Take a Bow ~by Linda Boulanger

On the heels of a recent announcement that I would be retiring from cover designing, I received notification that one of my designs has reached the Finalist round in the coveted InD'tale Magazine's RONE Awards. So, what's a RONE and why do designers want one? Well, let's look at that...

That's verbatim from the InDescribe RONE Awards site. You can see that they consider the covers to be among the best in book cover designs. A cover has to first be picked from all the covers submitted in a particular time period where it is pitted against other covers. If it makes the cut there in the monthly contest, it is then voted on by the public to decide whether it should be sent to a panel of professional judges who award the prestigious RONE award.

Whew! Just getting to that point where the cover gets sent to the judges' panel is a HUGE honor, and I'm so pleased that Grace Augustine's Secrets of Dalgaard Castle has made it to that level.

It's an awesome story by a wonderful author and the cover is one of my all-time favorite covers to have designed, so I'm super proud of it on many levels. And whether it wins or not, I'm pleased to have been given this opportunity, to be in the running with designers that I am in awe of, and to take a bow on such a positive note as the curtain falls on this particular phase of my life.

This isn't my first finalist badge, and it wouldn't be my first glass trophy from InD'tale if the judges pick my design, but there is the possibility that it could very well be my swan song. I couldn't be more pleased that this honor came at this time.

If you'd like to see the other 2019 RONE Cover Finalists, you'll find them here: https://www.indtale.com/2019-rone-cover-finalists. There are some amazing covers in there with Secrets of Dalgaard Castle tucked in among the Fantasy/Sci Fi category. 

I'd like to end by saying thank you to Grace and to the many authors who have entrusted me with their covers over the years. Giving readers their first glimpse of the story they'll find inside has been such a pleasure. And although I have found myself needing more time to focus on family matters, I also plan to work more on my own writing, so we'll see each other around.

And with that, as Tell~Tale Book Covers, I bid you Adieu.

An Extra Special Cover Design ~ by Linda Boulanger

Last month, I talked a bit about the process that goes into making a book cover fit the story and the personality of the author, an idea provided by one of my author group members. Chris also asked if I had a favorite and why it was my favorite. That has to be one of the hardest questions I am ever asked. Honestly, I love each cover I design. As much as the books are the author’s baby and a part of them, I feel the same way about the covers, so it’s much like choosing a favorite child when they are all different and special in their own way. It’s nearly impossible!

There is one cover, however, that changed a lot of things for me. It’s Julia Mills’ For the Love of Her Dragon. I can’t really tell you what happened. If you read my last blog post, you might remember me mentioning that I have to have inspiration for my designs. This cover was no exception, but for whatever reason, during the design process for For the Love of Her Dragon, something just clicked and I knew it was special. It felt magical, I was excited about it, and I knew this cover was going places.

It did, winning me an official RONE for the Best Paranormal Cover in 2015.

I’ve had my share of award-winning covers, and have also had other covers as finalists in the RONE Awards, but this one earned my first Winner’s Badge and a beautiful cut-glass trophy. Better than that, I felt this cover helped to raise my confidence level and to increase my skills as a designer. It’s one that I can look at still after almost four years and feel that same giddiness I felt the day I designed it.

Making a cover design fit the book AND the author... ~by Linda Boulanger

For this blog post, once again I went to my author group to see what they might be interested in. The majority of them know me as a cover designer as well, so I wasn’t surprised when Chris asked about that. She wanted to know how I come up with my cover designs for different authors and their books, and how I mesh the story line with the book and also the author’s personality or preferences.

The basics of cover design are pretty much the same each and every time.

The process consists of:

1. Gathering information about the story

2. Searching for images that might work (often the longest part of the process)

3. Designing the cover

One thing that I feel makes me different as a designer is that I am what I consider an inspired designer… meaning I have to be inspired to create the piece, just like I do with writing or any other form of artwork. Some designers have their formula and can sit down … 1, 2, 3 … and they have their cover. It’s still work and can be just as time-consuming. I just can’t do it that way, even if I wish sometimes I could.

My process starts by gathering information about the story. I have a questionnaire that I will send an author, though oftentimes I just ask the questions via email. I like having a more informal working relationship because, to me, it’s the best way I know to really dig down and find out what the author wants to see in his or her book cover. That lack of formality also lets me get to know the author and what he/she wants. It creates a friendly atmosphere so that he/she feels comfortable telling me they don’t like something or that they love something, and when they say they love it, I know they really do and we have a cover that is headed in the right direction.

I get a lot of my inspiration from searching through images. I don’t see an image as a whole, but as bits and pieces. It’s kind of like working a puzzle… my mind is constantly taking these bits and trying them this way and that to see how they fit into the creation of a whole new image. Only each piece also has to fit with the information I have gleaned about the story. I think this is what Chris was asking about. How do I gather the information that I use to pull those tiny pieces of the puzzle out to create something that fits together, fits the story, AND fits the author?

 

The answer goes back to that initial email I send back that is filled with … QUESTIONS. Lots and lots of questions. I ask about the book’s characters: hair color and length, eye color, build… anything you can think of about a character, I want to know. I ask about the genre, and also the overall tone of the book. I also want to know if there are any particular scenes that stand out in an author’s mind that would make a reader feel connected. I ask for the blurb, and on occasion (but not often because I am super busy and not a fast reader), I will actually read the book to get a better feel for what the cover needs to convey.

I don’t usually have to read the book. Talking it out (preferably via email so that I have a written copy to look back through for details) is usually all I need and I often start to get a basic cover idea from that very first email. I’ve even conceived a couple of covers in dreams that have ended up being spot on. I love that and say it’s magic. My favorite thing is when an author tells me it’s like I could see the picture they had in their mind.

So, I guess the answer to how I get my cover designs to fit the book AND the author is that every cover I create is inspired by the information I get from each author. Talking a lot with the author, getting a feel for his/her likes and dislikes, and even their personality, or at the least, the tone of the book so that I can grab those bits and pieces of images to put back together in just the right way, is how I make the covers unique for each and every author I work with.

Next month I will continue with the part of Chris’ question where she wanted to know if I had a favorite cover and why. That, along with who is my favorite author, has to be one of the toughest questions I ever have to answer, but you can find out May 5^th, right here on Originality by Design.