Now that the cover art for The Primeval has been revealed, I thought it would be a good time to show a little of the behind the scenes process that went into making it.
Amanda and I searched bookstores, Pinterest, and our home library to figure out exactly what kind of covers we liked and why. Then, I shared my basic ideas for the cover with Amanda, who then tried to make sense of it, because I don't have the best sense of visual aesthetics.
Next, Amanda got into sketch mode. She made several very small thumbnails and shared them with me. I told her which ones I liked most and why. Then she'd make a few more thumbnails based on my comments, combining some of the things I liked and adding new twists. We'd repeat this process with the sketches getting bigger and more detailed each time until we had the idea for the layout of the cover.
Then she got to work painting. Amanda used watercolor paint for this cover, and then just used digital tools to add the title and things like that after.
Eventually, the art was finished and then we had to add the barcode and other necessary but not exactly artistic finishing touches.
Then we were ready to go. Working very closely with an artist to create a cover has been a great experience that I know isn't often something a writer is able to do.
I put some of Amanda's sketches in a picture below. Sorry that it's not a larger or higher quality picture, but if you are interested in prints, or the original artwork itself, it will be for sale at events or possibly through the website soon. Stay tuned for updates on that front.
