through reading the manuscript, and again once I've processed the ending. There have been times where the ending really changed the way I felt about a story, and I like to capture all of those reactions.

With The Lovely Reckless, did you have a specific concept or concepts going in? And if so, how did those change as you started designing?

Natalie: Erin Stein, the publisher of Imprint started the process with Kami before I was hired. They knew exactly the energy and style they wanted to convey from the very beginning. I love when designs work out to follow someone's original vision. When I started at Imprint this cover was in its sketch stage. From there we were playing with the chemistry between the couple and deciding what, if any, other elements would help to tell more about the book.

What stage of the design process is typically the most challenging for you (deciding on a design direction, image or font selection, first comps, revisions, etc.)?

Natalie: It used to be deciding on a direction, because what I visualize, or an editor envisions, or an author wishes, and a sales team needs for a cover are usually different. Erin and I have developed a close working relationship, and we're always talking about our books. That kind of dialogue helps me have very clear direction.

If you could tweak any one of your already published covers, which would you most like to get your hands on one more time?

Natalie: Recently I got to chat with Brenna Yovanoff and told her how I'd love to go back and place a hand rising from the baby carriage on her book, The Replacements. Although that cover is probably creepy enough as is!

Can you share a couple early versions of The Lovely Reckless and tell us what about them worked or didn’t work?

Natalie: Here is an early sketch from Loui Jover, the artist. We were missing some chemistry in this earlier sketch. Showing the characters full length helped because the body language said a lot more.

This is an early cover comp from Liz Casal, an incredibly talented designer. She had a clever solution to indicating the car by lighting the brick wall with “headlights”. That element was dropped because it didn’t quite work with the final color palette and title design.

QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS

Favorite font?

Font you wish you’d never have to see again?

Favorite cover you’ve done?

It does not exist yet.

All-time favorite cover?

A Wrinkle In Time

Cover designer who inspires you?

There are many, but Kristin Smith, an Art Director at Penguin, inspires me with her designs and her friendship! Back in our shared Penguin days we used to make elaborate costumes for Halloween and Coney Island's Mermaid Parade together. Kristin always inspired me to get into the details of a costume. Her book design for Danielle Vega's The Merciless is also one of my all time favorite book designs! I cannot resist a hot pink bible.

Favorite color?

My preference often changes, so I’ll say it’s the rainbow.

Must have when designing (food, music, etc.)?

Definitely music! I like to create playlists inspired by the stories I'm designing for. My favorite so far has been for Marcie Colleen's Super Happy Party Bears. Kami Garcia's next book is already inspiring a playlist; first couple songs on there have been Special by Garbage and Bulletproof by La Roux.

If you weren’t a designer you would be . . .?

Here’s my "card".

Number of projects you’re currently working on?

More than I have fingers and toes.

Next cover of yours you’re most excited to reveal?

Blind Item by Kevin Dickson and Jack Ketsoyan. Kevin and Jack are two Hollywood insiders writing a fictional tale with real-life scandals! It’s a super fun read. I got a really strong reaction to the cover from the Macmillan team and I'm curious to see how the public responds. 

Thank you so much Natalie! 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

THE LOVELY RECKLESS

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Kami Garcia, a contemporary romance full of loss, love and redemption…

Seventeen year-old Frankie Devereux would do anything to forget the past. Haunted by the memory of her boyfriend’s death, she lives her life by one dangerous rule: nothing matters. At least, that’s what Frankie tells herself after a reckless mistake forces her to leave her privileged life in the Heights to move in with her dad―an undercover cop. She transfers to public school in the Downs, where fistfights in the halls don’t faze anyone and illegal street racing is more popular than football.

Marco Leone is the fastest street racer in the Downs. Tough, sexy, and hypnotic, he makes it impossible for Frankie to ignore him . . . and how he makes her feel. But the risks Marco takes for his family could have devastating consequences for them both. When Frankie discovers his secret, she has to make a choice. Will she let the pain of the past determine her future? Or will she risk what little she has left to follow her heart?

