Long Journey to Create Perfect Cover Art for a Children’s Book

Covid’s got us locked down and staying close to home. But imagination can take us anywhere. Are you up for a literary Photo Walk? All the way from summer’s green-drenched country roads in North Carolina to autumn tints in rural Missouri? 
 
Start your journey in Carolina with me to fetch the perfect cover art for my newest tale for tweens, Just Between Sam and Me, launching 2 December 2020. 

Then click over to Midwestern countryside for cowriter Rosie Russell's blog at the end of this post. She's got a sweet cover reveal video just for YOU.

btw...more book cover art fun for you with links at the end
... animated book cover vid from Auden Johnson in the Big Apple
... slow build reveals using images from Sandra Bennet from Down Under.
​

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Cowriter Rosie Russell and I
virtual-brainstorm cover concepts for weeks
for our new book for 8 to 12-year olds.

We want the perfect image
to engage young readers. 

We nail our back cover quickly ...

Back Cover: "Just Between Sam and Me" Coming 2 – December 2020

​... but
​the front image remains elusive.

Eureka!!!!!
We finally find that consummate image!

Artist Irene A. Jahns is on it.

Days pass
until it's time for me to fetch Irene's cover rendering
at her family’s farm 
30 miles from my North Carolina home.
 
 Blazing heat and stifling humidity
on this summer morning.
​
AC cranked high in the car,
I speed along the highway 
until it siphons off onto two-lane roads
snaking between towering stands of kudzu that blot the sky. 

Roadside kudzu

​
​
​Argh. 
Despite my trusty GPS,
​I miss the turn. 

I circle back
and bounce down the dirt lane
 to Irene in the farmhouse ahead.

Irene's family farm at the end of a rural country lane

​
We agree on a Covid safe-distancing spot
​ to talk and exchange the cover. 

Best.
Art Hand-off
​Location.
​EVER!

Gotta love safe-distancing poolside

​​We sit opposite each other on pool chairs.
A third chair between us keeps us 6 feet apart.
​Irene spreads her drawing pencils and canvas
on the empty place between us.

Two black farm cats nose around to see what’s up.
After all, our titular SAM is an orange tabby.
​
Maybe those real cats sense a kindred spirit
​ with our fictional feline [wink].

Artist Irene A. Jahns

​

​​As Irene and I discuss finishing touches,
art-challenged me watches 
​as she adds her last strokes. 

​I’m fascinated by the textured canvas.
It lovingly laps up Irene's watercolors.

Dabs of color here.
​
A few drops of water there
  from a kitchen water glass
swished onto her brush.

The cover comes to life before my life!
​
How does she do that?!?!?!? 

Half hour later,
the completed canvas drying and protected in my car,
I’m speeding home.
​
​Can’t wait to send Rosie a snapshot, 
and
deliver the canvas to our graphic designer, 
who will work her magic
turning Irene's watercolors into our cover. 

​
And we

​can’t wait

to show that finished cover to

YOU! 

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Ready to continue your literary blog cruise?

Meet Rosie Russell next in Missouri
and catch her cover reveal video for 
Just Between Sam and Me

It will be a cool autumn afternoon when you arrive.
Rosie’s waiting for you on the front porch. 

Rumor has it
she may serve up
her famous country-fried steak
if you want to stay supper.
(It's our main character's fave meal)
​
Hope you enjoy our cover 
and
​Midwestern hospitality 
with Rosie Russell.

Click HERE
to continue your blog cruise. 

Tale for tweens: Coming 2 December 2020

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More Book Cover Art Journeys  

 My #Gr8Blogs writerly pals from around the globe have fab book cover stories, too. Check 'em out below! 

...   animated book cover creation vid from Auden Johnson in the Big Apple HERE
...  book image series builds cover excitement from Sandra Bennet from Down Under HERE

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YOUR TURN
Are you art-challenged like me? To be honest, I was terrified I’d smear Irene’s watercolors before our graphic designer, Kayte, could work her magic to convert the original canvas into a high-resolution jpg cover. 
 
Or does drawing come naturally to you? Is painting or coloring-in a relaxing outlet for you, especially during Covid-19? Please share your thoughts in the comment section.

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