Book Cover Art Chapter 4: More Mocking

This week’s post in the Book Cover Art series is exciting for me as a designer, because I’m able to show you in a side-by-side view how we use feedback to incorporate and transform the design. As promised, I’m going to recap Kisa’s thoughts on the original cover mock-ups from Chapter 3, and then give you a chance to catch the subtle, and not so subtle, updates in with the new version. The mock-up and revise process can consist of many rounds, but for the sake of this series we’re only showing one round of changes, although Kisa and I have gone through a couple more to get to a more final design. Next week we’ll debut that final, and jump right in to a step-by-step tutorial on how the cover was created. We’ll provide all the stock and styles so you could practice and create the Unmoving cover yourself. Follow along, and let’s have some fun! 🙂

Mock-Up #1

Feedback points from Kisa:

• Can the necklace be more prevalent, maybe with a chain interacting with the text?
• Add the filigree from mock-up #2 to mock-up #1, faintly in the corners
• Increase the title, and move it up more.

Overall, Kisa’s feedback was very positive regarding mock-up number one. I think there was even an “I love this!!!” somewhere in the email, which is great! But, it also makes it more difficult with the second mock-up. I made somewhat of a mistake sending Kisa this mock-up first, while working on the second. It allowed her to only focus on the design in front of her, develop a love (or hate) relationship with it, and then hold the second to a higher standard. I would recommend in the future sending all mock-ups at the same time, to give a fair comparison of both, and against one another. Fortunately for me, Kisa has an artistic background, and didn’t let the appeal of mock-up #1 get too much in the way of discussing mock-up #2 😉

Back to the covers…

The contemporary, faint feel of this cover would stand on its own on a bookshelf, and captured many of the main elements of Unmoving, so overall she was pleased with the direction. I took her feedback and requests, and got to work. To the left is the original, to the right is the updated mock-up #1 (let’s call it mock-up #1.2):

 ^{Note: I began to play with the font, but didn’t complete this round of revisions. The same with the chain– since these are just rough mock-ups I didn’t take the time to shade/accentuate a 3D effect on the chain.}

Mock-Up #2

Feedback points from Kisa:

• Portland is very lush (constant rain) so the dirt below the bench feels out of place.
• Try something more along the lines of a gray pallet similar to the first mock-up.
• Apply the same styles but with an image we’ve referenced before, in Chapter 2.

As I expected after sending mock-up #1 first, mock-up #2 wasn’t received with as much excitement with the first already so loved to begin with. Kisa had a little more of a clear direction to take this design, which as always is helpful on my end. Overall, Kisa liked the styles of Mock-Up #2, but with Mock-Up #2.2 she wanted to try a new, lighter image.

Quite a different change, isn’t it? But you can still see how these two designs fall within the same vein: a more prominent bench, a fantastical overlay texture, movement bringing your eye around the design, etc… I’m actually much more pleased with round two of this mock-up, than the first– proof that a design continues to get better and better with collaboration, edits and multiple rounds of reviewing.

 

We’ll unveil between Mock-Up #1.2 and Mock-Up #2.2 what direction Kisa picks (and together we finalize) in next week’s post. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments below, or Tweet at us @REUTSpub. I have a favorite, and I have a feeling I know which one Kisa favors, but let us know what you would do, and which you’d pick if you were in her shoes. Maybe you can sway her opinion 🙂

Remember, next week we’ll get into the cover creation, meaning over the course of two or three posts I’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of recreating this cover. You can practice and practice the techniques I’ve used, and maybe apply them to your own cover in the future. It’ll all begin with the Stock Permission Request mentioned way back when, and how to deal with copyrighted stock.

Have a fantastic rest of the week, everyone!