So spill: why so many book covers?
"Why so many book covers?" Because, taken across the sweep of the series, these pieces of pixel art describe the better part of a whole arc of story. What you, the viewer, do beyond that better part I leave up to your imagination (more on that later). I have heard authors proclaim in interviews that stories are kind-of just out there, waiting to be put to paper, as if the author is only a conduit. Other artists have made similar observations, and I'll agree with them to a certain extent; sometimes the ideas are just there, and I simply must make them manifest (see the section below entitled "On 'The Inspiration' ") However it happens, once I had Roesville and Riordan in Hell, others simply kept coming. They became a desired creative outlet.
As to that first one, Roesville came about because I just wanted to "do something" (which impulse has inspired several more covers - even whole new series'): I had photographs, I had the computer, I had a Saturday at home. O.K.! Once I had the basic image crafted - guy with a hat and a gun standing in front of houses - I saw that the layout I had constructed would work as book cover art, and I kept going in that vein.
I also believed, when the name Jake's Book Covers popped in to my head, that there were more book covers as a group than other kinds of photo-illustrations. At the time I bought the rights to the domain name the books and movie posters were actually the same in number. Subsequently, the book cover images have taken me far far away from movie posters, and now they outnumber everything else by far. I also don't fancy paying for another domain name, at least not for the art; clearly After Dreiser is another domain name, but it's an entirely different pursuit. ANYway, Jake's Book Covers is also kinda' stupidly simply appropriate, don't ya' think?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the Straight-Up Photographs
Yes, all the "straight-up" photographs have been run through the computer. Why? Becuase, that's the way digital photographs are processed. I don't think I'm far wrong in saying that most photographs that you'll see have been processed in a darkroom, either in a dark room with an enlarger and smelly chemicals, or in the electronic version of that. The image contained on the negative, or on the circuit board, is not necessarily what the photographer-artist wants the finished image to look like; Ansel Adams, upheld by many as one of the preeminent photographers in history, changed his finished images with successive printings, always looking for that elusive, subjective quality of "right." Where these photos are concerned (and, no, I'm not comparing myself to Adams!) I did what I thought was needed to render an image that was "right." How contrasty? How saturated? Is the sky too green? Does the detail read? That's what the processing is for: to get to a photograph that conveys the image that is "right."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Props and Costumes and Settings
Sometimes it's a matter of pulling something from my collection of "stuff"; items of clothing pulled from my closets (my poor, overstuffed closets!). Sometimes I go buy something specifically to get the photograph I want (and of course then stuff into one of the poor overstuffed closets!). The camera held by the photographer in the Tiahuanaco poster, for instance: I purchased that specifically because there is only one kind of camera that looks like that and would be right for the year I've attempted to portray. The white suit pieces I already owned (too bad they don't look so good up close and in person any longer).
The weapon that Ainsley Keegan carries on three of her book covers was a prop that I had crafted for the simple joy of doing it. When I started working on that first Keegan cover, The Long Highway, it was standing there in the corner, so I used it. (Keen-eyed observers will have noticed that it is the same weapon carried by the un-named male Operative in the Plausible Deniability series of movie posters.) Other props are frequently things that I've tucked away in a corner, up on a shelf, or stashed in a desk drawer because "well, one of these days I might need it," so like the overstuffed closets, I have uncountable bits and pieces and things that I've picked up somewhere with an eye to its eventual utility.
The settings are sometimes "pulled" from my own collection; in addition to taking photographs of scenes or things that I just find attractive to the eye, I will also shoot for possible use in future. It's to the collection that I will turn first when searching for a suitable grounding, but if those pictures prove lacking for some reason, I will happily go in search of options.
As noted on that page, what became a movie poster called Into The Maelstrom used photographs taken on a trip to The Cloisters, the medieval collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan; the reconstituted architecture just "had that certain something" that fit with the idea. On the other hand, for In the Gloaming, I wanted a shot of a rock, and from a certain perspective, which I did not possess. Ergo, I stepped out behind my apartment in Jersey one Saturday morning and crouched in the Passaic river for twenty minutes or so taking photos of that rock from different angles until I was sure I could use one of them.
The various images backing up any of the Ether Dreadnoughts use both already-shot and specifically-shot backgrounds. Noted at the end of Page 3 of the Alexi Sokolov series, for a series of images that purported to display a fleet (or at least a contingent of a fleet) of aerial battleships I needed views that could be construed as having been taken from "on high." I had got by using photographs taken from above Pittsburgh, above Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and even above the Purdue University campus, some of which I took because I liked the scene, and some of which were taken with a Dreadnought in mind. But the elevation of any of those was pretty low, compared to what I imagined a floating fleet of ships would maintain as an operational altitude.
