Not to stop at time travel and dinosaurs, Ben Wolf has shifted to magic portals, unicorns, and pineapples falling from the sky for his next middle grade series. Once again, I did the typography and Andrew Yong (@jonadrew_ on Instagram) did the incredible artwork.
Definitely be sure to check out both of Ben’s series, with more information on his fully-funded Kickstarter. And don’t forget to check out Andrew’s other work on his Instagram and website!
Ben Wolf is at it again with another book series, this time a middle grade series about him and his son running from dinosaurs after a time travel accident.
The very talented Andrew Yong (@jonadrew_ on Instagram) did the illustration work, while I handled the typography and layout. I highly, highly recommend checking out Andrew’s art page and purchasing some of his prints from his online shop.
I’ve been really excited to share this cover, because it might be my new favorite so far. This is technically my first completed Realm Makers book (what I mean is, the author attends the annual Realm Makers conference where I make many of my author connections). The author wanted a blend between science fiction and fantasy, which is difficult considering they both have entirely different trends in design, particularly with typography. Fantasy frequently has scripted, speculative, or even gothic letters, while science fiction has rigid san serifs with little to no flourish (in general, not by rule).
This is another college student’s senior portfolio project. She asked me to do a drawing of her in the style of Studio Ghibli, which was more challenging than I expected (I forget how insane anime backgrounds are compared to their simple line art characters). But I downloaded a few new Procreate brushes for this project, which saved me a lot of time and stress. Overall, it was really fun to do. I always like learning other artists’ styles for a project.
This is the last college student’s portfolio project of the previous semester. This cover might have upwards of ten photos mixed together, but I’m not sure I can name them all now. It was definitely one of my more heavier-composited covers, since the character on the front was so specific and tied to one of the stories Justin had in his anthology.
I designed this cover for a student at my alma mater. I offer discounts to professional writing seniors who need to compile all their work into a printed book for their capstone project (yes, I help them with their homework…legally). It’s been really enjoyable to do these, and I have a few more upcoming for this semester. I often do the interior designs for these as well, so they’re fun creative side projects that break up my standard workload.
This actually was a dream come true in some ways. In grad school, I did a whole series deliberately focusing on what Red Riding Hood would look like as different genres, so when Jennifer emailed me and asked if I would be willing to do a real Red Riding Hood retelling, (which could can purchase on her website and Amazon) I was stoked.
I got a fun batch of fun speculative fiction covers recently, and this was no exception. Coincidently, I met the author over a local writer’s Zoom call in the middle of the pandemic, then met her in person at the annual Realm Makers conference in St. Louis. For her upcoming collection of short stories, she asked if I would design the cover, which I eagerly jumped at.
When Marty, a jaded maid at a rundown motel, gets stuck in the rain with a young coworker, she resigns herself to a late evening of unwanted optimism, unrealistic dreams, and cheap watercolor paints. But when the conversation shifts to more serious matters, Marty realized she might have misjudged her quirky work partner.
I had a new challenge recently, and for once, it didn’t involve designing a book cover (that was handled by the talented 100 Covers team, whose work you can see below). Instead, I was tasked with creating the interior design for a full-length novel and reflowable ebook—and to match it with its previous book in the soon-to-be trilogy.