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This cover was well-received, but before it went to print, the publisher decided to change it to reflect more of the epic adventure aspect of the story & appeal more to boys (especially since the main character is a boy). The final cover that they developed is similar to one of the initial concepts I had submitted, and I think what they ended up with looks fantastic! The book is a really great, super exciting read! I def. recommend checking it out!
SECRETS AT SEA is a wonderful middle-grade novel by award winning author Richard Peck. And I was lucky enough, as the jacket designer, to get to work with the fabulously talented Kelly Murphy on her amazing jacket and interior illustrations. (She’s so wonderful! Please check her out at http://www.kelmurphy.com/)
The nature of the story and the art lent itself to a hand-lettered type style, so my Art Director commissioned me to create the title. I’m happy to share, too, that this super sweet book has been getting 4-star reviews!
cover illustration © Kelly Murphy
Over the summer I also worked on a lead title for Sourcebooks. The project has since been postponed and I’m not sure I’ll have the opportunity to revisit the design/image, so for now just giving a peek at the title type I created. This is a great book, and I really loved working on this one. I’ll be excited to see how the final ends up.
And this last one was initially part of the Sophie’s Mixed-Up Magic illustrations in initial rounds before they were killed.
Being a full-time staff designer, I had to pitch myself anonymously to my publisher to get this illustration assignment. I was thrilled to get the job and had a great time creating final art for 2 of the books. I also, however, had to sit through the big sales meeting where they ultimately decided that photography was a better direction for this particular series.
I know to some of my illustration friends, it sounded like torture to put myself directly into that meeting! But, having 8 years of experience in a big publishing house I know that feedback is just part of the creative process and not always a reflection on if the art is good or not; Rather it’s a decision on what is best for the project based on genre, trends, competition, author sales, positioning…and about a zillion other things. I’d being lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see my art published for the final book, but I still completely enjoyed creating it. And, as a designer my challenge became solving the project in a new way (there’s always more than one good way!) So, I got to put on my Art Director cap and do a photoshoot for the final covers. The shoot was so much fun (come on, how often do you get to photograph a little girl on a flying carpet?!) and ultimately I am still pleased with the outcome of the covers. All around, everyone in house—as well as the author—was happier with these sleeker, more mass-commercial photographic packages.
The books go one sale next June, but since they are already listed on Amazon, I wanted to share the final covers as well as a little of the back story. Here’s 2 of them-side by side with the illustrations I had originally done. You can see I still was able to incorporate some of my swirly, decorative illustrated elements into the background.
All in all, it was a fun and interesting project for me, from both my viewpoints as an illustrator and a designer/art director. I definitely feel like having the behind-the-scenes look at a project like this is so beneficial for me in understanding the publishing industry overall. …And the books themselves are really cute! Check ‘em out! :)
I have been hard at work on some exciting new things, though. First, I’ve been designing a YA fiction cover for Sourcebooks—It’s still in the works, so I can’t really share much just yet—but the project gave me the chance to create some super cool stock-photo imagery and hand-lettering. I’ll be excited to share once it’s finalized and released!
I also have been working on cover illustrations for a middle grade series at Penguin. These books also won’t be released for some time, so I also can’t really share too many specifics— but basically they allowed for tons of fun imagery to play with: magic lamps, flying carpets….and a great project for me to develop a character in my style! These are 2 of the final illustrations:
Unfortunately, though the Art Director and Publisher were super happy with these illos, they didn’t make it past the sales and marketing team, who felt that this genre of book would be more competitive as a paperback series if treated with a photographic approach instead. So, my illustrations were killed, but I had a blast creating these pieces anyway and am super happy to be able to add them to my portfolio.
Also want to share a few of the preliminary sample pieces and sketches that I did as part of the process.
I had to actually pitch myself at the beginning of the project anonymously to my creative director and publisher-along with other alternate artists, which was an interesting experience! I created these tailor-made samples to add into the mix and win out the job:
And, I went through several round of sketches to first develop the character, and then nail down concepts for each of the 3 books. Here’s a few sketches from various stages of the process:
I really enjoyed creating pieces that target this middle-grade girl audience, so looking forward to doing more in this realm!