Welcome, welcome, everyone! :) For this guest post I asked Linda Belle Whittington(the cover designer of Cicada and Firely and also Ms. Belle Whittington's daughter) to tell us more about the process of designing Cicada and Firefly covers, and here are her answers! :D Enjoy!
Designing the Cicada and Firefly book covers have been labour of love, however, there is no mistaking that it was labour. As some know, I was originally a digital artist long before either books were written. However, Cicada was my first book cover design. Creating these book covers has probably been my favourite project (despite having a VERY demanding client, my mother), but it was a lot of work.
When I say it was a lot of work, I mean there are a lot of things I’ve had to balance that perhaps some might not realize. For instance, I have to keep in mind how one cover will look with the next one so they look cohesive as a series. (Why yes, I have already decided how the third book will look.) Or, I have to consider how to brand the covers as well as the font. Some people don’t even think about how important fonts are! But, just think about all your favourite book covers and try to remember their fonts! Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, and Game of Thrones all these series have custom fonts.
When I first took a stab at the design of Cicada, I tried to keep it very simple, but beautiful. There isn’t a particular scene within the book that inspired the cover. However, I cannot say that the cover is not inspired by a scene that may come to pass in future books (sppoooilers!) For Firefly, the cover is more specific to the book, depicting powers that Blair receives in the story. My revised design of Cicada, which will be revealed on April 1st, I used what I learned from creating both previous covers. I’m very excited to reveal the revised cover, because it reflects my growth as a designer.
As much as I enjoy designing the covers and focusing on the artistic value, tone, texture, colour, and typography, my favourite part of design is creating the book back. Of course, it’s not the first thing that impacts a reader, however, I just enjoy arranging the typography and creating something magical and beautiful to draw the reader in further. To me, my book backs are just as important as a stand alone piece of art as the cover is. I love creating a colour palette and arranging chosen fonts to their optimum readability and visual appeal.
I guess what I love most about these projects, just as I love with all my digital art, is discovering and combining all these small details to create a new piece of art. I enjoy bringing magic and mystery to all the images I create and to be able to do so for a story that my mother wrote is such a joy! I’m lucky that there are such great fans of the trilogy who enjoy our work.
Linda Belle Whittington
Book Cover Designer - Blogger - Broomstick Aficionado
And here you can watch the awsome Firefly book trailer:
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Take a look at that cool firefly jar, one of the prizes! Isn't it lovely? :D
Thank you for stoping by! :)
Ramona
Thank you, Ramona! <3
RăspundețiȘtergere<3 <3 <3
~Belle