Your own heart will race with each page turn of this heart-stopping star-crossed love story.

Buy The Lovely Reckless 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

KAMI GARCIA

Photo Credit: Vania Stoyanva

Kami Garcia is the #1 New York Times, USA Today & international bestselling coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures and Dangerous Creatures novels. Kami’s solo series, The Legion, includes the instant New York Times bestseller UNBREAKABLE, and the sequel UNMARKED. Her forthcoming YA contemporary romance THE LOVELY RECKLESS releases on October 4, 2016, followed by THE X-FILESORIGINS: AGENT OF CHAOS, a novel about a teenage Fox Mulder, in January 2017, both from Imprint (Macmillan).

Kami was a teacher for seventeen years before co-authoring her first novel on a dare from seven of her students. If she isn’t busy watching Supernatural, Kami can teach you how to escape from a pair of handcuffs or bake a Coca-Cola cake. She lives in Maryland with her family, and their dogs Spike and Oz (named after characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Visit Kami at www.KamiGarcia.com and on Twitter and Instagram @kamigarcia.

Kami's Website 

Friday Flourish: Concealed + Exposed

Happy Friday Everyone!

It's disgustingly hot here (if it's under 93 degrees where you live, let me know where that is so I can move immediately. If it's over 93, let me know where you are too so I can avoid it ;-)), so I have an indoor kind of weekend ahead of me. *basks in the air conditioning*

One of my recent projects was a young adult post-apocalyptic series, a genre that had me really excited because I haven't done many covers in the way of post-apocalyptic or dystopian designs, and you guys know how much I love a new kind of challenge. When I know a book is going to be a part of a series, my overall design process takes a different path than with standalone covers as I need to make sure what I create for the first book has adaptability and branding potential moving forward. I want to make sure each book in the series fits with one another while still making a strong statement on its own, so with the Virus series author RJ Crayton and I spent quality time in the planning process figuring out just how we would connect each book visually.

RJ new she wanted a more symbol-focused design, a strong focal point in the middle that would stay the same book to book while the color scheme and textures would change to reflect each individual story. Given Concealed and Exposed both dealt with a viral outbreak and its aftermath, the biohazard symbol seemed like the perfect fit – a bold warning to catch the eye and hopefully intrigue enough to make readers want to know more.

I wanted to share both covers today so you could see how they worked together as a pair, and stay tuned for book three, Contained, in the coming months! I hope you guys love how they turned out:)

They said it was extremely hard to get.
They said it wasn’t airborne.
They said there was nothing to fear.
They were wrong.

Seventeen-year-old Elaan Woodson was supposed to be one of the lucky ones. She got one of the few spots in the subterranean protection unit designed to keep select scientists, military officials and their families safe from the deadly virus ravaging the world above.

But, how lucky are you really when the people in charge and those you love keep secrets from you? 

While Elaan has heard that what you don’t know can’t hurt you, she’s beginning to think otherwise. And she should…

Goodreads • Amazon

The safety of the underground bunker is left behind. Elaan and her friends are out in the open, exposed to the world above. Exposed to a world that has been ravished by the virus. Can they make it to the one person they've been told can provide them safety?

Goodreads • Amazon

Find RJ:

Website • Facebook • Twitter

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

Friday Flourish: I'll Be Yours

Happy Friday Everyone!

I hope you guys are all having a great summer so far! Mine is flying by, I can't believe it's almost July already. Since the official first day of summer was this week, I thought I'd share a recent cover design that's perfect for your summer reading lists (even if technically football takes place in the fall ;-))!

As much as I love illustrated covers and effects-heavy designs for all that they teach me new and fun things in Photoshop, it's equally rewarding to work on projects that are a little more straightforward visually and focus on the simple gorgeousness of color, type or photography. Author Jenny B. Jones got in touch with me for one of her recent releases, a sports-themed contemporary YA romance, and I had an absolute blast bringing I'll Be Yours to life on the cover!

