Overcoming Obstacles by Michelle Lee

Hello cover art aficionados. My name is Michelle, for those of you who haven't read any of my past posts.  I am a part of the BWL community, but not as an author - I am the one who gives the books their outer wrapping. 

In the past, I have done a series of posts about all things covers.  Please feel free to check them out.  They are linked at the end of this post. 

Now for the purpose of today's odd topic - Overcoming Obstacles.

I want you to take a moment, close your eyes and imagine a beach.  The waves of the crystal blue ocean flicking against the tiny white grain of sand along the water's edge, turning them a damp beige.  The feel of the wind rushing through your hair, the heat of the sun against your bare arms.  Picture dolphins jumping from the water, playful and free, just off in the distance.

Now come back to me.  Remember that scene ... I will get back to it in a moment.

What some of the BWL family knows is that in addition to being their resident pain in the rear cover art goddess, I am also a biology geek and a teacher.  What most do not know (but will now) is that I am dyslexic.  I can't read long streams of numbers without getting a headache.  Math is a nightmare for me - especially algebra.  And until I was in the fourth grade - reading was also  major nightmare.  I avoided it like most sane people avoid snakes and spiders.  But something happened the summer after third grade ... I discovered that I didn't need to understand all of the words.  That my mind would fill in and adapt, if I gave it a chance.

Take a look at the following image:

What you are seeing is what reading is like for me - and yes, this passage above makes perfect sense to me.  When reading aloud in earlier classes, when we came upon an unfamiliar word, we had to sound it out.  But my sounds never quite matched what the words were, so I great discouraged.  I was called stupid by other kids, and as a shy person naturally, it made me withdraw more.  But that summer, my sister spent a lot of time with me, reading to me, and as I heard her voice, I would link the words to the sounds in my head, and pull it together.  Something I wasn't able to do in class with other kids snickering and teasing me.

That summer, I discovered reading.  And the more I read, the more I loved it, and the better I got at it.  Now, as an adult, I read bout 3-10 books a week, sometimes hitting 45-50 in a month (various lengths of course - some are novellas, some novels).  I still struggle when reading aloud - so I avoid it when possible.  But when I read silently to myself, but brain is able to infer, fill in, and adapt to what I am seeing.  Sure, I might miss an occasional word, struggle with the difference between form and from, but it doesn't decrease the please of reading.

I am very up front with my students about my troubles reading (and writing) so that when I do write something wrong on the board - they know they can correct me, that I WANT them to correct me.  And yes - it does happen often.  Some are amazed that I am "allowed" to teach, others that I made it through school (including college) with this cloud hanging over my head.  But some, the ones that need it the most, understand that the things that might get us made fun of, the things we struggle with, are not insurmountable obstacles.

For me, dyslexia was simply an obstacle that I needed to know how to overcome ... and then I did so.  In addition to being a teacher, I am also a published author ... something else that my obstacle could have held me back from, had I let it.

So what does this have to do with the scene I asked you to imagine earlier?  In addition to dsylexia, I also have what it called by many 'mind-blindness', the technical terms that has been proposed is Aphantasia. 

Phantasia is the ancient greek word for, among other things, imagination and images.  A is a prefix meaning lacking, without, or not.  So aphantasia means without images, or mind blind.

Think about that for a minute and remember the ocean scene.  When you closed your eyes, did you 'see' the ocean?

     

I don't.  I can hear a narrator telling me what it looks like, and I have found that if I keep up a running narration in my head during some moments, that I can recall them as an auditory memory later.  

I can look at images and recognize things ... like an actor, or a certain type of owl.  But closing my eyes and telling my principal what a certain student looked like, if I didn't already know the student?  Describing a bird I just saw flying by, and trying to identify it from memory?  Practically impossible. I can't visualize the person or owl to give the details.

