Cover Design Behind-the-Scenes for Gods & Comics (repost)
In preparation for migrating my author newsletter here, I'm reposting some of my most read old newsletter topics!
[this was originally published in the 07/25/2024 edition of my author newsletter, Readiculous Musings]
I love the cover of my next YA Contemporary Fantasy, Gods & Comics. The art is done by the very talented Robin Har (@saboteur) and the design is by Danielle Ceccolini!
So, creating a cover design can be a long process with many different people contributing. I’ve been so lucky in all of my covers, and a huge part of that luck includes my publishers including me in the process from the beginning and taking all of my thoughts and requests into consideration.
We knew very early in the process we were going to go with illustrated for this cover. My other two romantic fantasies were also illustrated and I loved how they turned out. So, first my publisher asked if I had a mood board or aesthetic comps for the cover. I quickly sent them the main inspiration, which was W: Two Worlds, one of my favorite k-dramas. I remembered watching this drama and thinking that it would be fascinating and terrifying as an author to have my characters come to life. So, of course, I had to see if I could come up with a story that would fit that idea. And two years later I came up with the first iteration of Gods & Comics. That was in 2018, but W: Two Worlds is still truly the image I kept going back to whenever I thought of the cover.
I also sent some covers I loved as well as dream casting for the two main characters. So, I sent them Chaeyoung for Grace. And Lee Jongsuk for Haemosu (as a nod to the W: Two Worlds inspiration, plus he’s so pretty).
Then my publisher sent me an email with possible artists they’d identified who had styles that fit our concept ideas. And, to be honest, this was really hard for me. Because all of the artists were wildly talented. BUT, I was so drawn to Robin Har’s portfolio. There was such dynamic movement in her drawings but also a dreaminess which I loved for a concept of a webcomic coming to life. So after Robin agreed to work on the project, she sent a few quick sketches to choose from.
Cue my next super hard decision. I thought they all had such great aspects that included the “web comic come to life” concept. But I had such a hard time making a decision that I pulled in a couple outside opinions (thank you to my friends who gave me their honest opinion). And the consensus ended up being the one I was drawn to the most myself. Option #1.
So, Penguin also had a request right off the bat, and that was to make Haemosu look more royal to show his godly background. And this is the initial color sketch we got sent back.
Can I just pause to say, the talent that visual artists have never ceases to amaze me! Robin got us beautiful color sketches back so fast and they were already gorgeous!
I sent my notes, which included some reference photos for more traditional historical Korean royal garb and crowns for Haemosu. The publisher wanted to make sure he looked regal (and hot). And I totally agreed! But I also knew what it meant to me as a reader to see traditional Korean clothing on a book cover and I wanted to be able to do that as well!
A little more tweaking and we got a new sketch from Robin. This time, along with a few more outfit tweaks (our biggest issue was that while the Haemosu myth is most likely around Gojoseon, it was hard to find good comps for traditional royal garb that would pop. So we kind of went with a mix of Silla and Goguryeo)
But, along with some outfit tweaks for Haemosu, my publisher had now sent this sketch to Sales & Marketing. It helps to get their opinion in the design process so they can let the design team know what types of covers are getting a lot of attention from readers and what seems to be on-trend now. They loved it, but said they thought the background needed a bit more movement as well. So, my amazing team suggested we include a storm aspect as foreshadowing of one of the major conflicts that takes place in the novel.
And that’s how I ended up with this absolutely gorgeous cover that touches on so many amazing aspects of the story, including Grace holding her stylus as the artist of the web comic. Hae’s crown that’s a nod to the aesthetic of the Silla dynasty and the hanbok design from Gojoseon and Goguryeo. As well as as the geometric Korean pattern added behind Hae in his panel. But I love that the other panels show Hae in his modern day school life in the web comic.
