About the Cover
17/05/09 12:40
One of the thing’s I’m very happy with is the cover of The Resurrection Murders. I came up with the original concept. The Yin-Yang symbol actually is an important clue to solving the mystery of who is behind the serial murders. It was also my idea to have it look as if it were shot by a bullet and dripping blood onto the cover.
However, I did not draw it. I sent the idea to the publisher, and they ran with it. They hired a very good artist and he did the symbol with the blood and the word “murders,” but due to various issues, he couldn’t do the rest of the cover.
Eventually, I volunteered to do it. Now, I’m a terrible “fine artist,” but thanks to years of practice and training (and the ease of some computer programs), I can do a fair job as a “graphic artist.” So the first thing I did was search the internet to try and find the font that the publisher’s artist used. That took quite some time. When I finally found it, I purchased the font and then played with the it for days, but couldn’t make it look right.
So I threw out trying to match that typeface and went back to some earlier ideas. Many mystery and horror books have the author’s name in bold type at the top, so I started with that. Then, I wanted to have the feeling of the words, “The Resurrection” having some sort of spiritual feeling to them. I tried various “halos,” but it didn’t work. Eventually I settled on the idea of (spiritual) light coming from a distance.
Taken by itself, those two words give the impression of spirituality. The far more grim “Murders,” in play over the symbol with blood dripping from it, gives just the opposite feeling. It was this dichotomy that I wished to stress. I think I succeeded.
What do you think?
However, I did not draw it. I sent the idea to the publisher, and they ran with it. They hired a very good artist and he did the symbol with the blood and the word “murders,” but due to various issues, he couldn’t do the rest of the cover.
Eventually, I volunteered to do it. Now, I’m a terrible “fine artist,” but thanks to years of practice and training (and the ease of some computer programs), I can do a fair job as a “graphic artist.” So the first thing I did was search the internet to try and find the font that the publisher’s artist used. That took quite some time. When I finally found it, I purchased the font and then played with the it for days, but couldn’t make it look right.
So I threw out trying to match that typeface and went back to some earlier ideas. Many mystery and horror books have the author’s name in bold type at the top, so I started with that. Then, I wanted to have the feeling of the words, “The Resurrection” having some sort of spiritual feeling to them. I tried various “halos,” but it didn’t work. Eventually I settled on the idea of (spiritual) light coming from a distance.
Taken by itself, those two words give the impression of spirituality. The far more grim “Murders,” in play over the symbol with blood dripping from it, gives just the opposite feeling. It was this dichotomy that I wished to stress. I think I succeeded.
What do you think?