Now remember that I said in the beginning of this post - I am BWL's Art Director and primary cover artist.  Which means I take stock photo images and somehow morph them, blend them together, to create covers.  Covers like these:

      

      

      

      

Each of these covers is at least 2 images, some contain up to 5.  Somehow I had to 'visualize' how the images would come together - right?

Nope.  It's not that simple. I can't just close my eyes and use my imagination.  When I am working on covers, I have numerous windows open on my computer and I have to place images side by side, so that I can see how they would fit together.  I can't just close my eyes and let them merge, trying out different combinations.  

For example, I could tell you by looking at these two images side by side, that the dolphins could be placed into the beach image, and with the right text, make a great cover.  Maybe with a woman in the foreground standing, looking out over the water.

For many of you, you could probably close your eyes and actually see it come together.  I don't.

 

So much of my process, I don't even understand.  I know some images I will see and have a flash of insight - that it would make a great cover with the right other elements, but I don't actually visualize the finished product.  

I never see it until I actually create it.  

So what are my dreams like, you might ask?  Well ... that is a topic for another post. :)  (Have to keep you coming back somehow - right?)

As for why I posted this ... I admit, the obstacles I face are NOTHING in comparison to what many others face (and I do not in any way want to trivialize those obstacles) ... but at the same time, while mine are seemingly small in the grand scheme of things, they can seem insurmountable to dreams of becoming a writer or artist.  Just like I want my students to know, I want those reading this blog to know that they can be overcome.  More than that though ...

When it is physical, we can point to it and say 'ah ha! there is the issue!'.  But when it is something in the brain?  I always knew I was a little different, and thought something was truly defective in my brain for the longest time.  I couldn't read word correctly, I couldn't visualize images when I closed my eyes. I had to be broken somehow right?  But guess what ... aphantasia and dyslexia are a lot more common that I ever imaged when I was growing up, thinking myself damaged somehow.  

If you are interested in learning about Aphantasia, check out some of the following articles:

A Life Without Mental Images (BBC)

Picture This? Some Can't (NYTimes)

* * *

And for those who wanted to find my older posts ... here they are.

* Cover clones, movie posters, and a cover artist's opinion

* A few of my favorite covers

* Here comes the bride - wait, what?

* Two sides to a cover

* Alas poor images ... I cannot find you

* Fonts, fonts, and more fonts

* He's Sexy and You Know It

* A whole series about various aspects of covers:

     - Behind the Cover Artist's Curtain 

     - The Cover Art Form

     - Image Selection

     - Cover Elements

     - Series

     - X-Factor in Covers

     - Cover Branding

     - Heat Levels

* Dear Artist - a Dear Abby kind of thing, but for cover art questions (feel free to leave questions in the comments for future posts)

     - Getting Started/Training 

     -  Favorite Cover Styles

* Website Suggestions

* AUTHOR RESOURCES -- well worth checking out!!!!

* What's In A Biography?

* Black and white and shifters all over -- probably one of my favorite posts :) Research is so very important!

I also have a couple odds and ends posts

* Is it possible to have too many books?

* A study of men's facial hair

February Author Art Challenge

For this month, I challenged the authors of BWL to take the art process and reverse it.  Rather than me trying to put a picture to their words, I wanted them to draw inspiration from pictures.  To keep things fair and not have a massive time drain, I chose artwork rather than creating a cover mock-ups.

THE RULES:

Authors were instructed to ...

Select one of the suggested images, and tell us what is happening.  

Create a brief backstory, include needed dialog, etc.  

DO NOT FOCUS ON THE TITLE OF THE PICTURE!  

If you need to change the time period - do so, you don't have to keep it as a historical.  The focus should be on your interpretation of the characters, their emotions, etc.  

Now - the challenge?  Keep it to 1000 words or less!

THE INSPIRATION: 

 I am really excited to see what the creative minds at BWL come up with.  Who knows, I might try my hand at one of them as well.

Here comes the bride - wait, what???

By Michelle Lee

BWL Art Director

Finding images can be somewhat of a challenge - especially for historical fiction.  The costumes are just so expensive, and each time period had such drastically different clothing styles.  Plus there were different styles within each time period depending upon where in the world the story is set.