While I of course wanted this cover to feel like it fit with the genre, I also wanted to make it as unique as possible, incorporating the football element in a more subtle way. For the main image we focused on a specific lakeside scene from the book, but I knew I needed to bring the football element in as well since it played such a pivotal role. I could have gone with a university-style font consisting of large block letters that scream sports, but since that's been done and done well on a number of covers, I wanted to take us in a slightly different direction. I found a big, bold and rounded font with tons of personality that I knew I needed in my life immediately, and once I saw it in place, how to introduce the football element finally clicked for me. Since both football plays and romance can be expressed with x's and o's, I thought it would be cute to bounce them in and around the type, making the title treatment a strong visual statement against the colorful sunset sky.

I absolutely love how this one turned out, so I hope you guys do too! Plus, any cover with a dog on it is an automatic winner to me:)

She’s the coach’s brilliant daughter, clueless about love. He’s the dethroned football star, ready to teach Romance 101. When dark secrets and sparks collide, there’s no playbook for what happens next.

The day Andrew Levin arrives at Washington High, Harper O’Malley knows he’ll make the perfect starter boyfriend. The school’s newest band geek is totally in Harper’s league, yet completely out of this late-bloomer’s reach. Between fitting in with a new family, scoring the first chair in band, and rescuing dogs for the local animal shelter, Harper’s never had the opportunity to hone her dating skills. But even though Harper’s love life is far from perfect, she’s got the perfect plan.

Harper knows she’s insane to agree to tutor Ridley Estes, a notorious heartbreaker and the star of her high school’s football team—but in exchange, he’s offered to school her in the game of love. Just when she sees promise with her crush, a football scandal rocks her family, her town, and Ridley’s entire future. Harper suddenly has everything to lose—her family, friends, and even her heart. When the dust of the scandal settles, nothing will be the same. Including the girl who asked the most popular jock to teach her about love.

Find Jenny:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

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

Friday Flourish: They Mostly Come Out At Night

Happy Friday Everyone!

It's been a little while since I've shared a recent cover design, and in light of a very cool honor for the one I'm posting today, I wanted you guys to see it!

Author Benedict Patrick told me early on in our talks that he had his heart set on one of my illustrated covers, and as soon as I read through the design memo he submitted, I knew what we came up with was going to be one of my very favorites. You all already know how much I love illustrated covers in general, and when they're in the dark fantasy genre I get even more excited (if that's even possible), so I was essentially vibrating with glee when I started the initial artwork for They Mostly Come Out At Night.

Benedict had asked that the focal point of the illustration revolve around the mask his Magpie King wears as it plays a vital role, so I started putting the core elements in place with a strong emphasis on movement and texture, and then added a large full moon and bare tree branches to up the ominous vibe. Lastly, I added the type, incorporating a font I fell madly in love with the moment I saw it and knew I had to have it for this cover.

After a few small tweaks, we had our finished cover! As I said before, it's in my top 5 covers I've done, so I was inordinately pleased and honored when Benedict entered They Mostly Come Out At Night into the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off and, out of hundreds of entries, it was shortlisted (along with Masque!) and joined 30 others for final voting. I'm in some exquisite company, so be sure and check them all out when you get a chance!

THEY MOSTLY COME OUT AT NIGHT

Releases June 16th

He locked himself away from the dark, but in the Magpie King’s forest nowhere is safe…

Lonan is an outcast, accused of letting the monsters that stalk the night into the homes of his fellow villagers. Now, he will not rest until he wins back the heart of his childhood love and reclaims the life that was stolen from him. However, locked safely in his cellar at night, in his dreams Lonan finds himself looking through the eyes of a young prince…

Adahy has a destiny, and it terrifies him. How can he hope to live up to the legend of the Magpie King, to become the supernatural protector of the forest and defender of his people? But when the forest is invaded by an inhuman force, Adahy must rise to this challenge or let the Wolves destroy his people.

Watching these events unfold in his sleep, Lonan must do what he can to protect his village from this new threat. He is the only person who can keep his loved ones from being stolen away after dark, and to do so he will have to earn back their trust or watch the monsters kill everyone that he holds dear.

