Book Cover of the Month: February

My favorite book cover for this month was done by illustrator Leuyan Pham. She illustrated both the cover and inside pages for Gene Luen Yang's Lunar New Year Love Story. It is also my best book for this month. Pham was born in Vietnam. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles from 1991 to 1993, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1996 from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. After graduation, she worked as a layout artist from 1996 to 1999 at Dreamworks Animation. She then quit to illustrate children's books full-time.

What I love most about this book cover is the color. The reds and purples mix well together and produce an eye catching piece of art. This color pallette is continued throughout the inside The reader knows they are getting a happy story because of the color palette.

Book Cover of the Month: January

This monthly post was begun in order to highlight the artists who design book covers but this month I came up short. I was unable to locate the name of the cover designer of this gorgeous book cover. I love this book cover, especially the birds flying in the air. I also love the rendition of the Alhambra in the foreground as well as the color palette that the cover designer used.  The small magenta area makes the illustration glow.  

The illustration of the Alhambra lets the reader know that the story is set in Granada, Spain. The use of the word "sepharad" in the title also gives the reader a clue to what the book is about. Sepharad refers to Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492 and, thus, you can tell that this is a historical fiction novel.

Hopefully next month I will be able to determine that name of the book cover designer and write a little bit about his or her background.

Book Cover of the Month: November

My best book cover for this month is from The Yellow Rambutan Tree Mystery novel by Ovidia Yu. Illustrator Andy Bridge designed the cover so well that Yu decided to make a minor change in her plot. She saw a clue in the book cover design that she wanted to incorporate into her novel.  

Andy Bridge graduated from the Brighton Polytechnic in 1989 from their illustration course.  He worked for a studio, Great Western, in West London until 2004.  He now lives and works in France.  In his book jacket design process, Bridge works in three dimensions, producing boxed collages and pieces inspired by all kinds of ephemera.  He has worked with all of the major publishers in the UK, Europe and the USA, including Random House, Penguin, MacMillan, Harper Collins and Orion. Bridge is an award winning illustrator.  He illustrated the cover of the 2022 Man Booker Prize winning novel "Life of Pi" boy Yann Martel as well as the 2009 winner "Wolf Hall" by Hillary Mantel.  In addition, he has created original works of art for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and wine labels for Domaine Saint Rose in France.

Book Cover of the Month: October

Nada Orlic designed this gorgeous book cover for Kevin Butler's novel. She has been designing book covers for the past ten years for her private business Erelisdesign.com and has a design portfolio of 1,300 books. Her goal as a designer is to make a book stand out in a row of other books at a shop and help to make a bond between the book and the reader at the first sight by capturing the most unique elements and key messages of the book.  

Nada's studio is located in her native Belgrade, Serbia.  She holds a printmaking and book design master's degree from the University of Arts in Belgrade. 

Book Cover of the Month: September

I love this book cover for Nancy Bilyeau's latest novel The Orchid Hour. The vivid colors are attractive and the orchid leaves are expertly placed. The book was published by Lume Books, a division of Joffe Books. Both are indie publishers based in Britain. I was unable to determine who designed this cover but whoever they are, they deserve accolades. It's a gorgeous book cover. Don't you agree? 

Book Cover of the Month: August

Kate Mosse's The Ghost Ship has a beautiful cover. What intrigued me the most is the center motif. It contains a fleur-de-lis, a sword and a bloody white fabric. I am presuming that the white fabric is the sail on the ghost ship.

I was not able to determine the identity of the book cover designer. It would have been nice to find out why the center image was chosen. As for the background, I saw similar images for sale on the Internet for authors to purchase. Did the publisher take the easy route here? 

Book Cover of the Month: July

Laura Klynstra designed the book cover for The Tiffany Girls. She is a freelance graphic designer who focuses her work on book covers and illustrated book interiors. In her previous job she worked as the art director at Hyperion Books and at HarperCollins Publishers in New York City. In her free time Laura loves to cook and creates new dishes with her best friend, Mumtaz Mustafa, for their Instagram blog: @spiceandsugartable. Her first baking cookbook, Christmas Baking, was released November, 2020. This creative lady lives in Lansing, Michigan.

Book Cover of the Month: June

I love this book cover. It was designed by Richard Ljoenes for publisher W. W. Norton. He is a designer and art director primarily focused on print-based design—book covers and illustrated book interiors. His background also includes advertising and corporate identity. His design and art direction has been awarded and recognized by many organizations and he has worked on over fifty New York Times Bestsellers.