Yeah, historical fiction can be a challenge to create cover art for.

So I was tickled when I came across a suggestion for a simple and easy way around it (in some cases at least).  You ready for it?

BRIDES!

That's right, most bridal gowns are poofy and have those small beading details that just add so much depth to the image.  And they really are very versatile in what you can use them for - plus the women generally have intricate hair styles, which also adds to the appeal of the images.

Now I am not saying that will work for all historical fiction (it will work best with romances), but it does offer some more options.  Like I mentioned in a previous post, not all details are going to be time period exact.  So sometimes you have to overlook the fact that some details won't be perfect ... and look at the cover and evaluate the images as a whole.  

Now for an example of how a wedding gown can be used ...

When the dress is white, it is very obviously a wedding gown.  But how I have modified it to dark blue?  It has the look of a ball gown ... and with that hair-do, she could easily fit in several different time periods.

Thoughts?

* * *

If you are interested in other rambling about cover art by Michelle Lee, check out the following Inside BWL Blog Posts:
Alas Poor Images, I Cannot Find You
Fonts, Fonts, and More Fonts

and other Behind The Cover Art posts ...

* * *

Michelle Lee is a self-taught cover artist who has an opinion on pretty much everything, and a love of the natural world that often means tidbits and trivia are shared on a whim.  You can check out her portfolio at: Stardust Creations

Two Sides to the Cover

By Michelle Lee

BWL Art Director

On the one hand ...

As a fiction writer, you probably already know that research is vitally important.  For example, if you are focusing on a specific time period, you want to use historically accurate words.  Your characters need to feel, to the reader, like they are coming alive - and are authentic.

You polish your work, pouring all of your love and attention and determination into it, and almost grudgingly hand it over to a publisher.  And then the fun begins.

You get a cover concept back - and *gasp* the clothing isn't exactly right.  The waist of the dress is too high, the sleeves not poofy enough, or even worse, the dress isn't flaring enough at the bottom to be a ball gown.

All that research - and for what?

* * *

The other side of the story ...

A cover art form comes in, and after looking it over, the task seems almost impossible.  Finding a couple, wearing the exact clothing in the exact colors, with the perfect hair and eye color, and without modern looking manicures on the woman.

How on earth are you going to come up with a cover that perfectly encompasses all of those details, with stock art.   Especially considering you are not a historical scholar.

The answer is - you aren't.  Which means you are going to disappoint the author in some way (even if it is only a small detail).  And that is a very hard thing to accept on a day to day basis - but it is the reality of the job.

* * *

As an author, I know how important cover art is in not only branding your books, but also giving hints (at a quick glance) of what the story is all about.  I know how frustrating it can be trying to get your vision for the cover across in a two-page form.  I know the agony of waiting for the cover art to come in.  And I know the frustration when details are slightly off.

As a cover artist, I am very familiar with the hours that can be spent (and quite often just wasted) trying to find the perfect image for a cover.  Sometimes the angle is off and it won't merge well with the background, or the model has a very obvious french manicure, yet is posing in Renaissance clothing.  You want to create something both you, and the author, can be proud of ... and yet ... the images just won't cooperate.

* * *

I guess what I am trying to explain with all of this is ... the cover artist-author relationship is a lot like any other relationship.  There has to be some compromise to it.  A lot of understanding.  And the product of the relationship - the cover art - might be slightly flawed by not being perfectly accurate but it is a reflection of both the artists efforts to provide a reflection of the author's hard work and the author's work itself.  So before you get frustrated at the details, take a step back and look at the overall picture.

And ask yourself these simple questions:

* does it overall reflect the tone or feel of the story?
* is is quality and something you would be proud to have showcasing your hard work?
* is is obvious that the artist tried to meet your needs?
* will this cover help your book sell? (and will reader feel it is an accurate - within reason - reflection of the story)

If your answer is no to any of these questions, then you should feel the right to request some serious revisions to the cover, or a complete start over.

