Spent almost all day on this back cover for CRISIS COMPANY!!
Combination of watercolor backgrounds, photo of the bubbles as well as drawing and graphics.
So here it is and tomorrow everything for INSIDE A WISH and CRISIS COMPANY go off to the printers!! Hopefully we got everything right this time and we can go LIVE as soon as I get the Proofs!!
Let’s start with the AWESOME Logo! I LOVE it!! Thanks again for the expert and amazing work by Jacob to turn Chuckles into a real logo –
And here is my first try at the back cover for Crisis Company. Pretty happy with the ideas but not polished up yet.
Tomorrow, with some of that expertise from Jacob, I hope we can create something wonderful from this first try!
And then – off to the printers! Hoping we got everything right this time and can go LIVE soon!
FINALLY happy with this one. I painted the backgrounds for my name and the title with watercolors and added the real brads (the stars and studs) before scanning. The background is a cropped and edited photo I took with our bubble machine in June!!
Comments and suggestions are always welcome!
This is what I have written for the “product description” of the paperback edition on Amazon:
Although there is a strict “no pet” rule at home, Pete earned his nickname, the Piper, from all the furred and feathers friends who happily follow him everywhere.
There are foul-mouthed birds and poor neglected dogs desperately needing homes. Pete wants to save them all.
But how can he? Things are going so badly at home the cupboards are bare!
Despite everything, Pete is determined to help everyone. His methods are strange and the results are often even stranger.
Enjoy the fun of flying friends who just might drop a cold water balloon on your head, furry friends who sing Christmas Carols, as Pete helps his father reach his dreams.
And maybe, some of Pete’s dreams come true too!
Comments and suggestions are very welcome! Thanks!
Thought I would share how things are NOT going with my idea. One day I hope to take a photo of a person with a real amazon grey parrot for the cover. Until then, I shall return to using the bubble photo for the front, make a few tweaks to the text, and finish off the back cover.
If I spend any more time on this, I will never get CRISIS COMPANY printed!
So here’s my attempts at Pete and Loopy:
(Note: Because of the extreme contrast, the pencil sketch of Loopy does not show up very well).
Pete’s skin color went very badly on this one. I tried a combination of colored pencils and markers (both artist quality) but it just got worse the more I tried.
I was rather sad about leaving this drawing though because Pete’s ears were really good! lol
Pete’s skin color looks much more human but his eyes and eyebrows as well as his hair are quite off. I tried making his coloring lighter than I think Pete’s is, so Loopy’s beak would show up, but I do not like this at all.
Loopy has a base coat of manganese blue with lots of texture that I was going to enjoy making into feathers.
So, that’s where I am stopping for now. I may come back to this later and create a new cover. As my books are all “print on demand” I can make changes and give the printers something different in the future.
As always, my sweet husband is at the top of my thank yous!
And many thanks to some wonderful buddies who encouraged me to explore this idea.
My Buddy on Twitter, @NevilleMore, had an amazingly brilliant thought about the bubbles I used for my book cover on Crisis Company:
“I LOVE the bubble cause I feel that the bubbles don’t just represent the Bubble machine at the park and the office, I think it represents Pete’s happiness and his joy of him getting back together with his dad.”
I agree completely!! Going to use the bubble photo for my new cover as well 🙂
So far, I have tried one set of colors on this sketch and really not happy with results. This is Pete and Loopy – the two most important characters in the story. Will try again with some other colors and see if I can create something I am happy with.
Loopy comes out great!
It is Pete that causes me the problem. I always thought of him with curly black hair but then we cannot see Loopy’s beak ready to groom Pete’s hair!
Despite many critics claiming no one can write anything good before the age of 40 because they lack the necessary life experience, new teen-aged writers keep appearing.
This wonderful story should entrance anyone who enjoyed the Twilight series. Instead of a vampire, we have an angel on earth falling in love with a wonderful young man. Although I enjoyed Twilight, I always wondered what Edward saw in rather boring and mundane Bella Swan.
In Halo, the attraction between Beth and her mortal love is more believable. He really is a man worthy of her affections.
Definitely a recommended read!!
A good buddy asked me on Twitter yesterday, “What do you read?”
I thought it was a GREAT question. I read a lot. I read about 60 pages an hour (250 word pages) so I go through books very quickly and am always looking for new stories to read.
I read almost anything and everything.
I am starting a new page to record what I read. Perhaps you will find something that interests you.
I always do research for my own stories, in person at the library, reading books, and lots of great articles from the Internet.
Here are some things I read and watched to get ready to write Extraction: Santa Claus:
The “made for TV” Curious Case of Santa Claus is very old but still lots of fun with John Pertwee (Dr. Who number 3) and James Coco.
The Legend of Holly Claus has incredible illustrations and is well worth a read. It is from the Julie Andrews Collection.
Two amazing picture books with some new ideas of how things work at Santa’s home. Every writer has their own vision of Santa and his crew!
Chuckles and I have been together since 1997 when he first appeared in one of my sketch books. We’ve enjoyed many exciting adventures together – all powered by pencil and paper, and my imagination.
Chuckles definitely prefers sky diving with his custom-made parachute, while I love parasailing, but whatever we do – we have a great time together. Here are a few memories –
Chucklebeary Tales 