This one has been a long time coming.
The Clearing Cover Reveal!
I am very excited to share this one with you. When I started putting together the DSA back in 2015, I drew little sketches for each cover. Crude stick figure people with a million little notes of what should actually be there even if my artistic skills weren’t up to the task.
Case in point:
Not a bad first step, right? I mean, look at those amazing tree trunks.
(Yeah. I can’t draw. At all…)
Baby steps
In 2016 I took it a step further. I thought I could design the covers using template images and concepts. Seemed simple enough. HA. There is an art behind font selection and a dozen other areas on the cover. Skills I still have yet to learn though I think I’m getting better as time goes on.
Suffice it to say, the cover never materialized the way I was hoping…
It’s not terrible. It definitely had potential but I knew the cover could pop more, that it could be more professional in its presentation.
Improving on the theme
Trial and error was important for me here. Learning what was important for this story was a crucial part in understanding the story I wanted to tell. Putting years into the process might not have been the plan, but it became a vital component to truly understanding the world of the DSA.
Learning the production process was part of this as well. Reaching out and connecting with a talented designer was crucial to the success of the book. And it shows in the final cover for The Clearing.
Nat, over at Marraii Design, did an amazing job capturing the tone and the scene I had in mind for the cover for the first book of DSA.
You’ll have to wait until October to find out what is happening here but it’s the start of something huge. Can’t wait for you to read the first season of what I hope will be your new favorite series.
Plenty more covers heading your way this year and I’ll be talking about specific release dates very soon. Like I said, this project has been fomenting for a long time and it is crazy exciting to finally see it coming together, piece by piece.
Thanks for reading.
