Book Cover Art Chapter 3: Mocking up the Mock-Ups

I’m going to preface this week’s blog post in the Book Cover Art Series by saying the inspiration fairy is an interesting critter who sometimes decides to hide away at the most inopportune times. In the case of this week’s post, I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to get it done in time. With a couple different ideas swimming around in my head, I still couldn’t get all the other elements to line up: images, styles, fonts, etc… That’s the thing with design, it’s never really reliable. Who knows when inspiration will strike, and when a design will actually come together in a book cover.

Thankfully, I was able to request a little bit of Kisa’s aid before I restarted my designs. Browsing GoodReads.com, Kisa wrangled together a handful (or two) of already published cover art she felt (in one way or another) captured the Unmoving vibe. I don’t think these mock-ups would have come to be in time had it not been for her hasty help.

Last week I mentioned discussing how to go about acquiring permission to use stock from artists/photographers, however I’m going to hold off on that blog post until a Kisa has finalized a direction, and I know officially what images will be in use. Without any further ado, this week’s blog post:

Mock-Up #1

In addition to using Kisa’s cover inspiration, I happened to stumble upon my own which triggered a (small) bout of inspiration.

Teeth, by Hannah Moskowitz

The grayscale, the slight use of color, the simplicity. Given the stock photo collection Kisa and I gathered, maybe this is a direction I can attempt to pursue, I thought. I think a lot to myself. Sometimes I think it keeps me sane. This helped with my direction. I coupled the Teeth book cover with two Kisa provided as additional inspiration, below.

When the World was Flat, by Ingrid Jonach

 Thin Space, by Jody Casella

I knew upon seeing these two already published covers in addition to Teeth, I knew I could come up with something. And thus began mock-up number one–

A simple, grayscale park bench blurred in the background, with Karma’s necklace dangling off the page to the right (I’m a huge fan of making things extend off the page). Clean, crisp, and at this point I’m hoping Kisa likes something about it. As with any critique, honesty is the best policy. Never feel as if you’re hurting your designers feelings if your honest about not liking something.

^{(Please Note: Kisa’s feedback will be incorporated into next week’s post, as we  continue to refine a direction, or completely scrap both options. So each new iteration will be coupled with the feedback)}

Mock-Up #2

Hunger, by Jackie Morse Kessler

Shadows, by Robin McKinley

Which led me to the second mock-up:

More fantasy, more colors, more movement. More of a full bench is the focal point, along with the light orb texture to tie in the fantasy elements of Kisa’s story. The floral element (the only way I can describe the other overlaid texture) is meant to look blurred/in motion to add to the suspense/distress in the story.

^{(Please Note: Kisa’s feedback will be incorporated into next week’s post, as we  continue to refine a direction, or completely scrap both options. So each new iteration will be coupled with the feedback)}

So, there you have it: the two first initial mock-ups. They’ve been sent to Kisa, and will be modified based on her feedback. Who knows, if she hates them both, we’ll have to evolve one of the other ideas, now backstroking in my mind, into a cover design.

And keep in mind that once a direction is determined by Kisa, I’ll go through the step-by-step process I actually took to create the final cover.

What do you think? How did I translate Kisa’s info-dump from last week in these two designs? Let us know in the comments!