Website • Amazon • Goodreads

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

 

Friday Flourish: Another Sneak Peek!

Happy Friday Everyone!

A few months back I featured a fun little teaser with small snippets of recent designs, and since it seemed to go over well I thought I'd go ahead and share another one!

As you guys have noticed by now, I've had to scale back a bit with the blog, taking Monday's off and calling in reinforcements in the form of my family to help me keep up with reviews. *sigh* Work has really taken off since January of this year which is hugely exciting, but it has definitely limited my reading time. I've also found that even when I do have time to read, I'm just not as motivated as I once was. Part of it is the fact that my work and this blog are now linked in that they're both book-related, so even though I absolutely LOVE my job and this blog, when I get time off, I want that time completely off from anything involving books. Also, Netflix has clutched me to its evil bosom and will not let me go until I've watched ALL THE THINGS. *wanders off to binge watch season 7 of The X Files*

I do love bringing my work life and blogging life together and sharing my covers on Fridays though, so I hope you guys won't mind me indulging in my shameless self-promotion once again:)

Artwork is hugely subjective, and it's always so interesting to me to see what kind of imagery or typography really jumps out at people, so please let me know in the comments which box most catches your eye. I hope to share all 6 of these in their entirety soon!

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

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!)

Amazon • B&N • Goodreads 

Find Amryn:

Website • Facebook • Twitter

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

Friday Flourish: Much of Madness

Happy Friday Everyone!

Today I'm crazy excited to share with you another of the covers from my teaser grid a little while back, and it's one that many of you tagged in the comments as being the one you were most curious about.

One of my very favorite parts of cover design is the wide variety of genres I get work within as well as the style of artwork I get to create and manipulate in order to suit the story. As a wedding stationer for 10 years, I did a lot of repetitive artwork like monograms and floral patterns, and it was the rare client who really wanted something outside the box (not an insult to my clients, just the nature of wedding stationery in general). Now, however, every project presents a new and unique challenge for me, and as soon as I saw author S.E. Summa's Pinterest inspiration board for her Southern Gothic Horror novel Much of Madness, I knew I was in for a treat.

For this cover S.E. really wanted the gothic feel to shine through, with rich colors and textures accentuating a skull focal point (a design element that will be carried through to each book in the series - YAY!). The choice of type, while always a vital aspect of any cover, was even more important with Much of Madness to reinforce the overall aesthetic and really create a brand identity for the series as a whole.

S.E. was able to beautifully articulate what she was looking for with this design from the beginning, something that is far harder than it sounds, and together I think we created something striking. I hope you guys think so as well!

MUCH OF MADNESS

Releases 2/29

Seraphina Pearce doesn't know what's more frustrating: her magic's affinity for death, her best friend's transformation into an albino Sin Eater, or that simply touching a guy she loves means someone's headed to the morgue.

After a sin-eating job goes awry, she casts a risky spell and butts heads with a handsome stranger in order to win an infamous grimoire.

Marceau L'Argent is the last person she should confide in because the occult cat burglar has a mysterious past, and he's made it no secret he also wants the grimoire. He recognizes her dark magic and offers his unique help as a rare curse breaker. If all that weren't enough, Marceau causes butterflies in her stomach—a feeling she'd long thought dead.

Seraphina was only trying to break her curse—not piss off Death himself.

MUCH OF MADNESS is a Southern Gothic Horror story about loyalty, sacrifice, and maintaining hope no matter the odds.

 

Find S.E. and Much of Madness:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

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

Friday Flourish: The Smoke River Series

Happy Friday Everyone!

One of my favorite challenges when it comes to cover design is creating a consistent look for a series, making sure each book stands on its own merits while still fitting as a piece of a larger whole.

The first book is always easiest for obvious reasons, and each subsequent book typically proves more challenging than the one before it, particularly when it comes to designs featuring people. Stock photography, while initially appearing plentiful when thousands of results show up for a single search term, can be hugely limiting in terms of availability and quality, so I usually try and steer clear of using models in my designs when I know I'm going to be creating covers for multiple books.

