Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Making of a Cover (Part 2)

In the coloring stage I wanted the focus to be on the shepherd and the bird, so I faded out the castle to the background, and made the bird the only object on the cover with warm colors. As a result, the viewer's gaze should go from the bird to the shepherd to the sheep to the castle. Let me know what most attracts your eye.

I also faded the edges and put an old parchment background in place behind it.

For the letters I used "Papyrus" again but I stacked three of each letter together to give it a thicker look.

Then I shaded them in.

And, here it is, the final temporary cover for "The Shepherd." Click on it for the full view.

20 comments:

Josiah English said...

That's pretty sweet, Parker. Good work!

Jare said...

Awesome job on it, I like how you did it and the letters are really cool.
Color is great too.

Unknown said...

Neat! That's exactly what my eyes did - they went from the bird, to the shepherd, to the sheep, to the castle. The picture looks so professional.

By the way, thank you for becoming a follower of my blog! Just wondering, how did you find it?

~Just*Flinn~ said...

That is so neat! I love to write, and have been working on a book for some time now...but I'm afraid it isn't that amazing or anything. This is so interesting!

Jacob R Parker said...

Glad you guys like it, and thanks for the comments everyone!

Brianna: I'm pretty sure I found your blog through enterthedoorwithin.blogspot.com

Leah said...

Wow! I really like that one. Thank you for your comment on my blog. :)

Hannah Nicole said...

It turned out pretty cool! Nice going!

When you have time, come check out my new post, it has some of my drawings up on it.

Blessings,
Hannah

JTN said...

Hey JR
read your book excerpt, didn't see a place to comment on it before, so I thought I'd do it here. :)
Thanks for you comments on my excerpt, I'll definitely take a look at what you pointed out!
I really liked your prologue and first chapter, I spotted just a couple of typos, but relatively minor stuff. Just from reading it seems like you have a really good grasp of the English language and it's subtleties. (I think that's spelled right.) Probably a better grasp than I have. ;)
I do like your cover as well, I'm not talented enough to do something like that! :)
JT

Danielle Diez - Maiden of Emmanuel said...

That's really cool! I wish I had that kind of skill... o_O lol

~Bookie

Hannah Leigh said...

Hi! I found your blog on Calico Zak's. :)
I like the cover, it's really neat! I like writing stories, too, although I've never gotten around to publishing any of them. I'll have to try and read yours when I get the chance.

Great blog!

In Christ,
~Miss Rose

Brandon Barr said...

Hi Jacob,
That's cool your doing the artwork on your own book!
So your in the process of trying to find an agent and get the book published eh? Excellent. Do you have plans to keep writing more books?
It can be a long process getting published, but it's very rewarding.
I currently have one book out published by Silver Leaf Books, and two more books that my agent is shopping to various Christian publishers.

Jacob R Parker said...

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Brandon: Actually, this is just a temporary cover for my manuscript when local people want to read it. Hopefully the potential publisher would be able to come up with a better cover.
As far as finding an agent, right now I'm looking around, trying to figure out the best way to jump in.
I definitely want to write more books. I'm working on some outlines right now.
Also, I looked at your book and it looks like a cool concept.
Thanks for stopping by!

Josiah English said...

Parker,

Thought I'd mention one agent that I considered looking into when beginning the process of hunting down a publisher: www.maassagency.com. I also thought I'd mention that www.tatepublishing.com (my publisher) might be a good place to send your manuscript depending on what you are looking for. Email me if you are interested in sending it to them, as I can give you a few pointers about them, etc. (redwallfan91[at]gmail[dot]com)

Most people advise you buy a book on the subject, with lists of agents, etc. I never got that far, but I might know a few things from my research into the business. Shoot me an email if you've got questions. It's a fun and exciting process, but also very nerve-racking at times.

Cheers,
J. William

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's great!
The sample from your book was very good too. :)

Blessings,
Courtney

Jacob R Parker said...

Thanks William,

I really appreciate all the info from someone who's gone through that process, and I'll be sure to e-mail you with any questions.

Jacob R Parker said...

Thanks for visiting, Courtney!

Author Scott Appleton said...

Hi J.R. this is author Scott Appleton. I've seen your comments on my blog and this is my third visit to your site. I own the publishing company Flaming Pen Press and I am most intrigued by your work. Next year my company will grow to publish one other author. I am not promising acceptance, but I like your cover and the sample I read of your story. Flaming Pen Press is only accepting submissions by invitation. I would like to extend an invitation to you to contact me via email spappleton@gmail.com My publishing house is small, but we hold high standards for the writing and art. Anyway, the invitation is there if you are interested.

Courtney Diles said...

That is so cool. I'd love to do something like that with my book, but my drawing skills want for very very much. Nice job! When I opened up to your blog and saw the cover, I got ticked off for a second. Thought you lied to me and were already published. =P
~Courtney D.

Jacob R Parker said...

Courtney: Thanks for the kind comment. I can see how opening the page to see a book cover (an attempted one, anyway) would be a little strange. Haha.

Leighton said...

Hey, I love your book.

I think you've seen some of the 3D artwork I've done for my video game (which is totally cartoon and not even attempted realism), and thought maybe you'd be interested in me doing a cover.

I don't know what S. Appleton would think of that considering if he's publishing you he'd probably get it done by some one at a company, but hey?