But if you answered yes to them all ... ask yourself this ... does that one little inconsistency, that one historically inaccurate detail detract from the overall cover, and is it realistically likely that a better image will be found?

* * *

If you are interested in other rambling about cover art by Michelle Lee, check out the following Inside BWL Blog Posts:
Alas Poor Images, I Cannot Find You
Fonts, Fonts, and More Fonts

and other Behind The Cover Art posts ...

* * *

Michelle Lee is a self-taught cover artist who has an opinion on pretty much everything, and a love of the natural world that often means tidbits and trivia are shared on a whim.  You can check out her portfolio at: Stardust Creations

Alas poor images, I cannot find you!

By Michelle Lee

BWL Art Director

So how many of you, when trying to visualize the ways you want a cover to look, quickly get frustrated trying to find images?

(Waiting a moment as people start jumping up and down, madly waving their arms, screaming ME!  That's ME she's talking about).

I should have mentioned, make sure not to scare your pets with your answer.

(Waiting longer while poor Fluffy and Fido are coaxed out from behind the fridge and Tweets snagged off of the curtain rod in the shower; don't worry - Slither will come out of the sewer somewhere in the neighborhood - so just wait for screams to clue you in to his location.).

As you can imagine, many authors find themselves in the same ... exact ... boat when it comes to finding images.

So here are some tricks to image searches (from my own personal frustrated experiences).

* First off ... do some sample searches and see what comes up.  Go to images sites like 123rf.com and use their search function and search for random things, so that you can familiarize yourself with the site.  Like any skill, practice is going to work to your advantage.

* Don't get discouraged; sometimes cover artists have problems finding images.

* All too often, when it comes to something like finding the perfect image authors have to come to terms with the fact that they don't exist.  Going to wait a moment, and let that sink in.  The perfect images do not and will not ever exist.  We work with what is available, and within the bounds of what models are willing to pose for certain genres of images.  So sometimes, close-enough is what we work with.

* Now, if you're not finding images, not because of looking for the perfect one, but rather because nothing is showing up as a result of your search, just try new terms, and things that are close.  For example, I have found Regency era styled images by search for Medieval and Renaissance.  The terms Baroque, Vintage, etc also have worked when trying to find historical images.  So expand a little with the search terms.

* Generally one and two word searches work best.  This is by far the best advise I can possibly give.  ONE or TWO word searches.  For example: "Sexy Couple" is going to yield much better results that "Couple Sexy Embrace Bed Red Silk Lingerie Lace England Castle Curtains Blond Man Redhead Woman".  Yes, there will be more images to look through, but you are more likely to find what you need.  Many photographers put really good search terms to their images, but that can't think of everything.  So simple is going to yield better results.

* Also, keep in mind if Sexy Couple didn't work, maybe Attractive Couple, Nude Couple, Lingerie Couple, Embracing Couple, Couple Kiss, Couple Love, etc might yield better results so try alternative search terms.

* If I find a search term set that yields great results, and I know I might need to use it again, I will save the terms in a word doc.  I put what I am trying to find, and what terms I ended up using.

* * *

Now, I know that many authors feel they are not a good judge of images, and what would make a cover.  And that is fine.  That is the role of the cover artist.  But cover artists are not fluent in all fields.  So some genres are more difficult for an artist to find images for without author suggestions.  To that end - consider finding images that fit your characters, and suggest them.  Keep in mind however, the cover artist might not use them.  Because some images lend themselves to covers better than others, the cover artist and publisher is always going to reserve the right to opt for a different image.  But by suggesting possible images, you are more likely to get something closer to what you want than not.

For example, I am a biologist by training.  Specifically an ecologist.  So, someone saying to me 'I want a nice snowy owl on the fore-cover, and a timber wolf in the background, with a couple in between'.  As a result, I am able to fit those requirements without much effort, because I am familiar with both, and if not - I have easy access to field guides that will make me familiar with them.

