Today: Discover How the Book Cover was Created

As part of My-Sister-the-Writer's book launch for Galaxy Nomads I thought you might enjoy seeing the "making of" the book cover.

Galaxy Nomads: Chronicles of the MacKenzie Clan

By Karen Elizabeth Brown

Since I hadn't read the book when I started, I began by asking questions from the author. I wanted info on things like characters, settings, tone, mood, themes. I may be doing the cover art, but the author has a "world" she's created in her own imagination, and I wanted to do it justice.

(Impt: Always be sure you use copyright free images and/or purchase the rights. We did both.)

Please note: for faster page loading, these are small thumbnails. You can click on any image to enlarge for details.

The first thing we needed was the right background. 

A wonderful photographer I happen to know 

(oh, gee, I'm married to him) gave us permission to use 

this photograph he took in Southern Oregon. 

Thank you to Jim R Stephenson Photography:

Cropped it:

Turned it into a night sky:

Landscaped it:

Now we need the Clan! Original graphics stock:

Modified to our Clan:

Added to background; 

yellow sunset backlighting to silhouettes:

Glow from sunset hitting our family:

Close up of the MacKenzie silhouette:

The Clan nestled onto the planet:

Now we need some stars, galaxies, night sky artifacts:

Our Ship is next! This is our original stock photo:

Sleeked out and modified:

The large intergalactic spaceship in which generations 

of MacKenzies left their home world, were born in, and died in!

The final image sans text:

And our finished book cover with text:

I hope you found this behind-the-scenes look at how the cover art was created interesting. I used a dinosaur version of Photoshop, PS Elements 6, but it did the job. If you need a source of free-to-use imagery, check out morgueFile.

I think my favorite part was creating the spaceship. It has a kind of "retro-future" look to it. No, really, that's a legit term in the art world! It cracked me up when My-Sister-the-Writer laughed and said that term was an oxymoron. Oh well, who ever said artists were normal, mwa ha ha ha.

Happy creating,

Retta

PS: for anyone interested in more detailed info on creating their own book cover, I wrote a 7 part cover art tutorial HERE. 

Galaxy Nomads -It's a Book Review!

My-Sister-the-Writer recently had the Official book launch for her 7th book, Galaxy Nomads: Chronicles of the MacKenzie Clan. 

Her blog post with all the links and info is here: Karen Elizabeth Brown 

It's been an exciting week for Karen, having her book published at Amazon and Smashwords in digital form, and being on a Virtual Book Tour. She was written up on Mary Pax's blog HERE, which was fun read.

Wanna read my book review?? 

Below is a shorter version of what I wrote for Amazon and Smashwords. It will let you get a taste for the story, and if you like what you read, jet on over to either of those providers to snag a copy. It's only $1.99!! (links at the end of this post). 

Galaxy Nomads: 

Chronicles of the MacKenzie Clan

For me, the adventure began right in the title: nomads, out in space, the chronicles of a clan. And Clans can be feisty, sticking up for each other no matter what. So... I expected some action, and I was NOT disappointed.

Overall, it's a space adventure from one end of the galaxy to the other. Only, the story spans generations! Their origins, worlds and a little family history. Why they started traveling the galaxy with #1 Rat-of-a-Bad-Guy on their heels. Deceit, betrayal, loyalties, loves, plagues and pirates!  

It's divided into 4 "books" within this one book. Book 1 starts out with a bang which sets the stage for the need to escape into space, pronto.

It seems conflict and stress bring out ones true nature, and sure enough, the nature of the two main Rat-of-a-Bad-Guys emerges... In my view, the worst Rat-of-a-Bad-Guy was the first one, and he was a doozy. Come to think of it, #2 was not too likeable either...They say every good story needs a good bad guy, and these 2 filled that job just fine.

Anyway, off into the galaxy they plunge, and it was fun to read about the worlds they come across....My favorite was the planet Patchouli, full of short blue-skinned people. The author did a good job painting word pictures....

I enjoyed all of the main characters, but my favorite side character was a mystic named Hestia...I would have loved to get to know her better. 

...So many were interesting, colorful and/or quirky characters and had such potential for developement, it made you want to know them better....

