Basewood Cover Design: Part 6

Last week we saw the four designs that were chosen by my publisher and the tallied votes of my students.  Happily, the two opinions lined up almost exactly.  In the end, the final choice was mine, and even though the "Silhouette" design was the most popular, I decided to go with the "Fire" design instead.

I like the idea of seeing The Great Cliff as well as Basewood right on the cover.  It might not be as action packed, but I feel like it instantly conveys more about the story, and Ben's place in it.

Max encouraged me to do one more revision of the sketch however, to move some of the elements around, and, if possible, to include the dog.  He told me not to worry too much about it not being a "real" moment from the story.  He said, "It's nice to have a dog on the cover!"

I was so burned out at this point, it was really hard to make another sketch.  I kept moving elements around, but everything felt arbitrary.  I kept starting new sketches until eventually I had four going at once!

That one in the bottom right finally developed into the final sketch.  I taped it to my drawing board and sat with it for a few days, making little adjustments here and there.  Then, finally I penciled it.

Honestly, it was such a crazy process getting to this point, I can't even tell if I like this cover.  Going through so many steps really took a lot of wind out of my sail.  I can only hope that it is a stronger cover than my first early attempts, because those would have been the ones I went with as a self-publisher.  Anyway, it is what it is!  No turning back!  Next week I'll show you the inked version.

This weekend is the MoCCA Arts Fest in New York City!  I'll be at table M11 (along the back wall) with my good buddy Jon Chad. Claire and my sister Galen will also be there, so it should be a lot of fun.  If you are in the area, swing on by!  I'll have all five chapters of Basewood for sale, and a new Drop Target zine to boot!