Ljoenes started his career as a traditional advertising sketch-artist with D’Arcy (formerly DMB&B/Clarion) in his native Oslo, Norway. Eventually markers were replaced with a Mac and over the next few years he developed into a driven designer working on many of Norway’s biggest brands. Although thriving at the firm his status as the sole soccer-hating male on the European continent eventually forced his emigration stateside. After attending San Francisco’s Academy of Art he moved to New York, and following a brief period at Sullivan & Co Design, got his first start in publishing with HarperCollins Publishers. During his eleven years there he held numerous roles at several imprints, including Senior Art Director at Regan Books (w/stints in NYC and LA offices), V.P. Senior Art Director at both the Collins imprint, and more recent, the Harper Division. In June 2014 he left HarperCollins for the opportunity of starting on the ground floor of Regan Arts (teaming up once more with his former boss), a newly established Phaidon Global Company, where he served as Creative Director and oversaw all cover and interior design for a range of fiction, non-fiction, and illustrated books. Spring 2017 Ljoenes started his own studio. He now operates out of Boulder, Colorado.

It's exciting to see a young person dedicated to book cover design. We readers have alot to look forward to in the future from Ljoenes.

Book Cover of the Month: May

Weyward by Emilia Hart has one of the most beautiful book covers that I have ever seen. Logically, it is my best book cover for May. The cover designer is Michael Storrings.  He is the Creative Director at St. Martin's Press and he has designed book jackets for New York Times bestselling authors like Kristin Hannah, Mary Kay Andrews, Jackie Collins, Emily Giffin, Bernie Sanders, Bob Harper, The Kardashians, Jeffrey Archer and Lisa Scottoline. Storrings has won awards from the American Institute of Graphic Artists, the Art Directors Club, the Society of Illustrators, Print Magazine and the New York Book Show.

To create the Weyward book cover Storrings used images of background flowers from Liliboas/Getty Images. The vines and leaves were taken from bauhaus 1000/Getty Images and the beetles and crow were from The Palmer/Getty Images. Finally, the bugs were from Bodar Tivadar/Shutterstock.com.  He placed all of these images in a pleasing pattern for this cover design.

Book Cover of the Month: April

Lemon Curd Killer had my favorite book cover for this month. Doesn't it look inviting? It makes me pine for afternoon tea but, of course, a tea that someone else makes for me. The yellow color of the table is what I like the most. Yellow is my favorite color and seeing a table of sweets in yellow is appealing. 

I was unable to determine who designed the cover. What I did find was a blog post concerning Penguin vintage book covers and a 2016 book called Classic Penguin Cover to Cover by Paul Buckley. Buckley is the creative director for Penguin who published the book and he has a large staff of designers and art directors that work on the jackets and covers for sixteen imprints within the Penguin Random House publishing group. I will most likely get this book as book cover design is a new interest for me.

Book Cover of the Month: March

The Porcelain Moon historical novel has my best book cover for this month. The cover designer is Elsie Lyons. She used photographs taken by Ildiko Neer to design the cover. Lyons is the Senior Director of Art at Harper Collins Publishers.

Ildiko Neer is a fortysomething German photographer who loves to shoot forests. In fact, she is known as a forest photographer. She said in an online interview that her work reflects the feelings she experiences when she walks through a forest. Many of her photos have a dreamy appearance. Neer typically photographs flowers in either a field or a vase, trees, gardens and grass. She will find locations to shoot from Google Maps. Her favorite theme is nineteenth century. She also loves the post-photography process and uses several software programs, including Photoshop, to enhance her photos.  

Book Cover of the Month: February

It shouldn't be any surprise that I have chosen Andi Watson's graphic novel Paris as my book cover of the month. The bold colors on the cover are what induced me to buy the novel. Unfortunately, the comic strips inside the book were done in black and white. Simon Gane drew and colored the cover. His artwork on last month's Sunburn was my favorite book cover for January.  Gane is a British artist from Bath who works for Vertigo. Vertigo is an imprint of DC Comics that caters to mature audiences but also more sophisticated cartoonists. Gane is also a magazine and children's book illustrator. 

Book Cover of the Month: January

None of the covers of the books that I read this month were enticing. However, if I had to pick just one as my favorite is would have to be Sunburn by Andi Watson. Sunburn is a full length graphic novel about a girl who travels to Greece one summer to visit a family friend. The sunny colors of Greece, blue and white, on the cover caught my attention and was the reason I was interested in getting the novel. 

Illustrator Simon Gane did the artwork for the book. He is a British artist from Bath who works for Vertigo. Vertigo is an imprint of DC Comics that caters to mature audiences but also more sophisticated cartoonists. Gane is also a magazine and children's book illustrator. He sells original artworks from his Instagram page.

Book Cover of the Month: September

My favorite book cover of the month for September is Laura Childs' A Dark and Stormy Tea. I could not determine who the book cover designer is but wonder whether it was an in-house designer at Berkeley. This was disappointing because I like to write about the artist behind the cover. What I like about this cover is that it is a table set for afternoon tea. I LOVE afternoon tea so these drawings are always attractive to me. My favorite dessert, macarons, are on the table and there is a beautiful set of purple china also. What's not to like?

