Official Website of A. S. Peterson

Cover Evolution

Sep - 22 - 2009

(Not the cover.)

I had another great meeting with Evie Coates last week to talk about the cover design. She had just spent a weekend alone, in a secluded mountaintop cabin, with her mind set to the task of creating the art for The Fiddler’s Gun. I like to imagine that she was a sort of female Moses, gnarled staff in hand, solemnly ascending to the Sinai summit to contend with the Almighty and return white-haired and shiny-faced with a divinely etched book cover that would wow readers the world over. I was careful to steer clear of any golden calves while she was gone because I didn’t want her to throw the artwork at me when she came down. Also, I generally dislike being swallowed up by the earth.

This analogy is ridiculous.

So return she did, and I’ll venture to guess that she has a grey hair or two more than she had when she left. Those hairs were well-spent though. I’m really happy with the direction the cover is going and I think readers are going to love it, too. The artwork is a mixture of gorgeous hand drawn lettering, an illustrated framework, and a watercolor background. She’s got the basics worked out but there’s plenty of work left to do. The details have got to be right to give the final product the finished and professional look that we all want.

Here’s small look at some of the evolution of the work. I won’t show you the whole thing, but this should be enough to give you a delicious hint.

cover sketch

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Tags: artwork, design