Having a front cover designed for your book is probably one of the most exciting bits of the pre-marketing, post-finished-the-thing period.
For The Angel of the Circuit Board, I decided that I would splash out and commission a cover from someone who actually knew what they were doing. There are some amazing artists out there, and the ones who popped up first after searching Google, certainly had some amazing prices.
Eventually I came across Maxime Poulain via Deviantart.com, an experienced digital artist with an extensive portfolio, and some stunning illustrations, who was available for commissions. He draws mainly fantasy and gaming scenes and characters, and had not undertaken a book cover before.
The remarkable thing was that even though I thought I had described everything in great detail, there were still things he wanted to know that I hadn’t written or even imagined. I found myself having to return to my manuscript (that I thought I had completed) and re-write sections of it to provide greater detail. All based on the questions that the artist was asking.
His communication before and during the process was spot on. I sent him some descriptions of the characters I wanted, plus a sample chapter so he could get a feel for my work. Bit by bit he sent first line drawings, and then the colourised renderings, asking for feedback at every step of the way.
The renderings of the characters were so good, that I actually went back and wrote more detail, and even extra scenes, based on the strength of the drawings. I hadn’t considered the eye colour of Dido, my main character, and when Maxime asked for this, I scratched my head. When the render of the character came back, I went back to my manuscript and made sure I’d got this tiny detail in. The robot in the cover, for example: I’d originally thought of this as being gold (like C3 PO from Star Wars). But Maxime suggested a gunmetal grey. When I saw the finished product, I was amazed, and instantly created not only a back story for the character, but an additional minor twist that further brought it to light.
And the moral – even when you think you’ve pained a picture, nothing transforms a story than actually having the picture painted for you.