It's told chronologically straight, from the first refugees to escape into space, and then following subsequent generations who are born IN space... the medical and science part of this chronicle was believable and smoothly fit right into the story.... written with enough detail and authority that it carried the story and added to it in a credible way.

Same with the aliens encountered. Though they weren't too developed, there was enough so that they flowed with the storyline, and some even gave me a chuckle. Speaking of chuckles,  the authors sense of humor is on the dry, subtle side; no silly slap stick stuff. More wry to sarcastic and/or tongue in cheek and between the lines humor...

I enjoyed the casual bantering/bickering dialogue between some of the characters. Especially the second generation "couple", Ryder and Carredyn, who fight like cats and dogs. I KNOW people like that, and it cracked me up. 

But overall I would say the theme that kept popping up was one of strength and courage from unconditional love and from loyalty; of hope and perseverance against the powerful and corrupt... there are subtle yet interesting points of view that weave in and out seamlessly within the storyline... An added layer of depth... They are short and easy to overlook, but rich little morsels.

There were a couple of plot twists I didn't see coming, which made for fun surprises. One was a shocker that had me saying out loud "no way!" But without a doubt my favorite "action" scene was the final showdown in Book 4 between our hero and the #2 Rat-of-a-Bad-Guy... the battle was INternal, not external.... I could feel the "realness" of it.... How we have to face our enemy, not run; to believe in ourself; to accept help; to stand firm and discover we have more power at our disposal than we had realized. In the story it was much more colorful, explosive and dramatic than I could tell it here, fitting into the action of the plot naturally... In short, it was an exciting battle, and had me rooting for our hero.

Bottomline, YES I would recommend this epic story to anyone who enjoys character driven action adventure stories. It's colorful, creative and full of interesting people, with enough mysteries and hints to make me hope for a second book, making the Chronicles of the MacKenzie Clan into a series. On that basis... I give it 5 stars.

(To read my complete review, just zip on over to Amazon HERE.)

To download your copy for a fun summer read:

Amazon

or

Smashwords

Happy summer reading!

Retta

PS: I don't have a Kindle or other reader, but downloaded the FREE Kindle reader APP from Amazon for my Mac. If you need one, check it out Here. Did mention it's free? ;-)

Don't miss this fun summer read! Official Launch Day for Galaxy Nomads

It's finally here: the official launch day of My-Sister-the-Writer's 7th book:

Galaxy Nomads: 

Chronicles of the MacKenzie Clan

by Karen Elizabeth Brown

I totally enjoyed creating the cover art for this epic romp thru space adventure:

(can click on image to enlarge)

Here's a little introduction to the story:

The MacKenzie clan is forced to flee from the devastating destruction of a supernova and is challenged to a ruthless game of survival. When all seems hopeless, a new generation arises to battle their worst enemy in a unique battle of wits. Will the MacKenzies survive betrayal, pirates and wormholes to the outer quadrants? Here they find a new race of people on the Patchouli planet where the female is Alpha. They learn wisdom from the mystics and seers on their jaunt through the universe and from across the galaxy two brothers are reconciled to each other. They experience love and hate in the Merridian sector when a prince is abducted and must be rescued before a cruel cousin steals the throne. An epic read that will send you spiraling at warp speed through all the MacKenzie generations.

.................................

You can find Galaxy Nomads: Chronicles of the MacKenzie Clan in digital version both on Amazon and Smashwords:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Y97FB7W 

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/545574

And of course, My-Sister-The-Writers's own blog:

Karen Elizabeth Brown

And last but definitely not least we have Mary Pax, one of my favorite authors, contributing to the Official Launch Day by writing about one of the main characters from the MacKenzie clan, Ryder MacKenzie. You don't want to miss that!

The link to Mary's blog is here: M. Pax

It will be fun to see what Ryder has to say for himself about all this running around in space, plagues, pirates and... "that girl". Hmmmmmm. Haven't read the piece yet myself, so don't know what he's going to talk about. Come on, Ryder, spill the beans!

Happy reading!

Retta

Let's Party Medieval Style!

It's another Launch Party!

This times it's my very own sister, author Karen Elizabeth Brown. Today kicks off the official launch of her newest novella, Medieval Muse.