But saying to me, 'This is set in Edwardian England, and I want the hero to have period clothing, and the background needs to be a period house, and so on', um I am going to space out at Edwardian, and my eyes will be completely glazed over by hero ...  So for that cover, I am so going to need every suggestion I can get.

So keep in mind that cover artists are not fluent in all fields, and thus not fluent in all genres terms and specifics.  We do the best we can, with what resources we have available - so make sure YOU are one of those resources.

* * *

Oh and one last, tiny little suggestion.  As you are searching, if you come across an image that screams at you - but for a book you aren't working on filling out the information for - SAVE THE URL, image number and site, whatever!!!! 

Either create a word document that you put all of them into, with the Genre/WIP Title etc with them, or bookmark them, something.  

So many times, authors lament that they had found the perfect image, but forgot to save it since they were looking for a different book's suggestions.  So don't let that be you.  Find some way to keep track of the images that stand out to you - because you never know when you will need to find it again.

Behind The Cover: Romance Heat Levels

By Michelle Lee
BWL Art Director

At BWL, part of the book information an author provides is a genre designation and if it involves a romance, either as the main genre or a sub-genre, they also include the romance heat level.  Now this throws off many people, especially since heat levels, just like comfort levels, vary from author to author, and reader to reader.

Something to consider, I started my career in the erotica field of the spectrum, so my 3 probably differs from someone who has never even read an erotic romance's definition of a 3.

So I have a basic scale that the authors are provided.
1: Sweet  --- 5: Melt your screen HOT

I had hoped that would be enough, but I forgot, not everyone is as comfortable with my level of screen melting.  So for some people, screen melting might be fairly tame to me.  So I still find at times, that authors have problems deciding what deserves a 3, versus when does it tip into a 4.  This isn't through any fault of their own - so please, don't read that into what I am saying.  It all has to do with our own perceptions of things.

So here in plain terms, is what I think of with each heat level designation.

1. We are talking sweet or inspirational romances, or those that only hint at a romance subplot, etc.

Cover results ... NO nudity or any kind!  Full clothing, no embraces that even hint at passion or lust.  Maybe dreamy eyes or holding hands, but that's it.

2. Close the door romances, and those with a bit more of a romance subplot, where a kiss is really all the readers are privy to.

Cover results ... Maybe a shoulder, bare male torso, or a soft kiss.  Nothing majorly scandalous.

3. Now we are getting somewhere - bedroom door is open, but details are flowery or fairly sparse in detail.

Cover results ... Bare skin, maybe an embrace with a more passionate kiss.

4. Details are flowing and clothes are flying. Yeah baby!

Cover results ... Nudity alert!  Might have a partially nude couple, bare torsos on guys, suggestive images, etc on the cover.

 5. These are generally spice releases, but I have seen a couple some through with a heat rating of 5 for a non-spice (generally because the romance is a sub-plot but it is still explicit!).

Cover results ... No holds barred, anything and everything goes on the cover, which matches the characters.  *wink, wink*

Can we tell what covers I still enjoy creating?

Fonts, fonts, and more fonts

By Michelle Lee

BWL Art Director

Hi, it's me again - the resident cover art geek.  I'm back with my latest in cover art related posts (after a fairly long hiatus due to graduate school).  I bet you can't guess what this post is about.  Come on ... give it a try ...

I'll give you a hint.  It's not images and it's not color schemes.  So what's left?  FONTS of course!

I touched on this a little bit in a past post, but it is well worth revisiting (at least in my mind).

Now I know what you are thinking, why would this be something worth talking about - twice now?  Well ... because the font typefaces used can be just as iconic as the images.

Let's look at a few examples shall we?

With the sharply pointed edges of this typeface, the artist brings to mind fangs.  Which is appropriate - anyone who doesn't know what Blade is about, it involves vampires.

