A Book Cover for Poppy

I needed a book cover for A Poppy in Remembrance.

It was the number one priority after the manuscript.

But I’d never been involved in choosing a book cover before–other than affirming ones my publisher offered.

How was I supposed to get one?

Starting with research, of course.

I began by examining sites that discuss book covers–pros and cons, how to find a designer and so forth.

As it happened, the American Christian Fiction Writers association held an auction that weekend to raise scholarship funds.

Two of the offerings were for a book cover.

So, I bid. I won.

Problem solved, right?

Not quite.

Working with a book cover designer

While the book cover designer I worked with had a fine reputation and many covers, our conversation made it clear I didn’t know what I wanted.

I’m very grateful for the time and trouble that the designer went through with me, but his mock-up just weighed me down.

I couldn’t seem to articulate what I wanted and we went back and forth.

“How exciting to choose a cover!”

my sister-in-law said.

I thought about her comment and realized I wasn’t excited at all.

It’s my book. I should get what I wanted. She was right!

But what did I want?

I drew an obviously poor quality sketch and then went hunting on the Internet for photos.

After that, I went to printer, scissors and tape.

And came up with a concept that appealed to me.

Testing the mock-up book covers

I took to Facebook, my writer page and my monthly newsletter and asked my readers to choose one.

(You’ll have to visit my Michelle Ule, Writer Facebook page on July 14 if you want to see the other choice)

What an interesting exercise.

When I tallied up the numbers, after having to explain several times both examples were mockups that would be properly finished, I had a clear winner.

Now, however, with time running out, I had to find an artist.

Fortunately, after asking God for an idea, I remembered a friend of mine has a Bachelor’s Degree in Illustration from Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

Score!

Mary Wyatt Moen of Mary Grace Illustrations was willing to do it.

Harder to prepare than I expected

She went right to work.

Mary checked out books from the library, watched a WWI film series and gave my poor little sketch close scrutiny.

Like many foolish and ignorant non-artists, I underestimated how much work this entailed.

To get a better feel for the project, she needed to find the proper props and ultimately, needed to feel the role for the cover.

Which meant I spent an hour one Sunday taking photos of her–dressed as the cover character!

This enabled Mary to see variations on the shot and catch a glimpse of how best to portray the cover.

It was a lot of fun and while I shot photos, she tried different positions.

Her clothing, taken from vintage clothes she already owned, enabled her to see how they would move in a breeze-which we had that day.

It didn’t take long for her to find a shot she thought would work.

(They all looked alike to me. She caught the details I couldn’t see–like the rim of the glasses).

First pass

Once Mary got an idea for the measurements needed for the size of the book (5.5 x 8.5 inches– I measured off a historical novel I liked), she went to work.

We had a three-way discussion between Mary, the book designer Nicole Miller of Miller Media Solutions and me about which direction the woman should face on the cover.

Nicole pointed out since a reader would want to open the book, the woman should face left.

So Mary drew her facing left.

She first did a preliminary sketch of the whole cover–back cover information would go to the left, obviously.

Here it is:

She referred back to the photos:

She then sought a color palette and presented this:

We all loved it.

But this is a World War I coming of age story. The sky needed to be darker to reflect it wasn’t merely a woman out sketching on a summer day.

We needed drama.

So, she overlaid it with a darker color, giving us this:

Fine alterations

Nicole stepped in again and overlaid the cover with the dimensions. We quickly realized the plane got lost once the white lettering went on the cover.

Mary picked up her paintbrush and lightened the airplane, making it more visible.

That worked.

Looking at the completed work, I’m amazed at Mary’s skill and artistry.

If you look closely, she’s got Claire’s curls blowing in the breeze and the hint of her glasses, too.

She’s wearing the WWI correspondent C armband and Mary made sure her pencil is historically accurate.

It’s so much more than I had dreamed.

I’m thrilled.

Here’s the final cover:

What do you think of her work?

Tweetables

How an artist designed a cover for a WWI coming of age novel. Click to Tweet

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