I discovered a funny thing. Nobody signed up for any of the Thursdays on my blog tour! Not this week, next week, or the week after! So I am hosting myself. 🙂 (If you feel so inclined to pick up one of the Thursdays, let me know.)
If you’ve been following me for a while, you might know the following:
- I am a DIYer
- I like to draw
- I make my own covers
I know that last one tends to set off alarm bells with people, since it’s one of the services you should hire out to a professional.
But I don’t want to discuss my front covers today. As I worked on This World Bites, I realized the short blurb left a lot of space on the back. I wasn’t sure what to do with it. After tossing around ideas with my friend, Dani (she’s the model you see on the front cover), I settled on drawing silhouettes of Cera and her gang.
Not only did it work well, but when I inverted the colors and plugged my image and text into Tagul (idea passed along by JeriWB), it made an awesome word cloud.
Do you ever draw your characters? What do you like to see on back covers?
If you haven’t already checked out my other tour stops, swing by Alex’s to see my top 10 zombie influences, Melissa’s to guess when I’m lying (you could win a free e-copy of This World Bites), and Sarah’s to see how I had to kill my darlings.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy the tour!
Love the silhouettes. I’ve never tried to draw my characters. I like to draw, but I’m not that great with drawing people. The back covers I like the best are the type where the images on the front cover sweep around and continue onto the back to make one long panorama. Not all front covers lend themselves to that style, though, which is fine. That’s great that you were able to do your own!
I like the wrap around covers too. The ones that pull it off are usually gorgeous landscapes–something I have yet to master.
You have great map-drawing skills! I tried drawing a map of Chikara (Cera’s home world) but I couldn’t figure out how to depict the different provinces. Someday, though, I hope to do it. 🙂
Maybe the Thursday problem stems from the fact that a lot of us don’t typically post on that day. My dream blog A Faraway View does post on Thursdays and I’d be happy to include your tour there. That blog doesn’t usually get a lot of traffic, though I’ve had some past guests who did cause a surge of traffic for their posts. It is a blog about dreams (and nightmares) so your book topic might make sense to include.
Let me know if you’re interested and I can set you up over the next couple of weeks.
Lee
Tossing It Out
Thank you for the offer, Arlee. I’ll be in touch.
No stop today? It happens.
I’ve never drawn my characters although I have done Wordle for a word cloud.
Love it. And they look (at least in silhouette) exactly how I pictured them. 🙂
I can’t even draw stick people. That advice about not doing your own covers is meant for the untalented like me, not the talented people like yourself.
Yeah, doing your own covers is only bad when you suck at it like Pat and the cat haha that is a great idea with the word cloud indeed
I leave the art up to my cover artist. I love what you did. Great job! Congrats on the release, Loni!
Hi Loni,
Congratulations, first of all!! Super cover. Even though I am creative with words and music, my artistic talent is pretty non-existent so I don’t draw my characters. Their image just tends to develop and imprint on my mind. I wish you all the best with your blog tour and consequently success with your novel.
I love that you do your own covers. If you’ve got the talent, why not? I have a friend who does them and is a wiz at Photoshop, so if I ever self-publish I’ve got at least that part covered.
And I love the word cloud. Very cool. 🙂
Those silhouettes are cool!
Now I’ll have to order a paperback. 😛
I am loving those silhouettes. Especially Fues’. And … I’m certain Rin is naked…
You already know I like to ‘draw’ my characters, but my favourite back covers are ones with interesting bits that you might not grasp until you’re part way through the novel. The best one’s I remember are the wrap around ones from the Wheel of Times series. Even now, seeing the full image just makes me go ‘woah’.
I love your covers, and This World Bites is my favorite. Those silhouettes are awesome. I’ve never given too much thought to what I like on the back of a cover. Now I am. Hmm, simple and a little fun extra like your picture. I like that. Nothing too busy.
I love the silhouette drawings. I can’t draw, unfortunately, so I’ve never tried to draw my characters. I didn’t realize you do your own covers—impressive!! Hey, I’d love to host you on my blog and promote your book. Shoot me an email and we can figure out a day you have open. 🙂
Very cool silhouettes! You are totally talented and the word clouds look really cool!
Remember those covers when stacked together on a bookshelf displayed an image. Haven’t seen a cover like that in years. I love your cover. And you can draw. Not sure if my stick people would make onto a cover of my book. I can’t even draw stick people well. You are a marvel, Loni!
Wow those look awesome. Sadly, I don’t have the talent to draw anything lol.