 Back on July 14th (HERE)  I gave you a behind the scenes look at the making of the cover art for Medieval Muse.

Now... we are celebrating the story itself! First, I'll share Karen's "official" announcement, then below that I'll give MY review of the book. Watch out, just because she's my sister, don't expect me to "fudge" with my opinion. ;-)

Medieval Muse

By Karen Elizabeth Brown

What happens when Victoria Budroix receives a cameo that promises to give her the desires of her heart? Since she doesn’t know what that would be, a trip to medieval times, intrigue, threat of war and an overbearing lord are on the list for her to choose from. Or could it be meeting her one true love?

Sir William of Conrad has escorted a stranger home to be under his protection. He discovers this woman speaks her own mind and melts his heart. He faces his father’s outrage and a broken alliance with the neighboring clan by falling in love. 

Medieval Muse is available as a free read from Smashwords.com, HERE. 

Karen Elizabeth Brown’s passion for writing is what fills her entire life with exhilarating inspiration. She spends her days writing, doing research and studying about the subjects of her stories.

When she’s not writing, she enjoys music and reading, especially medieval fantasy. Born in Southern California, she migrated to Southern Oregon in 1974 where she now resides in the Rogue Valley with her family and friends. Find out more about the author at her official website. 

Okay, time for my honest review. 

Sister or not... Karen wrote a totally interesting story! I love time travel type tales, and this novella whisks you back to medieval times in an unusual way. 

I could identify with our leading lady. A modern, strong willed, independent and spunky gal who DETESTS having to ask ANY man for "permission" for anything... being plunked down in the middle ages! I enjoyed the humor that situation caused.

I also enjoyed "meeting" the people from the castle. The main characters seemed real and believable, from the castle gossip to the timid scullery maid. And of COURSE our leading man. Poor guy had his hands full with this feisty "Lady" who appears out of nowhere!

I won't give away the ending, but let's just say it didn't leave me grinding my teeth, like some unresolved stories do! It ended "just right". :-)

If you enjoy romantic fantasy, time travel, castles, intrigue, humor, double-crossing women and gossips... well, maybe not those last two. But this was a totally enjoyable novella, just right for a hot summer evening with a tall glass of iced tea.

Happy reading,

Retta


PS: Did I mention this was a free download at Smashwords? Just follow the link to Smashwords and download the format that works best for you. And if you enjoy it, would you do my Sis a favor and come back to leave a review at Smashwords? 
Thanks bunches!

Glowing Cameos & A Free Story

Back in June I posted a seven part Cover Art Tutorial (HERE). So today, instead of including instruction, I'm excited to simply share the WIP (work in progress) photos of the cover art I made for a new story coming out in August.

The author is my sister Karen Elizabeth Brown 

(her blog is HERE)  and the story is titled 

Medieval Muse 

Her first announcement for her new story, which will be a free download from Smashwords, is HERE. 

Okay, enough chatting... let's see how this thing was created. :-D

(As always, click on pics to enlarge if you'd like)

First, the noodling around with thumbnails, playing with ideas. I also did a lot of research on medieval imagery, authentic cameos, and castles. I ALWAYS enjoy the research part... it's fascinating, like peeking into the lives of our ancestors and history.  And I have to reign myself in or I'd spend way too much time on it. :-}

Here are a few of those thumbnails... 

Next I put together some mock-ups and 

sent them off to the author for feedback..

Also converted one to black and white, 

to check values and see how it would read 

on the older Kindle devices.

Final design on tracing paper, ready for transfer...

Painted on heavy watercolor paper with acrylics. 

Note I left some things to be finished in Photoshop...

Close up of the painting ready to scan...

Hey... you're ignoring me!! 

I get so lost in my imagination, Joey had to

jump up and beg for attention, poor girl...

Now we are inside Photoshop with a close up. Here I've finished the background, simulating old leather; added the morning sun rising behind the castle; added highlites and reflections, and deepened shadows...

Now the glow from the medieval cameo. 

As you will read in the story... this is no ordinary cameo!!

Finished with all the final touches. 

Here is a close up for the curious who, like me, 

enjoy a close peek. Remember you can click it

to make it even larger...

I loved this font because it looked old and carved from stone. 

And here it is, the finished cover art for Medieval Muse!

