The Cover as a Work of Art

Share your favorite cover art! All comments on this post will be entered for a signed copy of Kelly Creagh's Nevermore! 

Last time I posted I was hoping that by November 6 (it seemed so far away! that I'd be able to reveal my cover. And my wish came true! My beautiful cover (see below) has been all over the internet thanks to the amazing network of book bloggers with their cover reveal posts and waiting on wednesday posts (which are posts where they talk about upcoming books they are excited about, who knew?)

Anyway, being in cover heaven caused me to think more than I usually do about covers (and I can say that I probably think more than the average person about covers, I'm completely excited about my foreign sales, because it means the book will have even more covers! Covers in France, Germany and the UK). For me covers are certainly a form of art. I've always loved artistic expression, but I've never moved past the rudimentary understanding gleaned from art history classes in college, though I enjoyed those survey classes. And most people who know me have heard the sad story of how the museums were on strike when I visited Paris, (I got to walk past the Louvre, I mean, that's the same as going in, right?).

So, I've always been a person who looks at and admires art, but one thing I LOVE about cover art is that it's a visual representation of a story...and of all the forms of artistic expression, story is my far my absolute favorite. And books themselves are my favorite item to collect. In a few years I'll be ready for the apocalypse, I'll just need to be sure I have a lifetime supply of contact lenses. (click this for an object lesson in irony from The Twilight Zone)

So, imagine my giddiness when I learned, not only did I have a beautiful cover, but in the words of one of my more knowledgable friends, that my cover artist, Sammy Yuen, was "a really big deal." With just a little googling, I discovered his portfolio, and so so many of my favorite books and covers. Here are some examples...

Wow, that's art. All of these works of art are on my bookshelf, except Behemoth, which was released with a different (less beautiful cover). Sammy also designed the covers for all of Ellen Hopkins' books (great examples of branding), Holly Black's first three books, and many other beautiful covers. I feel completely fortunate in my cover, and sharing the same artist as some of my favorite books/covers, all I can say is wow!

Some other beautiful covers that have blown my mind lately...

I LOVE this cover (and the book and the author) because it's so different, I love the colors and the way it glows.

This one is from GreenWillow, and it is so beautiful, in fact I saw where it was voted THE most beautiful cover on at least one Goodreads poll. It's even more beautiful in person, and I really enjoyed the book.

I LOVE the symbolism of the Wither cover with the birdcage. love love love.

I love all of Cassandra Clare's covers, but I particularly like the new ones for Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince.

This one has always been one of my absolute favorites. The entire series is beautiful, but I love the first one the very best. I ALSO love Twilight's cover, but I won't post it here, since everyone who is breathing in the universe is probably familiar with it.

Green is my favorite color, and this beautiful, and in my mind under-appreciated book is just gorgeous.

Check out the sidebar of the blog for my fellow blogger's beautiful covers, I was going to add them in here, but I realized I was getting picture crazy.

Lastly I have covers from Kelly Creagh, whose Nevermore I promised to give away in my last blog post, I'm completely in LOVE with her Polish cover.

This is the one I'm giving away. I love the colors, very elegant. 

This is her newest foreign cover and I'm salivating over that Raven. Wow!

Okay, so all you have to do for the chance to win the signed copy of Nevermore is post your comment, share a picture of your favorite cover, or just tell us about it! Next month I'll be giving away a one of a kind annotated copy of my Masque of the Red Death ARC (if you can't wait until next month I'm giving one away on my personal blog at bethanygriffin.com next week!)

Cover love and a CONTEST!

I received the cover art (which I adore!) for my May release, What She Left Behind. I love the way the words hide behind the trees! The cover artist, Jessica Handelman, was kind enough to answer a few questions about this cover and her job.

Tracy: Could you tell us a little about the process you used to create the cover for What She Left Behind?

Jessica: The first step I took in designing What She Left Behind was to read a good chunk of your manuscript. I'd love to read every manuscript that I work on all the way through, but realistically, I get assigned all of my titles for each season at once and I don't have the luxury of time. In order to get moving as quickly as possible on all of the covers, I try to read about half of every book. This helps me get a sense of the voice and the story. After reading, I talked to the editor about my initial thoughts. She filled me in on the rest of the story/the ending. Once I had this information I did a lot of photo-research. I put together a bunch of covers with some rough type in place (we didn't have a final title at the time). Annette [the editor] and I really loved one of my comps but didn't love the exact look of the girl in the photo. I spent a few weeks looking for various stock shots of alternate girls, but none of the ones I found were quite right, nor did they fit well into the layout. From this point, I started my image search all over and put together a second round of new comps. Again, we really liked an image of one girl, but some other people in-house were iffy on the direction, so we scrapped it pretty quickly.

With the last round of comps, I decided to focus less on a girl and more on the mood of the story. Annette and I talked about pushing the cover in a more scary direction. I found an image of the trees on one stock site and a girl running on another and spent an afternoon photoshopping the two together. I put together a few type treatments. Immediately, Annette and I knew that this was the best direction for the cover, but some people in-house felt that the girl I had running looked a little too young. I quickly found a replacement (the girl on your cover) and the rest is history.


Tracy: What kind of background /training does it take to become a cover artist and /or what brought you to this field?

Jessica: In college I studied Visual Communications, with a focus on illustration and graphic design. In order to be a gooddesigner, you must know how to use Photoshop and Indesign. I spend 75% of my day on the computer, using these programs. The other 25% I spend on email/phone corresponding with illustrators and photographers.


Tracy: What is your typical day like?

Jessica: Each day varies depending on the projects I am currently working on. When I am working more on teen novels, I spend a lot of time photoshopping stock photography and/or organizing a photoshoot, going on the photoshoot, and then turning a few shots from the shoot into a cover. When I am working more on middle-grade, I spend more time art directing illustrators and then designing a cover around the art. Typically, my day involves emailing, going to brainstorming and production meetings, and working in photoshop and indesign on the layout of a jacket or cover.

In celebration of cover art, I thought I would share two other covers that I've enjoyed, ask you to share your favorites, and offer you the chance to win a copy of a book with a pretty cover (not that any of us judges books by their covers!)

Pretty cover #1: After reading the story behind the paperback cover of Carolyn Mackler's Tangled at Melissa Walker's blog (http://www.melissacwalker.com/cover-stories-tangled-carolyn-mackler), I have to admit, I was hooked. I mean, who doesn't love butterflies? So I got my very own beautiful copy of Tangled. I loved this story about four teen lives that intersect.

Pretty cover #2: When I saw the cover of Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs, I was fascinated by the mermaid's blue lips on the cover. I thoroughly enjoyed this fresh and fun take on mermaids.

In the comments, please tell us about a YA book that you think is the total package: and awesome cover AND an amazing story. One randomly selected commenter will WIN a SIGNED COPY of Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs (U.S. entrants only). Please be sure to include an e-mail address. Contest ends Saturday at noon (eastern time).