Last Summer I thought I’d have my short story book out by early Autumn. I had some beta readers going over it, I’d done some brainstorming with a few people and came up with Seasons of Imagination as a title. All I needed was a cover.
I sat down and did a couple of quick sketches. I liked one idea and decided to draw it out to see how it looked. Over a weekend down on Cape Cod I got out some drawing pens and did a more complete drawing. Here is a phone photo – yeah, the light was bad and such, but you should be able to see the basic design.
I decided that I would use that drawing and took some photos with my good camera (sorry, the pictures were all lost when my computer crashed). After downloading the photo to my computer I “colorized” it by hand in Photoshop. I did several versions, but this is the last one (also at the top of the page).
I had showed Belinda the original drawing and then a more finished version (not the one above). She liked it and asked if she could play with it. Have a great artist improve my image? Yes!
She sent me a few samples back and, yes, they were kinda cool, but… One day I asked her about the line that divides Spring from summer. Her answer was “Line? You mean that line I’ve been working hard to get rid of?” Yes, that line was subtle, but it was the point – all four seasons were to be represented. The drawing is of the four seasons breaking out of the central figure’s imagination. She responded something, “Oh! Hold on, I have an idea…” Two days later she sent “The Drawing”. It was exactly what I was looking for and better than I imagined.
The story doesn’t totally end there, at least not for us. There was the issue of taking her cool drawing and correcting the aspect ratio so it could be used. But we worked through it. As part of that was the decision to put “Short Stories” as a subtitle. Well, not subtitle, but a subscript on the cover. Anyway, I’m sure you’ve seen it, but here is the finished product.
If you look closely you will notice that besides the design layout she used elements of my original drawing in there. It is mostly seen in the mountains. So this was a true collaboration in every sense of the word.
(Note – I like my drawing a lot, but I think comparing it to Belinda’s final shows the difference between me as a dabbler in the arts and Belinda, a true artist. Don’t you agree?)
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Check out the page for Seasons of Imagination, or better yet, go look on Amazon. Here are some links. It is available all over the world, so I can give you links for other sites or you can search Amazon in those countries.
Here are a few links:
Trent's World (the Blog) 
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I have been so absent from blogging… it’s in my Amazon basket :)
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Thanks Solveig! I hope you enjoy it!
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This forms a really neat story, definitely depicts how the imagination springs to life, and then developes through the season.
It was a pleasure working with you! Told you that already but ya know…
Its true.
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It was a pleasure working with you. And I think it’s great that you were able to add layers of meaning to the picture. But it was a collaboration :)
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All I did was turn it into a graphic. It is your artwork. IS your artwork, IS your book, REMAINS now, YOUR book. Call me, cover enhancer. Well done, congratulations.
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OK, chief cover enhancer :) I will remember that. I still think it was a collaboration..
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Think what you want
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What I think is saying “enhancer” totally minimizes what you did. You didn’t “enhance”, Enhance implies you just fixed up what I did. You created something new based on my drawing. Anyway, I placed a new disclaimer at the bottom, something I think is obvious to anyone who actually looks at the pictures, but in case someone misses it. – “Note – I like my drawing a lot, but I think comparing it to Belinda’s final shows the difference between me as a dabbler in the arts and Belinda, a true artist. Don’t you agree?”
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Yup, got it. :)
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Excellent cover, Trent! Thanks for showing how it developed. :-)
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Thanks Karen! I don’t think many authors work as closely with their cover artists so I though it was interesting.
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👍🏻 great cover
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Thanks Charlotte!
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It was interesting to see the process for your cover Trent.
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Thanks
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I really like the finished article and the journey!
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Thanks! I couldn’t be happier with the final cover. I thought people might be interested in seeing how it developed, from a rough hand drawing that I did to the polished end product.
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Excellent
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