A Cover Story

I spent the Covid lockdown hiking the park trails around our lake, trying vegetarian curry recipes, and illustrating a picture book for author and educator JoAnn Nocera. Unlike traditional publishing, where there is often no communication between the author and illustrator, working on an independently published book can be a highly collaborative experience. Here’s a glimpse of the process, focusing on how JoAnn and I developed the book’s cover.

Round 1: January-March 2020

The project was originally pitched as companion to JoAnn’s Give Me Back My Crayons. In this first cover mock-up I set JoAnn’s messy, perpetually curious heroine against a brighter version of the adult book’s dark teal cover. But the background still felt too dark for a picture book cover, and JoAnn found the crayon color palette artificial.

Round 2: April-May 2020

By spring we had a new working title, and antique keys had replaced crayons as the visual motif. JoAnn sent me a palette that underscored the heroine’s connection to the natural world. But grafting these changes onto the original Creativity Tree made the cover busy and unfocused.

Round 3: June 2020

We returned to my early concept sketches. JoAnn loved my study of Katherine Grace posing before her mirror.

I dashed off a couple rough designs, one full-bleed, another with the image vignetted.

Round 4: July-December 2020

By now I was deep into the book’s interior art. JoAnn turned completing the cover over to the design team at her publisher, Inspired Girl Books. I provided a color final of Katherine Grace on a transparent background. The designer lifted additional spots from the interior spreads (this is where it helps to deliver layered digital files) and added a pink background wash.

Here’s the printed cover.

It truly takes a village to produce a children’s book.