Cover Design Mockup for Crow's Rest

Even though I know I won't have much control over a book cover (unless I self-publish) for my work-in-progress, Crow's Rest, I've been having some fun designing how I would like to see my book represented.

I started with what I didn't want (caveat: I've actually seen these done so well, but they're just not right for my book):

*Girl in a fancy dress (although Avery could totally work a fancy dress, it's not what she would choose)

*Closeups of boy and girl faces (I specifically like to leave how a character looks up to the reader)

*Abstract paint splatters (I'm always, "what does that have to do with the story?" with these)

*Kickass girl in an anatomically impossible pose


So, that means I could either use a photo of the real-life castle that inspired the book, like this one (click on it to view it bigger):





I'd put the title scrawled across the ceiling like graffiti. Or, I could create something different altogether, using some artwork that still includes elements of the book without specific faces. So I came up with this:




I'm not entirely happy with the font, and will probably end up designing my own Celtic-inspired font, with dragon/bat wings coming off the C in Crow's Rest. Bonuses: this looks good in grayscale (like on an e-ink screen) and has a visual pun too (can you find it?).

And this is a really old one that I did



What do y'all think? Do you ever play around with artwork as another interpretation of your story?

5 comments:

Katrina L. Lantz said...

I like both cover ideas, but I lean toward the beautiful photograph with the graffiti on the ceiling idea. The completed mock-up is also appealing, though! Just totally different. Decisions, decisions. Glad you're having fun with it. :)

Angelica R. Jackson said...

Thanks for the input, Katrina! Have you ever seen CrowdSPRING? You say how much you'll pay, give a description of what you're seeking (cover art, wine label, company logo, etc) and all these artists submit designs. There's usually a mix of "that's exactly what I wanted!" and "I never would have thought of that, but it's perfect!"

Katrina L. Lantz said...

Cool! Thanks for the info! I hadn't heard of it, but it sounds like a great thing for indies, which ranks I'm hoping to join soon.

Toni Kerr said...

I vote for the photo also!
I LOVE making covers!! :-) It's a great thing to do when you're stuck in the waiting game... :-)

Angelica R. Jackson said...

The photo as-is doesn't exactly say urban fantasy. I'm thinking I could take out the window and replace it with some crow and dragon graffiti. And can you believe they painted over that tree when they restored the infirmary? I would have stuck some plexiglass over it and painted around it, personally.

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