Finishing the cover art for Summer Storm, it seemed reasonable in a terribly obvious way, for the following book to be something about winter.  Trouble was I didn't have a suitable photograph of New York with obvious wintery elements (i.e.: snow) but I did have several photos of Pittsburgh with snow.  There is still enough of the old "rust-belt" architecture around Pittsburgh to substitute for an industrial area of New York of the pre-war era.  This image reminded me of the area of upper Manhattan just before you hit the Bronx river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we have the image of Riordan in his overcoat and hat (and gun, of course).   If I had a studio, I'd say this was a "studio" shot, but it's more like an "apartment shot:" right in front of the door to my apartment in Jersey was the only place that I could take a full-lenght shot of a figure.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here, then, is the "first pass" at combining the images: a simple superimposition of the figure on the background.  While it's O.K., it's not quite what I'm looking for.  I want to "sell" the winter a little more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part of the "sell" is adding some distance and "atmosphere" to the background -  in this case, taking the original photo of the street and blurring it out.  This is then laid on top of the original photo with portions made transparent so that some of  the image is now blurry, and some still sharp, so that we get the idea of fog or some humidity hanging in the air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                    Which gets us this then:

 

The background has some interest to it and Riordan stands out more.  Still, that's not all I want.  Riordan standing out in front of the background is good as far as it goes, but I do want him to appear as if he's part of the scene, and I like the idea that it's still snowing.  The next thing is to add some of that: falling snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                               

  

More atmosphere then: something that is remeniscent of falling snow, with a bit more "fog" kicking up low.  This is one of those times where I get to fabricate with just pixels some element of the finished composition.  My photographs taken when snow is still falling don't look like much - just blurry somethings that might be snow or crap on the lens.  The idea then is to craft something that "says snow" - what some might refer to as having versimilitude.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we're getting somewhere: Riordan still "pops" from the background, but with the additional snow and fog in front of him, he still stays in the scene.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All well and good so far, but what about the rest of the cover?  The conceit I had established on the first couple of book covers was to have the images and blurb copy on a background of color blocks that defined the

extent of the cover rather than having the images simply

run to the edge.  Riordan's covers trended blue, and for

a story set in winter, I chose less saturated blues.

Plus, for a little more punch I've added "pin lines" atop the color blocks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here then, is the result thus far:  Riordan in a snowy industrial area, with space for titles and other copy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The real trouble I have with these images is the copy: the blurb that describes what the book is about and the part of the project that I belabor more than making the illustration for the cover.  Actually, the imagery is usually pretty easy by comparison.  One of the things I did on Roesville and tried to keep up was tying the first and last lines of the blurb copy so that a quick glance would pick out something essential before reading the copy in the middle ("Beautiful but Troubling -- Very troubling," for instance).  Unfortunately, I haven't made it work every time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other conceit I established on the first couple of projects was an image on the back of the book, that is either a continuation of the front or something that relates to the story.  Of the photographs that I did have of New York with snow were a few of Central Park, one of which suited to becoming a "postcard" image - like the kind you can pick up in the countless souvenir stores in Manhattan.  Also something I haven't kept up with, but my imagined story lines keep getting more involved.  Course that saves me the trouble of trying to figure out what should go on the back, though I do miss those a litte.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add postcard and a "spine shot" and you have yourself a book cover.

 

 

 

                                         

 

 

One of my co-workers the summer of 2011 wondered about seeing some of the pieces-parts that I manipulate in putting together one of these book covers.  As stated elsewhere, my goal is to create something that doesn't show-off that it's actually different bits 'n' pieces - so I actually wondered myself if I wanted to do a "behind the scenes" look at the parts. 

 

Well, it aint like melding the elements of the space battle around the second Death Star, but here you go: a look at the pieces that I combined to make the cover for Winter's Chill.