Today I have been busy reading inputs from my editor, and looking at the covers my talented friend, the Italian artist Sandro Fiorini, has been creating for me.

Sandro and I have been emailing each other several times a day for the last week exchanging ideas and deciding on fonts. He hasn’t read The Priest, and so we are proceeding slower than we would otherwise. Also, as an author, I don’t seem to be able to describe my book succinctly enough for my cover designer.

I have decided to post our progresses and our failure in communication to show what an incredible journey is going from a merely formed idea to a final cover.

The Beginning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful cover, but it gives the reader the wrong assumption about the genre. The Priest isn’t a romance novel, and the potential buyer would feel betrayed by the art. I had briefly spoken with Sandro about the project, but it is evident that I should have taken few more minutes to explain what I wanted.

 

 

Second Attempt(s)

I gave Sandro few details about The Priest’s story, and he drew three sketches.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needles to say my friend is talented.  Sandro should start drawing The Priest’s graphic novel right away.

I realized at that point that we were getting definitely closer, but few details were off, and that I needed to give Sandro more information about my work. First my novel’s genre isn’t romance or fantasy, but a combination of alternate reality and love story. The drawing style would be perfect for a fantasy cover, but it gives the wrong impression for The Priest’s modern day setting. Ginecean technology is similar to ours, so the futuristic jet was out of place. The City of the Men looks like a natural pyramid from the outside. Finally, the main character is a man, the slave Mauricio. I liked the idea of having a close up of the face, and the landscape as the background.

But Sandro’s time isn’t wasted because the general atmosphere and the attire in the drawings could  work for a scifi project like Green Glass and High Tide (working title).

Second Cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I loved this image from the beginning. I like the sepia color, and I think that Mauricio’s face is sad enough, but his hair has to go. A slave doesn’t have time to style his mane. Also both the road and the city are too civilized. The City of Men is hidden in the desert and there is no road to get there.

 

Variation of the Second Cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Much better already. Maybe I would change the fonts? Also my personal techie commented that the proportions are wrong.

Second Variation of the Second Cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Changed the fonts. I would go bigger, and I would change something in Mauricio. The forehead is too visible?

For now I will send Sandro to sleep. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.