I thought illustrating my book cover would be a breeze. Ha ha ha. Haley, you sweet, sweet fool.
It turns out designing a book cover is quite different than drawing a comic. There’s choosing the title typeface and putting together an attention-grabbing (but not too wild!) color palette and creating a design that communicates the concept of the entire book without saying too much or too little and making sure it all fits within the allotted space without being too crowded or too sparse. Even with the gentle help of the incredible in-house designer at my publisher, I felt overwhelmed by possibility.
If outer space wasn’t it, I thought a photo booth strip or photo collection could be a fun way to communicate the many facets of my relationship with anxiety.
Something clicked at this point in the process — okay, there’s not a ton of room, but what if I communicated the importance of independence in my relationship with anxiety, but also our closeness? Thus, the image that would inspire the final cover was born (big Creation of Adam vibes!):
Next we played with the placement of the text:
Then the designer brilliantly added a speech bubble and it really started coming together:
Art is such a process. It always is. I hope you enjoyed this peek behind the curtain (or cover, really).
And of course, if you want to see the cover IRL, she’s officially out Tuesday, April 16! Oh, btw Grace Helbig approved of the book’s texture, so. Yeah. A LOT to look forward to!!!!
Talk soooon!
gosh I loved this little trip down book cover lane!! so inspiring, refreshing and fun!
I love the behind the scenes look. Can’t wait to get a copy and feel that cover. 😂 Congrats on your upcoming release Haley!