Irish Blessing Book 1 / Jenn Taylor
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, I am not a wordsmith like the authors I work with. But on this page I will do my best to write a few words about some of the book covers that I have created in the past few years. I will try to point out the design ideas necessary to create the mood and intent of some of the book covers from Book Cover Design. And maybe just a few of the circumstances that were interesting at the time of the design of the cover. Regarding Irish Blessing Book 1: In this moody and romantic book cover, we can see far away into the distance, and that gives a feeling of overall vision and understanding. The medieval castle adds mystery and intrigue, and helps place the time period. The queen adds additional beauty and enchantment to the scene.
Hope For Hard Times / Magrey DeVega
In this example, Photoshop was used to combine two separate photos to create one nature scene. As it happened, we were lucky that the top bright part of the picture corresponded to the word “Hope,” and the bottom dark part related to the words “Hard Times.” That is what I would call a happy accident!
Being Emily / Beth Travers
Notice the contrast of a huge nature scene in the background, and a woman quietly reading a book sitting on her luggage in the foreground. This scene creates interest, color and beauty.
Out Of Darkness / Joelle Suel
The color scheme on this cover helps to show depth. Note the deep blues of the sky seem to recede, while the warm colors of the foreground seem to come forward. So the viewer can seemingly see for miles and miles. But as usual for a book cover, it’s all an illusion!
Love And Payback / Irene Woodbury
From the popular humorist Irene Woodbury. The bright red and pink suggest the love interest, and the computer with the crime scene banners across it suggest mystery.
Religion, Christianity & Me / Danny Crockarell
Here’s an example where the author wanted to express his own thoughts about religion and Christianity, while quoting various scholars from throughout past history. The huge clouds and atmospheric colors help denote a feeling of grandeur and overwhelming mystery.
Escape From The Czar / Paula Bilyieu Velho
Don’t you love trains? Shown is a fictionalized representation of a Russian train on the Trans Siberian Railroad. Note the frozen tundra of the Russian landscape. Kind of reminds one of the movie “Dr. Zhivago.” Cover is reproduced with permission of the author.
Here I Stand / Roland H. Bainton
Here I Stand is a major work of nonfiction for which I was privileged to design the cover. At the time, I was working as book cover designer at Abingdon Press in Nashville Tennessee. This is a new edition, with a new cover, of an already existing book. At the time, I felt lucky to have been in the position to re-design the cover of a book that I was assigned to read in college, years earlier.
My Eagle & Flag Illustration
If you are interested in good book cover design, then you are probably interested in good book cover designers. But what is a good book cover designer? I suppose it is many things, but one thing it is, is a good designer. But what is a good designer? Again, many things, but among them: One who has a good sense of proportion, layout, color, composition, and spacial relationships. And maybe this person even knows a few tricks. Like putting the most color where the focal point of interest is. Look at this eagle and flag illustration. If the focal point of interest is the head of the eagle, then it is the only place in the entire illustration that has all the main color groups nearby: red, white, blue, light blue, gold, maroon, black, and dark maroon. But isn’t this just style? Maybe. Another illustrator might not choose to work in that style. For example, this other illustrator might have completely different palette: More subdued or earthy tones, sepia colors, and the like. Whereas this illustration showcases all 3 primary colors in their boldest, + white, black, gold, light & dark maroon and light blue. All of that to say that in order to be a good book cover designer, you must first be a good designer. And to be a good designer, you must first be a good illustrator. Personal opinion? Yes. But at least know that if a person (such as myself, for example) claims to be a good book cover designer, then this person claims to have a good sense of proportion, layout, color, composition, and spacial relationships. In my opinion.
Creativity
Some random thoughts on creativity. There was time when there were not too many books on creativity. Today, I suppose there are thousands. But, not having consulted any of those books, I have a few ideas of my own that I would like to espouse. Let me start by echoing the ideas that I have heard. Actually, only one comes to mind, and that is attributed to Jerry Seinfeld. He tells a funny story about a person trying to think of a creative idea. He says they are like mice running by. You have no choice as to when they will come, or where, or anything. He says, if you are lucky, you will be able to put your foot out, and step on their tail, and say, “Wait a minute Buddy Boy – Not so fast!!” And then you will get your creative idea. I think he’s right. I have proven that time and time again, in my own search for creative ideas. But getting back to the general idea of creativity, I think the most creative medium of all is the animated cartoon. Why? Just think about it – In the animated cartoon, you must create three main ideas – 1. Story, 2. Visual Art, and 3. Music. If The Beatles or Beethoven writes music, they are only concerned with music. Not story, and not visual art. (Unless they are making a video, but that usually comes after the fact.) If Danielle Steele writes a book, she is only concerned with story. (Or writing if it’s a nonfiction author.) If Picasso creates a painting, he is only concerned with visual art. Now, if you consider cinematography a visual art, then a movie or TV show also requires 3 forms of creativity – story, visual art, and music. As book cover designer, I am just concerned with visual art, not story or music, other than the fact that I must know the story and I often times listen to music while in the midst of visual creativity. All of these concepts are loosely defined, and they are all interwoven here and there. I suppose that if you are an author, the same thing applies – All three forms of creative ideas are loosely involved in writing a book. But the three main areas of creative ideas remain: Story, visual art, and music. At least that’s all I can think of. Just some random thoughts on creativity.