Book Cover of the Month: August

The cover of Dan Silva's Portrait of an Unknown Woman was designed by Will Staehle (pronounced stay-lee). I love the gold color and the peek at a canvas. Staehle's studio, in Seattle, is called the Unusual Corporation where he focuses on commercial design and original content creation.

He grew up reading comics and during summers he worked at his parents' design firm. You could say that art is in his blood. He has had jobs as the Art Director for HarperCollins Publishers and the Vice President of Design at JibJab in Venice. Staehle has received a prestigious award from Print Magazine which featured him in an article on the Top Twenty Under Thirty New Visual Artists. Staehle has designed book covers for well known writers such as Michael Crichton and Michael Chabon.

He got his start in the business when he was a senior in college and entered a national design contest. Staehle was awarded two second place awards in the design and illustration categories. Since the award ceremony for this contest was held at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC, he immediately received two job offers and accepted one at Harper Collins. He began there as a senior designer and worked his way up to the art director position.

In an interview on the Book Riot Blog, Staehle stated that he designs about fifty book covers each year and that it is difficult for him to design a cover for books that he does not enjoy. In order to obtain two perspectives on the cover, he will sketch cover designs after reading the quick cover brief and then prepare a second batch of designs after he has read the entire manuscript. 

50 book covers a year seems like alot to me but perhaps this isn't too much work for a professional artist.  In any event, I love what he has created for Portrait of an Unknown Woman.

Book Cover of the Month

I just love the cover of Kaikeyi. The orange and black colors are striking as is the silhouette of the character Kaikeyi. Lisa Marie Pompilio is the artist who designed the cover. She is the Associate Art Director at Orbit Books and Redhook in Brooklyn, NY. Pompilio designs covers for books of all genres and uses Photoshop to create her designs. 

In this installment of my book cover of the month series I want to talk about the book cover artist. I have wanted for awhile to write posts about book cover designers but didn't know how to approach the topic. Book cover of the month is a good way to get started.

Pompilio grew up in a family with a printing shop business. She worked with the linotype and read books at the library across the street from the business. It was at the library where she decided that she wanted to design book covers. After working with horses until she was 25, she went to art school and graduated from the School of Visual Arts. Pompilio had internships with photographers and at The Onion. Her first publishing job was with St. Martin's Press where she designed multi-genre book covers for 8 years. Her next job was with Orbit Books where she works today. 

The publisher will decide whether the book cover will be photographic or illustrated. Pompilio then produces several designs and presents them at the weekly cover meeting at Orbit. In these meetings the cover design can either be approved or require further development. 

To see other book covers that she has designed, check out her Twitter feed here.  Some of these covers are so pretty that I am going to have to read the books.

Book Cover of the Month: May

I love the happy colors of this book cover. The book is about the Mehra family in Mumbai but it is not a happy story. The main character is in the closet over his sexual orientation and has always been unhappy. The yellow and orange are good for depicting India fiction but The Other Man is not your typical Indian novel. In fact, I didn't like the book at all. It's about Ved Mehra who is still unmarried at age 38. He finally agrees to an arranged marriage with Disha Kapoor and their friendship blossoms during the wedding preparations. Soon thereafter Ved meets Carlos Silva and falls in love. The question posed by the author is whether or not Ved can come out of the closet.

Book Cover of the Month: March

Eat the Rich #1 has a classic horror book cover that enticed me to buy the comic. Red and black has always been a great color combination and colorist Roman Titov has used it effectively. The red eyeglasses really pop against the dark background. It is perfect for a story on class and cannibalism.

Release #1 is a set up comic and does not have any horror elements. This comes in future releases. The story reads more like a psychological thriller at this point and it's a very entertaining one at that. 

I enjoyed this comic and plan on reading the remaining 4 releases but since all 5 releases have been published in a paperback, I will get the paperback.

Book Cover of the Month: February

I love the cover of Fern Michaels 19 Yellow Moon Road. I chose it as my book cover of the month for it's color scheme. The bright yellow, pink and teal colors are what made me select the book for the Color Coded Reading Challenge. While I was familiar with the author and had a good impression of her writing, I had not read anything by her in years.  I am glad this cover was enticing because the story was outstanding. Michaels is back on my radar and while I wait for her next novel I am going to read her 2020 book Bitter Pill. In this case, it was right to judge a book by it's cover.

Book Cover of the Month: January

Double Blind by Sara Winokur has a fascinating cover. The tree branches and the path through the mountains reflect the type of story inside. The main character, Brynja, is a forensic geneticist. She uses DNA to solve crimes as well as locate her long-gone brother.  I think the path on the cover looks similar to a DNA sequence so it is appropriate for the book. The falling snow reflects the Icelandic setting. In addition, the blue, red and white color scheme is attractive.

The author's day job as a molecular geneticist has enhanced her storytelling abilities. What is amazing to me is that she lives in California but writes about Iceland.  Double Blind is her debut novel.  Check it out.