Book Cover Illustrations

One of this week’s illustration projects was to rework and update my illustration of Eleanor of Aquitaine that I did seven years ago for a historic book written by Robert Fripp. The original book cover project was tricky because the only recorded “picture” of Eleanor of Aquitaine was a medieval statue along with some contemporary […]

Author Holly LaMora has informed me that Finding Badger is now appearing in display ads at bus stops in Atlanta, GA. Here are a couple of shots she sent along: Billed as a “Metaphorical Journey of Transformation,” Finding Badger is available in paperback and Kindle format at: Amazon.com. (For a behind-the-scenes look at the creation […]

Good book layout is partly an art but mostly a craft. This is especially true of the inner pages where things have been done pretty much the same way since Gutenberg cranked out his first books. If a designer knows and applies the rules, the reward is book text that “looks right.” If the rules […]

I got word that Holly LaMora’s Finding Badger is now available in paperback and Kindle format at: Amazon.com. Billed as a “Metaphorical Journey of Transformation” the book is a very entertaining read. And you can find sample chapters at Amazon.com’s page. The only caveat is that once you start reading, you’ll likely be hooked and […]

Over the last few years, I’ve created a small booklet to give away on Halloween, devising special illustrations for it (and in one case a typeface) and doing the layout. This year has been so busy — and that’s a good thing, especially in this economy — that it’s unlikely I’ll get a new book […]

Finding just the right typeface for a book is tricky. It’s a little like adding a spice during food preparation. You want enough to give things the proper flavor, but you don’t want to add so much of the spice that it draws attention to itself. Typefaces are like that. Beginning designers, like green cooks, […]

I recently sold “Nuked” for use as the cover on John Backus’ post-apocalyptic adventure novel Hunter – After the Fall. I created this illustration a long time ago, and it has always been a (somewhat chilling) favorite, perhaps reflecting the fears of those of us who grew up at the tail end of the Cold […]