I was lucky with the Smoke River series in that each book featured a different heroine, so while there was still the challenge of finding young women that fit the feel of each story, I didn't have to worry about needing to find the same model for all four books. Author Adina Senft was also instrumental in the research stage and sent me a number of photographs that had the feel she was going for, and together we were able to find an image that was perfect for each installment.

The covers for this series are among the simplest I've done, and I absolutely love that about them. As much as I enjoy special effects and exciting typography, there's something to be said for the straightforward approach as well. I hope you guys love the final product!

Book one, Grounds to Believe:

From RITA Award® winning author Adina Senft comes a series of domestic suspense novels flavored with faith. In the small town of Smoke River, Washington, everyone knows the Elect of God. They're good religious people, honest, hardworking—and they're hiding some dreadful secrets.

 

He'd find Kailey some day. One assignment at a time. One prayer at a time.

 

A cult took Ross Malcolm's ex-girlfriend and baby daughter seven years ago. He's never stopped looking for his little girl ... and now he has a sidearm, a badge, and a soul-deep commitment to protect the innocent. When the state's elite Organized Crime Task Force assigns him to Smoke River, Washington, to find out why the death rate among children belonging to an obscure plain church is so high, he's sure it's going to be one of the toughest cases of his career. But first, he has to find a way in ...

 

Julia McNeill is the daughter of an Elder and the almost-fiancee of a prospective Deacon. Her future position among the Elect is secure ... except that she's not sure she wants it. She's never quite been able to fit in, to measure up in comparison with her dazzling sister, who married an Elder and produced two beautiful kids. It breaks Julia's heart that her nephew Ryan is so close to death and no one can figure out why ... but when she asks questions, the church leadership shuts her out.

 

And then a biker with eyes that have seen too much walks into the bookstore where Julia works, and everything about her life begins to change ... including her belief in God's ability to keep her and her nephew safe ...

Find Adina Senft and the Smoke River series:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Amazon

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

 

Friday Flourish: The Separated

Happy Friday Everyone!

A couple weeks ago I teased you all with snippets of six recent cover designs that hadn't yet been officially revealed, but today I get to share one of those covers in full. YAY!

Author Troon Harrison came to me through one of my longtime clients, Shelley Adina, and with one word she had me clapping excitedly and demanding to start immediately. What was that word you ask? UNICORNS. Unicorns! When I was little I was absolutely obsessed with an animated movie called The Last Unicorn (anyone else? Yes? No? No. Just me then. Awesome.), and longed for the day when it would be revealed that unicorns actually existed. Sadly, that day still hasn't come.

What did finally come though was the opportunity to bring a unicorn story to life through its cover, and I loved every minute I spent collaborating on this design with Troon. Obviously the presence of a unicorn was more than enough to suggest high fantasy, but I wanted the entire design to have a magical, enchanted feel, so I played a lot with various lighting effects around the unicorn as well as in the type itself. The end result is everything I hoped it would be when I first read through the design memo, and I hope you guys love it as well!

THE SEPARATED

Tales of Terre #1

Long ago, a fierce sea dragon sank a ship that carried two Golden Horns and their Keeper. The creatures—with power against darkness—were separated, and passed into myth. But now evil grows, for the cruel Lord Maldici guards a terrible secret in his mountain stronghold. He studies the black book of sorcery, and sends out spies to quest for the missing Golden Horn.

Vita is the youngest descendant in the long line of Keepers. Her magic must preserve the remaining Golden Horn in safety, for only its power can thwart the growing evil. Yet Vita is in danger of betraying her trust. Her best friend, the pirate Giovanni, struggles to break free of the gold-greed that enslaves his people. Only then can he aid Vita, and vanquish the dragon in battle. But when Vita wavers, Giovanni's life will be at risk in the dungeons of Lord Maldici. One other person will aid them: Marina, outcast daughter of a sea witch, searching for a home in the land of Verde. Overcoming their differences, these three must find courage to save what they love most from the gathering power of darkness.