I hope you found this interesting, and don't forget to visit Karen's blog for the book Launch Party that will take place August 1 - 6, when you can download her story for free from Smashwords.

Thanks for reading,

Retta

Cover Art Part 7: We Made It!

(Part 1 of the Tutorial started HERE) 

We're on the homestretch. The painting has been scanned in to photoshop, and ready for the finish work. (As always, can click any pics to enlarge)




For a re-cap, here was the pencil sketch:

Here is how raw it looked at first scan into photoshop:

Step 9) The text. 

Absolutely make sure you use separate Layers for the text. Pick your font with care. Number one priority: readability, both large and small versions of the cover. I know, I already mentioned that... but it's that important. :-)

The whole point is Communication. If it can't be read, it's worthless.

The legal stuff: If you download free fonts, make sure it says you are free to use it for personal AND COMMERCIAL use. Many are only for personal use only. You can NOT use this for a book cover that will be sold. I found so many cool fonts that I dearly wanted to use, but... nope, they were for personal use only.

I hunted high and low trying to match the font from an old movie trailer for the Wizard of Oz. I couldn't find it, so just came as close as I could to the feel of that font. Here's that neat old movie title page:

Here we are, waiting for touch-ups and text:

Cleaned up the edges; removed the texture where it shouldn't be; added a glow around the silhouette; added reflected light to the flying monkey; added color and highlights to the title 3; added final sparkles here and there.

I experimented with a curved Title, to mimic the shape of a rainbow. But when the cover was reduced any smaller, it was extremely hard to read.

In the end, I chose readability over nostalgia:

And here is what I chose for the Sub-title. It needed to be readable, yet subordinate to the main title. And since the concept that Jules was presenting was the idea of going BEYOND the flying monkeys, I used the Warp Text tool to make that word stand apart.

This part of the design, the three 3's,  was made using a stencil font. I then went to Layer Styles, to Visiblity, and chose Ghosted.

Step 10) Final copies. 

All done! Be sure to save your creation in PSD form if using photoshop, or whatever original format your program uses. Reason: every time you make changes to a jpeg, it degrades the image. Better to make another copy from the original PSD, make any changes, then save it to a new jpeg.

Send your author the needed sizes they prefer, or what's required by the publisher. 

I sent my author:

-a full sized file PSD, 1650 x 2550 pixels, 11.5 MB

-a black and white jpeg, 647 x 100 pixels, 115 KB

-a blog size file, 453 x 700, 45 KB

-a thumbnail size file, 250 x 386, 61 KB

Your requirements may vary, so be sure to check.

So there you have it... 

my journey from this:

To this:

Close up:

I hope this will be helpful to other cover art beginners. And if not, at least entertaining! LOL!

If you are intrigued by her book, I invite you to visit Jules Joyce (HERE) and find out more. Her book will be out this summer... exciting!

And, I'd love to hear what you think of this tutorial! If you like it, I'd be happy as a clam at high tide if you told someone else about it. They might find something in it useful, too. Thanks! :-D

Part 1 of the Tutorial  starts HERE. The Steps are more fully explained in each post. 

The Process Summary:

Step 1) What is the main concept; think simplicity

Step 2) Find out the needed technical stuff: aspect ratio, pixels, file size etc.

Step 3) Do a lot of quick thumbnails, in black and white (pencil or digital)

Step 4) Play with color schemes, which supports your concept best

Step 5) Gather any needed reference material

Step 6) Finalize your sketch; think both large & small image readability, & bold text

Step 7) Transfer sketch to your support if paper sketching; or scan in to computer

Step 8) Continue in your chosen medium, or in photoshop (working in Layers) 

Step 9) Font: readability is priority one; must be allowed for commercial use

Step 10) Final copies. Save in PSD. Send needed sizes to author, or what's required by publisher. 

The ideas here are most applicable to the traditional artist who is using a digital art program to do the finish work. Those making 100% digitally created cover art are a horse of a different color. 
;-)

Thanks for reading,

Retta

"I know you've heard it a thousand times before. 

But it's true - hard work pays off. If you want to be good, 

you have to practice, practice, practice. 

If you don't love something, then don't do it." 

--Ray Bradbury, 1920 - 2012