Wool

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I have an announcement that I’m really excited to make. In July of last year, Hugh Howey, self-published a book that caught on like crazy. Wired magazine, Boing-Boing and several other large websites featured articles extolling the story as being wonderful. It wasn’t long until Ridley Scott (the director of Alien and Prometheus) bought the movie rights to the book.

Today, I’d like to announce that I’m working directly with the author, Hugh Howey, to adapt the book as a graphic novel. We’re developing the script together and I’ll be doing all of the illustrations.

We’ve been working on it for about a week; so, we’re still in the very early stages, but I hope to have some sample art to show soon.

If you haven’t read Wool, you can pick up the first volume in the series here.

Rita Morse and the Treacherous Traitor

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Here is the cover to Holly Hook’s most recent young adult novel: Rita Morse and the Treacherous Traitor.

I really enjoyed working on this cover because it offered me so many new experiences. It’s the first cover I’ve done for a young adult novel. It was the first time I’ve read a book by Holly Hook and this is the first young adult novel I’ve read… as an adult.

I’m not sure why, but I’ve always had an almost bias against this genre. Don’t get me wrong. I realize that many adults read juvenile literature and love it, but I’ve just never been able to get into it.

I was a curmudgeon at an early age. Even as a kid, I pretty much skipped over this genre and jumped ahead to books that were geared for a much older audience.

Maybe it’s the old man in me, but throughout the book, I kept cheering for the poor, misunderstood villain. There’s a scene (very mild spoilers here) where the villain orchestrates a series of events that cause the local mall to implement policies that require teenagers to be escorted by someone who is 21 years or older. I remember being slightly embarrassed when I admitted to Holly that I found myself identifying with the villain in her story.

I know. I’m a horrible person, but what can I say? My favorite muppets have always been Statler and Waldorf (the two old men in the balcony).

As far as the design of the cover, we wanted to go with a slightly comic book type feel for the book (hence, the inset panels). This is based off of some events in the books. I feel that we really captured the attitude and promise of the book. If you enjoy juvenile fiction, you should consider giving this series a try. It’s worth reading for the biology teacher alone.

You can get the first book in the series (cover art was by a different illustrator) for 99 cents here: http://www.amazon.com/Rita-Morse-Sinister-Shadow-ebook/dp/B004LLII9Y/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1343263864&sr=1-4

Holly’s website is here: http://hollyannehook.wordpress.com/

Now, get off my lawn!

Perishables

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perishables_half

 

Here’s the latest cover I’ve just finished for Michael G. Williams. We did a bit of an experiment with the creation of this cover. We conducted all of our correspondence for the cover in public. We did so in the form of posts on Google+. Here’s a link to the post that started it all.

Three Key Ingredients to a Successful E-book Cover

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The cover to your e-book is your first message to a potential reader. Speak clearly. This article won’t teach you how to use Photoshop, but it will allow you to understand some of the goals you should keep in mind when you hire a designer/artist or create your own e-book cover.

1. A Strong Silhouette:

This is number one on the list for a reason. The silhouette created by your focal point is what will grab the viewer’s attention. Does your image communicate its subject matter clearly from a distance? If the image is viewed as a thumbnail can the viewer quickly determine the subject matter without zooming-in?

modernwitch

Debora Geary‘s cover for A Modern Witch is a wonderful example of a simple image that manages to speak clearly. It is easily understood– even when viewed as a thumbnail. It’s also an attractive gateway into an entertaining book with a unique approach to blending technology and magic.

2. Good Values:

This is a bit more subtle, but equally important. When I say values, I’m not talking about morality. I’m referring to how light or dark parts of your image are. A well structured and contrasting value pattern is what makes an image interesting. Values, when used correctly, will create a focal point for your image. The highest contrast between light and dark will always attract a viewer’s attention. With that in mind, you should give a lot of thought to how you present your values. Where are they leading the viewer’s attention? Create that focal point deliberately.

creepyguy

The focal point of this picture is the light shining on his nose. Notice how the area around the nose is lighter than most other parts of the image. The other place where you see this sharp drop off from light to dark is around the eyes (the secondary focal point for the image).

If values are used incorrectly the image will not read well. People will struggle to figure out the intended message. The most common mistake people make with values is by using (or creating) images that don’t have enough contrast. The values are too similar and do not present an ordered hierarchy to guide the viewer through the image.

3. A Promise

The last quality that every cover needs is a promise. Your cover image needs to clearly inform the viewer about the content contained in your book. It needs to make a promise. Does your book have romance? Adventure? Is it a thriller? Science Fiction? Fantasy? Mystery? Is that information presented on the cover?

flashgoldcoverart

Above, you will see the cover to Lindsay Buroker‘s novella, Flash Gold. This cover makes an implicit promise to the viewer. It promises a story set in the Steam Punk genre. You know that it belongs to this genre because of the mechanical gears present in the rifle and repeated in the title. Every element, within that picture, is chosen and placed there for a specific reason and that reason is to inform any would-be reader about the type of story contained inside.

Now, I’d like to hear from you. What are some other qualities that define a successful e-book cover?

Congratulations Benjamin Andrews and Mackenzie Morgan!

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Today, I received some wonderful news. Two of the authors, for whom I have done covers, have books in the top 10 for their categories on Amazon. Here’s part of an e-mail I received from Benjamin Andrews today regarding his book: Rift of Askrah Book 1: Fracture

“Hey John,

I figured as an artist, you may want to know about how books your art is representing are doing. I had a 2 day free promotion start today, and after 3/4 of a day at #2 in my sub-genre (Epic Fantasy), I finally climbed into the #1 spot in the top 100 free books for my sub-genre!

Though I hope they came for the writing too, I know the cover you created had a huge impact, as I ran a 3 day promotion with my own cover, and only got a fraction of the downloads I already have in just one day. I wanted to let you know your art has helped my book…”

A few hours later, I discovered that Mackenzie Morgan’s latest book, A Shot in the Dark (a book that I helped her re-launch with a new cover), was in the number two spot (update) number one spot for its category. I’m particularly proud that this book is doing so well because it was my first experience working in the Cozy Mystery genre. It took a lot of research to make sure that I was creating a cover that would speak to readers of that genre in a way that would communicate that this book represented a story that would interest them.

Congratulations, Benjamin and Mackenzie. I hope the increased exposure leads to increased sales!