I did seriously consider using the services of one of Indianapolis' local charter helicopter companies to gain the height I wanted for my lens, but the cost would have been pretty steep for about 30 minutes of flying time, even if I'd gone in with another paying passenger or two. Fortunately, my visit to the Observation Deck of the One World Trade Tower solved the problem nicely. At over a thousand feet above the Hudson River, one can see the mountains of Pennsylvania (yep, all the way across New Jersey!) Long Island Sound, and a fair swath of the Atlantic Ocean out beyond the Narrows. Plus, while the tower obviously remains stationary in Lower Manhattan, the view encompasses 360 degrees one can circuit at leisure (while of course being patient with the other visitors, many of whom are busy taking "selfies" -- selfie-absorbed?).
It occurred to me, looking out from there, that I was standing some 400 feet higher than where I sit now typing this.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Writing
No, I'm not going all Stephen King now, or doing like any of a number of other authors that have had books on their craft published; no, rather it's that "penning" all the language on the jacket blurbs and poster copy can be, well, almost painful. Which is another reason I've garnered a measure of enjoyment in producing images - I've tried to write in the past, but the results have always been found, um, wanting. So now I'm doing a "photo/graphic novel" -- right, we'll see how well that works!
Lately the writing of those blurbs has gotten a little easier, as I continue an established series, even predating the image as I ponder where the story should go. I say a little easier because getting just the right words in to that relatively small space and have it say something that advances the idea can still be a grind.
And those blurbs do have to advance the story in a particular way. Tying back to the previous book cover blurb just enough to account for what was not specifically mentioned before, and setting up what is supposed to happen next, without, in fact, writing the novel. I have had to be wary of iteration from cover to cover, which pitfall has necessitated rewrites in a few instances; and as the whole effect of the illustration has proposed to mimic a real book cover, the blurb necessarily must explore just enough, not retell the novelist's efforts that would ordinarily be within that jacket.
Of course in this case, it is the series of illustrations and blurbs that are telling the story, which is all the more reason for crafting the paragraphs with as much care as crafting the picture. Hell, sometimes the image comes off so easily that I'm chagrined at how long it can take to write the back cover exploration!
Oy vey.
But as for making images:
On Making Images
From the time I was old enough to hold up a pencil, I was looking for an outlet to some artistic urge. For the many years subsequent, I continued the attempt to follow the footsteps of other artists - I took the art classes, I did the assignments, and while the results were never as wanting as my attempts to write, they were, however, never quite what I wanted to convey. Some were actually pretty good, considering my earlier ages, but still ---
In retrospect, one of the things that was a problem for me was that I could not overcome the discipline problem: I was not quite good enough with pencil or paint to produce what I wanted, so I was not consistent in the application, therefore the end results continued to be lacking. The old circle.
Then the "Eureka!" moment. Or a series of realizations, actually. As I began to "play around" with digital images, I found that the interest in doing so did not abate with the passage of time - it was not just a novel way to pass time, as with a Christmas toy left in the yard after a few days or weeks - the interest not only continued, but grew.
I also was discovering that the pictures, the photo-illustrations that I was able to craft, were much more to my liking as finished pieces than almost anything I had done with pencil or paint. It felt like this was the medium I had longed for, though I could hardly have known such when I began longing, since there were no personal computers then, let alone programs that allowed users to do photo-manipulation! That's right younguns, when I was a kid, there were only, like, six or seven television stations to watch - and that in the L.A. area - and most people didn't have microwaves - course we called 'em radar ranges then, and they were damned expensive! As for carrying your computer around in your pocket? Well, that was on Star Trek, not on a trek to the beach!
ANYWAY - as my comfort with such means grew, as I did my best to improve the finished pieces, I was also realizing that I could, in fact, tell a story with images, some with text superimposed as well. No, not the whole story, but that's O.K. There's something I find appealing in the notion that I can begin a tale, guide the viewer a little way, and then allow them, if they're willing, to imagine the rest. Anyone that so desires can weave their own version - a friend of mine looked at that first poster for Maelstrom and remarked "That will only end in tears!" Just the sort of reaction I wanted.
So, as with the work I've done in the theatre, this work becomes that fabled "two-way street:" it might be pretty good in-and-of itself, but without an audience, it's just mastur -- um, self-indulgent.
All the more reason to put this stuff up on the web. Maybe it will have an audience. And I won't just be -- well -- enough said on that topic!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On "The Inspiration"
Who can say, really, what that is? As noted above, sometimes it seems that the - whatever - is just "out there" and the author/artist is just a conduit.
There are instances where I can at least trace the beginnings of the inspiration. The series Plausible Deniability was sparked by the sentence "Some decisions are irrevocable." Now, where that sentence sprang from exactly I don't recall (something to do with whatever had just happened at my job); I know it was late afternoon, I was at work at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and I was walking out in the parking lot, when the words crossed my mind - and stuck there. Almost immediately, the imagery followed: flames! destruction! gallant if perhaps doomed action! After the first three (Blowback) posters were done, the inspiration struck to fold-out the story both before and after, with the resulting nine images displayed here.
