About the In A Glance Cover
In A Glance was the twelth medieval novel I published. By this point I had developed a style, created by artist Debi Gardiner, which tied the series of books together. Each book featured a hand-drawn stained-glass style image which represented a key symbol of that book.
With this twelth novel, the story was about Joan and Hugh. Both had spent time in the Holy Land; both were now back in England. They had shared a brief moment together back on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. A seagull represented, to both of them, their soaring dreams, their desire to be free, and the memories of a golden time.
I sent Debi a collection of photos and images to give her a sense of what I wanted with the seagull. I wanted to make sure the seagull shape and coloring were authentic to the region. Debi did this first pass at the seagull image, providing four options to examine.
I always prefer my shapes to be "within" the golden ring, without the shape touching it. Rather than having the shape superimposed on a ring, I prefer the sense that the ring is a window, and through it we see into another world. We are looking through a golden porthole at a seagull flying high overhead.
I wanted a smoother aspect to the tip of each wing, and a translucent sense to the tail feathers. I also wanted a smoother sense to the back edge of the wings.
This is getting much closer to what I want. I wanted the wing-dots not to stand out as much, the wings to be smoother, and more of a sense of "strength" in the "shoulders" of the gull.
This was nearly perfect. Now all of my focus was on that top wing - I wanted a sturdier shape for it. Debi gave me four options for that top wing.
I liked the top left one a lot - and that's what we went with!
I highly recommend Debi for any graphic projects you might have! GardinerDesign.com
Creating Medieval Romance Novel Covers
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