I am finished with the latest Farloft Chronicle, A Gathering of Dragons. It has been beta read, proofread by numerous qualified people and is now off for formatting. The hard work is done. Not to say that I don't enjoy writing... that writing isn't my passion... but it is hard. Any author you ask will agree if they are being honest.
Now comes the fun part. I love the process of designing the cover. I don't do the work myself. I leave that to the professionals. This time around I am working with Elizabeth Bailey, formerly Elizabeth Babicz. She picked up the ball on my Shifting series when Sarah Hyndshaw was unavailable to continue. I think she did an excellent job of matching Sarah's original style and even gave it a bit of a boost.
Shifting covers by Elizabeth Bailey
The way the process for creating the cover art starts is by me telling Lizzy a bit about the book and what I envision for the cover. She has already drawn Farloft. She created the original drawing of Snow, Farloft gryphon friend, for other marketing pieces. I told her they were off on an adventure. I thought a drawing of them side-by-side headed out down a road would be just the thing.
This was her first sketch.
I should have been a bit more specific. I liked the background, but wanted the characters larger. I also wanted them to look more realistic this time and less cartoon-like. Moving away from the design of the first six Farloft Chronicles into the next six. She asked for examples.
I sent her some off the internet of art I thought she might emulate. I won't show them here because I don't know the artist to credit them to, but suffice to say the dragons were a lot bigger and the background just a teaser.
I also sent her a picture of Tibet. I liked the stone arches in this photo. There is a chapter in the book where Farloft and Snow go to seek advice from Naza the Wise in the Mountains of Forgiveness at the Temple of the Flying Fans.
This was Lizzy's next sketch.
The characters would wrap around the paperback book, over the spine and onto the back.
I asked about the placement of the title and my name. After all, I do want my name on the cover. We also talked about Farloft's expression. He looked a bit grim to me... almost angry. They're supposed to be pals off on an adventure.
This was Lizzy's revision
I thought this was getting there, but we lost the stone arch, which I really liked. I thought it gave it a nice fantasy look.
Lizzy's revised sketch.
She adjusted Farloft's mouth. I suggested on the next pass she might look at his eye to make him friendlier. She also shifted Snow's head. I liked it back the other way. We'll see who wins on that. I also thought Snow's tail was a little large. He should have a slender cat tail. Lizzy says the writing on the arch can go white or golden in the finished product.
The cover will be completed in time for uploading next month for the promised October 31, 2020 pre-sale date. I'm anxious to see how it turns out. I hope you will enjoy joining Farloft and Snow as they gather numerous diverse dragons to help Farloft defend his kingdom... his family... and his human friends from the invading force.
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