The inspiration for Witch: Hunter, the most recent - O.K. the only recent - movie posters I've crafted was just exasperation. There have been witches in pop entertainment for a long long time, and some of them have even been "the good guys," but it seems that all too often they are portrayed as evil incarnate. They are concocting something to do great harm to humanity; they are in league with Satan; they are leading innocent children to their doom; blah blah blah blah ad nauseum. I watched the preview for the Vin Diesel movie, The Last Witch Hunter, and just had to sigh and roll my eyes - and resolved to do something as a kind of answer to one more drum-beat of "witches = evil."
While we may never know really what "witchcraft" was in the long ago, we can be fairly sure that there have been shaman, sooth-sayers, and "wise ones" since humanity was aware enough to name itself. That some of these elders might have inspired later religionists in their ideas of "witches" is possible, I'd guess, and that they would be portrayed as "evil" is quite likely since those shaman didn't come along quietly to kneel before the Cross, face Mecca, or adhere to any other usurping convention.
I'd sooner believe that those shaman, or wise ones, or maybe witches, were likely far less inclined to "evil" than the general population, as their trust was to the common good - it was part of the "job description," if you will, to help the tribe or the settlement. Sadly, the last few years have also shown that some local "witch doctors" will bend their potential clients in some very bad directions. Witness the maiming or even killing of albino people in some African communities because someone said that the non-pigmented skin/body parts/what-ever has "magical properties." What shit.
Never-the-less, while my answer to the movie concerns the actions of a more pop culture-styled witch with "magic powers" and what-have-you, the idea behind it stems from that idea of a shaman or witch who used her powers for the community weal - and only went ultra-defensive when attacked.
As noted above: verbose!
The cover image for Hamish Riordan's Terminal Harvest was, I'll admit, a direct response to reading Stephen King's Dark Tower series again. I simply wanted to have my own "gunslinger," but I couldn't help myself folding him in to the worlds I had created. There's more concerning this at the bottom of that page. It's worth noting, perhaps, that the idea of the gunslinger was such that Riordan is actually in the secondary position on this cover.
In terms of "wider inspirations," I, like everyone, have been absorbing stuff since I was old enough to get something out of the world around me, even if I didn't really understand it all. Art, music, books, T.V. and film, radio - all that shi-- um, stuff we're exposed to all the time. A short list of those inspiring me includes, but is certainly not limited to: Alphonse Mucha, Maxfield Parrish, Adam Hughes, Joss Whedon, Ridley Scott, Roman Polanski, Stephen King (no kidding!) Stephen R. Donaldson, James Ellroy, Crowded House, XTC, Shostakovich - I could probably go on but this is supposed to be the short list.
Some specific inspiration came from Jack Green (ASC), Director of Photography for Joss Whedon's Serenity. While working on Sheppard's Ghosts I recalled a comment from Whedon that Green was ". . . not afraid of his blacks . . . of negative space . . . of shadows . . ." and as I was putting together the images that comprise the section of Ghosts surrounding Bering's demise, I "went there:" darks and shadows. I wanted the contrast, the focus, the drama, the questioning: "Is something hiding in the dark?" It wasn't easy, either: all the original photographs for those images were shot either during daylight hours, or under strong light in a "studio" setting - and getting a daylight illuminated building to look mostly right for night-time is much more involved than simply making the image darker.
When I started working on the Fiona Rodeweil series, I had no good idea where that story-line would go. Part of the inspiration for the framework is from Stephen R. Donaldson's Gap series, and also partly from Ridley Scott's Prometheus. In both, there is a large company that has moved forcefully out into space: The United Mining Companies and Weyland Corp. (later Weyland-Yutani in the Alien-entitled films) respectively. I see a similar scale of expansion in Rodeweil Corp, though not the sort-of ego-drive behind it.
O.K.
If you are truly interested in "maximum verbosity," whether from genuine interest in my mental conjurings or because you are secretly a word-masochist, you can click on this link, and go to a page that I've devoted entirely to "why" the Earth's Future Series exists: On the Origin of Australis
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Cheddar:
Yes, cheddar, as in cheese. Preferrably Irish cheddar - the kind that's dry, crumbly, artisanal, made in smaller batches, and goes so well with apple slices, crusty bread, and a little pot of olive oil. That's a snack!
Though I won't scoff at Pop-Tarts.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And if you haven't seen the link in other places, I've dedicated a page of this site to a spit of the Jersey Shore:
Sandy Hook. Part of the National Park Service's Gateway National Recreation Area, it has been one of my favorite places to visit, and to photograph. Many of my photo-illustrations have used photographs taken there.