Find Troon:

Website

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

Friday Flourish: 2016 Preview

Happy Friday Everyone!

Today I have different type of flourish post to kick off 2016, one that includes a sneak peek at a few of the covers I'll hopefully be revealing in their entirety over the next couple weeks/months. The last several months of 2015 saw a marked increase in work for me–something that makes me want to do the spastic flail I call a happy dance–so I thought it might be fun to put together a little teaser grid before the full reveals go live.

I had such a blast working on each and every one of these covers, they're all incredibly different in style and feel, and each brought a new and interesting design challenge for me to try and meet.

I'd love to know which of the boxes has you most curious, so please leave your pick in the comments!

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

Wednesday Flourish: Empire of Sand

Happy 2-More-Days-Till-Friday Everyone!

Back in March I revealed the cover for Love in a Time of Monsters which featured one of my favorite illustrations I've done, so I was beside myself when author Teresa Yea got in touch and said it was time to revisit this series with a prequel novella. Cue spastic happy designer flail.

While we of course wanted to stick with feel established by Monsters, keeping vibrant colors and bold texture as unifying elements, Teresa wanted this prequel to be a bit darker in tone and hark back to the spirit of adventure found in the likes of Indiana Jones. Teresa makes my job incredibly easy by putting together Pinterest inspiration boards that clearly point me in the direction she wants me to go, and then gives me the freedom to put my spin on her initial ideas. I'm always enormously proud of the work we do together, and our latest collaboration just might displace Monsters as my new Teresa Yea favorite.

Empire of Sand, a prequel in The Golden Age of Monsters series, releases December 1st, and I hope you guys consider adding this one to your lists!

EMPIRE OF SAND

Liam is a trained killer--meticulous, cunning, an artist with a knife.

Cat is his protégée–wild, reckless, a girl lost.

They're young.

They're beautiful.

They kill monsters.

Egypt, 1866. A terror is unleashed upon Cairo.

A predator that travels under a cloak of storms and
lurks amongst the dunes.
It reigns like a king in an empire of sand and
kills with human-like precision.
Its prey of choice: man.

Liam can't resist the allure of the ultimate kill.

Cat has a vendetta against all unnatural creatures.

They're deadly.

They're invincible.

They're being hunted.

From the author of Love in a Time of Monsters comes an electrifying prequel that invites you to live fast, die young, and shed a little blood.

Find Teresa & Empire of Sand!

Website • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon • Kobo • iBooks • Google Play

You can find more of my cover design work at Seedlings Design Studio!  

Friday Flourish: Schism

Happy Friday Everyone!

I'm hugely excited today to share the cover for the second installment of Jenna Black's Gifted series, Schism. Jenna is one of the clients I have thanks entirely to this blog as I was lucky enough to meet her at an event I was covering in Cincinnati, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect because she just happened to need a designer for her new series. I'm so grateful to her for taking a chance on me early in my cover design career as the two we've done together are all-time favorites.

I've talked a few times about how second books in a series can be a little tricky in terms of design, something that seems counter-intuitive given having an already established aesthetic should in theory make the process run more smoothly. In this particular case though that's exactly how things went, and we arrived at a final design in what felt like record time. Jenna had a clear idea of what she wanted and how this cover should set itself apart from The Gifted Dead despite the main ouroboros symbol remaining the primary focus, so after only a few color tweaks to the initial comp we found ourselves with finished artwork.

Before I get to Schism though, here is a quick reminder of The Gifted Dead:

THE GIFTED DEAD

Politics and magic make dangerous bedfellows.
 

Deep within the Order, the seeds of corruption have taken root. While younger generations of the Gifted have embraced modern democratic values, a secret society of old-guard zealots seek a return to the past, when only European men of distinguished bloodlines held power.
 

Now, three venerable European families and a maverick American each plot to seize control of the Order and shape it to their will. A cutthroat game of political intrigue will decide the winner; and the stakes couldn't be higher, for ruling the Order carries with it the power to grant—or deny—an afterlife.
 

