The final covers for Dark Harvest came in from the printer on Friday. Jon Foster did the cool and creepy artwork. This was one of those heartbreaking situations where I wish we could have chosen every sketch. Actually, what I really wished was that we could have done a series of interior paintings. In fact, I wanted to go with the sketch we did because the other drawings had a narrative to them more appropriate for interior illustrations not because they were any less interesting. Plus the corn fields are an important image in the book and it was nice to be able to show that. Jamie Stafford-Hill did the design. He mentioned that he enjoyed working on the cover as a whole — letting the reader flip from front to back of the book as a continuous experience.
Looking back on these sketches now, many months after we first needed the cover image for the solicitation comp, and I’m still sad we had to choose one. Wouldn’t these make great panels for a graphic novel. Or storyboards for some kick-ass animation.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Dark Harvest
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6 comments:
Irene, that cover is just beautiful. Jon's really good.
I have to agree... Jon Foster absolutely rocks.
Plus, the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the cover was "Hey, it's good ol' Merv Pumpkinhead form Sandman!" Which got me thinking of how kick-ass it would have been for Jon do something Sandman-related. His active, gestural style could lend itself beautifully to really dynamic and ephemeral depictions of the land of Dream...
They're all great, Irene, but I think it's clear you picked the right one for the final cover.
I thought this might be a graphic novel at first. This looks like a fantastic book and the Foster cover is amazing. I wish more books would come out with interior illustrations (Gene Wolfe's Wizard Knight series, Children of Hurin by Tolkien are two examples I can think of right off the bat that are so much better for the interior illustrations).
Hi Irene:
Just wanted to drop by and thank you, Jon, and Jamie for such a fantastic cover on DARK HARVEST. Just got the flats from Paul Stevens, and this thing looks even better offline, up close and personal on paper. Mucho thanks!
And...interior paintings would have been something. I like the way you think!
All the best,
Norm Partridge
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