Book Cover Art Odyssey Part Four: in which Aeolus and Aaron Boyd control the Winds
Previousinstallments of the cover art odyssey pulled the curtain back on the designing of my ebooks, The Way through the Woods, and the short story Ashes, Ashes. Kpolly took care of that, with a bit of help from Brian Peterka, and I'm delighted with the results.
However, I wanted to offer a freebie, in order to snag wary shoppers and casual browsers. A few years ago, I wrote a piece of flash fiction called The Verse. I enjoyed writing it a lot, and while it isn't a fairy tale, it is most definitely about believing in magic.
Because the story was so different from the ones I'm offering for sale, I wanted it to have a different look and feel. The protagonist is a little boy, and the story is all about about creating a sense of wonder.
Have I mentioned that I know some immensely talented people? It's true. This time, I asked Aaron Boyd (award-winning book illustrator, artist, bon vivant) if he would be interested in drawing up a little something that I could add to the story. I didn't want a book cover…after all, The Verse isn't a book. I just wanted something to add interest to the text.
Aaron rose to the challenge. Actually, he took one look at the challenge and vaulted over it, creating a gorgeous piece of art that I may have to get framed on general principle.
He read the story, asked me some questions about the characters (and tolerated my typically vague answers: "Whatever you want! It's meant to be open!"), and then sent a sketch of his idea.
Bang. On. That was pretty much exactly what I wanted. Straightforward, simple, but a little magical. And since there were no other considerations for Aaron to negotiate around (space for words, specific sizing, etc.) he could get right to work.
Of course, Aaron (being Aaron) cares about details. He actually changed the rock in the boy's hand based on a photo I sent him of the rock I'd been thinking of when I wrote the story. The final image:
The image was easy to incorporate into the final manuscript, and adds a lot of value to the story. In fact, I'd be overjoyed if people downloaded the story just to get a glimpse at the art in its full glory (but the story's good, too).
A fun coda to this post: About a week after Aaron had sent me the final image, he sent
another
final image, which is the one you'll see when you download the story. In this one, the boy has freckles. And slightly bluer overalls. How awesome is that? Even though I was perfectly pleased with the art, Aaron still went and made it better. If you can find people who show this kind of attention to their craft, I advise you to keep them around.