What begins as a battle of wills could turn into an all-out war. And magic could prove deadlier than any missile.

Goodreads • Amazon • B&N

 And now for SCHISM!!!

(releases November 18th) 

 

As his power grows, so does his malice.
No one is safe. No one can fight back ...
...But they can die trying.

Unforgiving and power-maddened Alberto di Tommaso threatens to take over all of Europe with his iron fist and sinister magic, endangering the very existence of the Gifted. As Alberto's influence and his vile agenda spread, the rebel Patriarch, Matt Landy, and some unlikely allies must stop him before he provokes a war the Gifted cannot win. But with Congress and Homeland Security starting to turn against the American Gifted, the conflict is destined to be greater than any of them imagines. This time, good may not stand a chance against an evil so toxic. 
 
But they will fight.

 Find Jenna:

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Jenna is running a giveaway for The Gifted Dead at All Things Urban Fantasy, be sure and pop by to enter!

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If you want to see more of my work, you can check out my full portfolio online at Seedlings Design Studio!

Friday Flourish: Rafe Ryder + The Well of Wisdom

Happy Friday Everyone!

I have another fun project to share with you this week, one I'm immensely proud of and sincerely hope you guys end up loving as much as I do.

Author L.L. Reynolds got in touch with me thanks to the amazing Katie Cross (who has been one of my biggest supporters), and as soon as I read the words "middle grade fantasy" in her inquiry email I hit reply with record speed. What followed was a collaboration full of laughs and over the top enthusiasm on both sides, and I can't thank L.L. enough for her unwavering trust as she handed me her book and simply said "do whatever you need to do to make this cover the best it can be".

Since this was middle grade, we both knew we wanted an illustrated design, something full of color, texture, and movement that would really draw the eye of readers young and old. I also wanted to design this first book with the entire series in mind, creating a Rafe Ryder brand that would be carried through each subsequent book, so I started with my core elements (which included the title treatment and a pair of wings) and then built out from there.

Since this first book is titled The Well Of Wisdom, I wanted to make sure the well itself appeared on the cover along with its very important counterpart, The Tree of All Knowledge, and I then completed the design with a few other small elements to try and bring this fantastical world to life.

For fun, I thought you guys might like to see the initial sketch I sent to L.L. for approval before I began putting the design together on the computer, if for no other reason than it will give you a good laugh. For all that I'm artistic, drawing on paper really isn't my strong suit ;-)

Glorious isn't it? *pats self on back*

I think the final version turned out a touch better...

Strange things happen when the place you call "home" is no longer your address.

Twelve-year-old Rafe Ryder's year couldn't get worse. His parents have shipped him off to live with his grandmother and he doesn't know if he'll ever see his sick father again. Arriving in Maine, Rafe plots his return to England, but the possibility of a homecoming slips further from his grasp when an adventure in a corn maze at his new school goes wrong, and he and twelve of his schoolmates are mysteriously transported to Mystfira—a realm of angels, leprechauns, gargoyles and fairies—and home to an elite angelic training school. Forced to co-exist with student angels and surrounded by more danger than he ever could have imagined, Rafe searches for a way home only to stumble upon a scheme to destroy the heavens. Can he find a way to save himself and his friends...or will they be lost forever?

Rafe Ryder and the Well of Wisdom is set to release next month, so I hope you guys add this one to your lists. I've also done some interior artwork for this book, including a full map of the fantasy world of Mystfira, so I'd love for you all to check it out when release day comes around!

Cover Evolution: Gaia

Hi Everyone!

Some of you might remember a post I did a couple months ago where I walked through the cover design process for City of Fae, and since that seemed to be something everyone enjoyed seeing, I thought I would make it a semi-regular feature here on the blog :)

Today I'm sharing the cover evolution for Gaia, the newest installment of the Wings of War series by Karen Ann Hopkins. This series is always a trickier one for me in terms of the technical aspect of the design, as my background is heavily InDesign-based–my comfort zone being flat graphic illustrations and typography–so covers that require a lot of Photoshop manipulation are more intimidating for me from the start. There's nothing I love more than a challenge though, and I've had such fun bringing Embers and Gaia to life!