 Another font that springs to mind right off is the one used for the Highlander TV series with Adrian Paul. Since she show is about sword-welding immortals, the font fits - because it has an almost blade edge like to it.

Ready for one that everyone should know?

Look at the elongated S's.  They almost see to be moving further away from the nearby letters. 

Another blast from the past - TRON.  Although the font was updated slightly for the new movie, it still have the same basic shape and feel.  The N especially is iconic.

Want a more modern example?  Then look no further than the Hogwarts school of magic.  It has a very wand like feel to it, and of course there is the lightening bolt end to the letter P.

 Now every author's dream is probably to be a household name.  Obviously the biggest part is creating a product you can be proud of.  However there are other things that go into the magic formula of success.  Part of that is branding, part of it is the wrapping, and of course a good deal of it is plain old fashion luck.  Since you can't control luck, an author needs to focus on what they can control - the product, branding themselves, and the wrapping of their product (namely the cover and blurb).

While the images are going to be what catches a reader first, they will notice the font.  And if it doesn't fit the overall feel of the product, then it can turn them off of the book.

Imagine a romance with a very stark, bleeding font.  Unless you are looking at a post-apocalyptic or paranormal genre, it probably wouldn't fit.

How about a fancy, script font on a horror.  Or a blocky, unattractive, bland font on a very visually stunning and provocative image.

The font selected for a cover can really say a lot about the contents.  So I strongly suggest authors take a little bit of time and scan through some of the options.  Including a few suggestions with the cover art form can help a cover artist to create the wrapping that will help to see your book.  At the very least, it will let you be able to explain to the artist what style you are looking for.

If you are not sure on what kind of font you are wanting, ie don't know the terminology, check out this quick resource - Basic Typography Terminology

If you are looking for something a bit more in depth - check out this article.

Some of the websites I personally use are:

DaFont     *     1001 Free Fonts     *     Urban Fonts

What I like about DaFont over some of the others out there is the option to see what specialized words - like a book's title - would look like, and the way they have the categories organized.  It makes it super easy to find something to fit.

To stress how important a choice picking the right font can be I leave you with one last iconic font.

Can you guess what uses this particular font?

...

...

...

...

...

If you guessed

 then give yourself a hand.

Now being realistic, your font typeface choice isn't likely to make you a household name.  BUT it is something important to consider when looking at a cover's creation.

Behind the Cover Artist's Curtain: Cover Branding

By Michelle Lee

BWL Art Director

When it comes to branding, there are many different schools of thought for each form of branding.

INDIVIDUAL COVER ARTISTS:

Some artists might suggest always using the same fonts for all of an author’s covers.  Others might want to keep the same style of images, colors, and so on.  Some could prefer just keeping series the same, and letting the rest of the covers have their own unique style.

PUBLISHER:

Each publisher might also have their own methods of branding.  That can vary from a logo on all covers, to a band along the top, bottom, or side of covers.

MY STYLE:

As a cover artist, I focus on making sure series books match each other (see my post on the subject).  Other than that, I tend to follow the authors lead on branding.

Some authors have requested a logo, image, or certain style to link all of their books.

As you can see here ... Rita has several different logo styles, depending upon the genre.  But for all her books, there is a logo with her initials in it.

Other authors have requested the same general style of fonts, or image layout.  

With Geeta's books, the first three are part of one series, but the last one is from another series.  Yet they all share similar styles with image layout.

 Still others have expressed no preference whatsoever, and so each cover is different from the others.

It does get more challenging the more genres an author writes in to help 'brand' the author's books with their covers … but as an author myself, I know sometimes I specific genre just calls to you.

As for how to brand yourself as an author, well, I am still trying to figure that out myself.  So if anyone has an ideas - please share them.

Now … this brings my original Cover Art series of posts to an end.  From here, I will be posting about whatever comes to mind, or addressing a specific topic I have been asked my opinion on.  So feel free to leave a comment if you want me to give my personal take on a cover topic.  I am certainly not lacking in opinions.