I have been really lacking with the posts as of late. Mainly because I wanted to wait till something was official. Now I can officially add “Book Cover Designer” to my list of accomplishments!
For many years, my dad has been writing a book. He told me he wanted me to work on the cover. All of a sudden, all those years of writing were coming to an end which meant the designing needed to be as well! I came up with many ideas, sketched out a few and went on a photo hunt.
A friend of mine on Instagram posted from amazing pictures of an abandoned trained covered in graffiti. It was perfect. I asked where he took those photos and he was not helpful in the slightest trying to describe the area. My boyfriend and I tried to find it online to see if we could find a better idea of the location but we got horribly lost while trying to execute those directions. We did a lot of walking that day so it was a good thing I was wearing my FitBit.
Another day, we went to Harvard Square. “The Pit” has some significance in the book so my dad wanted me to incorporate that somehow. I took some pictures but felt a little discouraged due to the amount of advertisements plastered all over the T stations. I had a feeling my dad didn’t want Emma Roberts in her Aerie underwear on the cover of his book but that was just a guess. We walked around and there was a really cool metal elevator outside. I snapped a picture and continued on my way.
This is one of the shots of the elevator. I went home and messed around on Photoshop to create some effects. In the book, there is a bomb that goes off that emits a green gas. I wanted to incorporate the green color but didn’t want it to look forced so I was very pleased when I ended up with what I did. I added the text and ended up with this:
I am SO happy with how it came out. I sent the cover image to my dad and Joe. They loved it. Joe set everything up online and the book was ready to be sold! It was so quick! Then I was wondered about what they were planning on doing with the spine and back. Joe finally responded and asked for me to have the spine and back done in a couple days. It didn’t leave me much time to get more pictures and work things out but I needed to figure it out somehow.
Will continue on part 2. In the meantime, here are the links to purchase my dad’s book!
ELIZABETH FLEMING 