Karen wanted a more epic feel to Gaia, moving Ember out of the woods of the first installment and putting her in a more sprawling landscape that really spoke to the scope of the book. Here is the original, raw image.

Given this book focused on Ember's exploration of the earth element, Karen wanted it to be bright and vibrant with a bold use of color, so I think she was probably somewhat concerned when I told her I thought this image would work best from the initial group I sent her. The color is obviously drab and dull, but I thought it gave us the epic feel she was looking for, and it would allow for Ember to quite literally be standing on a precipice. We just needed a little color:

Color is one of the easier adjustments to make in Photoshop, so I added a series of layers to give the cover the vibrancy we wanted while ensuring it had an ominous quality as well since things get darker for Ember throughout the book.

The next step was to add Ember herself to the image, and it was by far the most challenging aspect of this design. The primary concern for me when compositing images together is lighting. The image we're taking the figure from (the source image) needs to match the image we're moving it to (the destination image) in terms of lighting or it's going to look digitally manipulated in the worst possible way.

I like to stick to studio shots of people rather than environmental shots when doing a more realistic composite, as the lighting is usually even overall instead of coming from one specific direction and creating harsh highlights or shadows. Since my background image above has a very muted quality–no sun to create directional shadows–the even tone of a studio shot is ideal (but not perfect, as you'll see below).

Here's the raw image of Ember:

While she looks great against the white, when I cut her out and added her to my existing background, you can see a number of problems arose:

She couldn't look less like she belongs in this environment, and instead is simply floating above the grass looking ridiculously out of place. In order to make the composition more seamless, I darkened her figure, added a shadow underneath her, and took some of the blades of grass and laid them over the heels of her boots so she would appear as though she was actually a part of the landscape around her. I also added some green highlights to her so she would look like she was lit by the glow of the wings when those came into play next.

The final step before adding the copy was to give her wings. As mentioned in the cover reveal, Ember explores her ability to control a different element in each book, so I wanted the wings to reflect the specific element central to each installment. I started with just a flat illustration of the wings that I'd drawn in InDesign:

Since Gaia sees Ember learning to harness the Earth element, I wanted to build the wings out of various leaves and branches and really make them a focal point. I started with a couple leaf and bark textures as a foundation, and then threaded 3 different types of branches in and through the illustration before finishing with a subtle glow around both wings.

So close! The last step was to add one last layer of color as well as the title, series title, Karen's name and the tagline, and then we had our finished cover:

Friday Flourish: The Box of Souls

Happy Friday Everyone!

I have one more cover to share with all of you before I take a little break from flourish posts, and I really couldn't be more excited to show you because...DRAGONS. As much as I love reading about dragons, I might love designing with them even more, so when author Tanya Miranda sent in her artwork form my eyes immediately zeroed in on the word dragons and I might have flailed.

Tanya and I went through a few initial comps for The Box of Souls, playing with a scale texture and blending it with imagery of the Golden Gate Bridge to give a sense of place while keeping a dragon symbol as the focal point, but ultimately we decided that simplicity was the way to go. We eliminated both the scale texture and the bridge image, adding a subtle lighting effect to the background but otherwise allowing the triple dragon symbol to speak for itself. We also kept the typeface clean and easy to read, letting it have just a single flourish for personality and movement.

The Box of Souls releases next month, so I hope if you're intrigued you'll add it to your lists!

THE BOX OF SOULS

18-year-old Jasmyn secretly resents her family's preference for her 8-year-old sister Katarina. Her jealousy grows when her grandmother, a dying witch, overlooks Jasmyn and chooses Katarina to inherit her magic powers.  Although being second-place to her sister is something Jasmyn has grown accustomed to, this rejection wounds her like no other.

Little does Jasmyn know, she too has inherited some of her grandmother's powers. Resentment and envy are a dangerous pair, but when doused with magic, the chaos it creates is unimaginable.

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You can find more of my cover design work at Seedlings Design Studio!