Getting Art

Sorry for my hiatus on this subject.  I ran into some problems behind the scenes with my cover art design, namely the orginal designer has been pretty much incommunicado.  But!...I'm now very pleased to report I've found another designer and we've been very busy working on the cover art design for P2PC.

And even more exciting?  My designer is a Skiffy Rommer!  You can see Nathalie Gray's books on her website. And you can see her wonderful portfolio of covers on her artist site, Kanaxa.  I discovered her cover talent quite by accident when I stumbled upon an interview done by an author with cover art she'd designed (via my Google search for "Science Fiction romance").  I took a look at her online portfolio and I was sold!  I emailed her explaining the situation and she said she would be very happy to work with me on my cover design.  (Woooooot!)

Just to clarify, P2PC has not yet been sold.  The cover art is mainly for a site I'm designing for and about the novel.

As I previously mentioned, I hope to "unveil" the cover art on this blog, once it's complete.  This artwork will be used on a new blog I'm setting up for P2PC (or the final title, whatever it may be).

So here's where we are in the process:

Step 1
I summarized my ideas for layout designs and sent the ;images of three book covers that I really liked, why I liked them, and a few possible ideas how the design concepts might be used for the P2PC cover.  Ultimately, though, I'm leaving the design up to the expert.

Step 2
Nathalie asked for specifics on the story time frame, setting, main characters, tone or mood, ships, weaponry, other details, etc.  I sent a collection of images I'd compiled of my three MCs, ideas of Specter's design and several excerpts to illustrate scenes from the story, such as MCs first encounter with the ship, with Zjel (major character) and with Drea (female MC) and other scenes that illustrated the characters, their dress, traits and interaction.  We also discussed some ways of showing the characters without showing actual details of their faces hopefully without chopping off heads or turning the character's back to the reader.  (This isn't a do or die necessity.  I'm leaving that up to Nathalie.) I also sent some art resembling my mental images of Specter and details of her design.  Since cover art is meant to reflect the general tone, mood, setting and elements of the story, I know the cover won't be exactly like what I'm picturing in my head.  I'm very excited to see the end result but I told Nathalie to take her times.  I'm not working under any deadlines here.

Step 3
Nathalie wanted clarification on one very important point on my cover ideas.  My thoughts were that the two MCs and Zjel (a very major character) should be equally represented on the cover.  Nathalie suggested that this treatment on the cover would imply the story was a menage a trois, which P2PC definitely is not.  So I "rethunk" my ideas, and gave further input on possible ways to portray the two MCs and the major character without suggesting the story involves a menage.

Step 4
Now we're cooking.  Nathalie informed me she's zeroed in on the the ship, the hero and Zjel, but she's still working on Drea (female MC).  She wants a character that says "captain."  I couldn't agree more.  Meanwhile, I'm working on ideas for the backcover blurb.

And that's where we are to date.  We've covered a lot of ground in the last couple of weeks.  It's been a true joy working with Nathalie every step of the way, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the final product.

Now it's my turn to get to work on the back cover blurb.

Stay tuned for more on my Getting Art series.