Musings of Two Creative Minds

When it came time to work on the cover for "The Vampyre Blogs - I: Coming Home" I was finding myself coming up against a wall as far as cover art ideas went.  The other books had been relatively easy because of their two word titles: "The Bridge" and "The Ship". But this time the title was much longer, so I needed to come up with something different. Since we were using the word 'blogs' as part of the title, I thought about incorporating a computer or laptop into the picture.  So I experimented with Adobe Photoshop and came up with this image: While very effective in many respects, some people told me they missed seeing my original artwork on the cover. Many said it helped make our books stand out more.  So I began wracking my brains for a a new cover style and wasn't coming up with much. Mind you, at this point we had not even started writing the novel and decided not to worry about it.  I figured once the story was written I'...

NOTE: I already shared this post on "The Vampyre Blogs - Private Edition", but it seemed appropriate to share here as well, since I talk about what's been going on with me for the past 2 weeks.  There will be new posts about writing shortly.  Consider this one, a quick update about me...  Hello everyone, sorry for the slow updates recently.  I had planned on another post today, but life has a way of kind of being really getting in the way sometimes.  Especially when you're going back to college.  I started attending my first university this week.  Prior to that the past few weeks have been chaotic with my wife getting a new job.  She got her Bachelors Degree last spring at the same university where I'm going now.  She studied to become a high school math teacher.  This summer had been a rough one for us for several other reasons as well, including her taking special summer courses for her credential to be come a teacher. ...

      I have another treat for you all today.  Allow me to introduce author and blogger, Brandy Nacole:  Why book covers are so important.           There’s this saying, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover,’ but let’s face it, it happens.  When searching for a book the first thing someone is going to notice is the cover.  The cover can then draw that person into reading the synopsis.  If the synopsis and the cover draw the reader in, they could possibly buy it or put it on their to-be-read list.                              My own personal experience with a cover design came with Uniquely Unwelcome.  The first edition cover was a hand drawing of a girl looking up at an eagle.  While it was a nice drawing, it just wasn’t up to par with other Fantasy covers.  It became v...

A quick Vlog entry about book covers and what to watch for in making your own from scratch.  I don't recommend necessarily doing one yourself, unless you are an artist.  It's fine to maybe make a rough sketch and get an artist friend or even hire someone to do it for you.  There are plenty of artists who specialize in doing book covers and you can find them all over the internet, or through friends on FB.  In my case, I am an artist, but also my cash flow is very tight.  So I basically HAD to go this route.  So this vlog entry is about the thoughts I put into the image and how it would appear to the casual reader going through a bookstore, or skimming through Amazon or Barnes and Nobles' websites. I would also point out that there are a number of very good book cover programs available on the internet, including through Createspace, Smashwords, Lulu and the others.  The nice thing about those is that they are already formatted to fit whatever stan...

I thought you all might like to see how the cover of my novel is coming along.  It's almost done.  The editing of the novel itself is coming along nicely too.  I'll let you all know when I start the formatting for Createspace, Kindle, Nook, PDF, paperback (i. e. print on demand), etc.

A few weeks ago I asked you all for your advice and opinions about what to do after my novel "THE BRIDGE" had been rejected after being considered for almost 2 years.  Well, during those 2 years a lot has changed in the publishing world.  E-books are now considered more acceptable than when they first started. In fact, some publishers and agents wait to see how well a self-published e-book does before considering taking an author on.  They want to see how good the author is at self-promotion and getting their product out there and recognized as something that is a must read.  From their point of view this takes some of the guess work out of whether or not the product is good and whether or not the author is willing to put in the work to help promote their product. So after a lot of thinking and listening to you all and other authors I've been befriended by on Facebook I finally reached my decision.  Using the critique I was given by the agent who turned it dow...

This is a rough vine charcoal sketch/design  I came up with for the cover of my first novel "THE BRIDGE".  I'm not happy with the top half so I'm going to have another go and put in a figure of a woman with incredibly long flowing hair standing in the middle of the bridge.  Like in this image, her hair will stretch down to ground and further down the stonework to create the the words of the title.  A dark stormy sky will be her backdrop.  The other words will be put in during editing of the image.  I am planning on soft pastel or an Ink/Watercolor combination to bring color into the final image. All that is seen in the image actually takes place in the book itself.  I like to be honest with my readers and give them a hint of what they will find between the covers.

Happy Holidays Everyone.  This is a piece I did a few years ago of a European Father X-mas.  I did it in soft pastel and it hangs on the wall in my Mom's place back in Sacramento.  I was very pleased with how he came out.  I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a Wonderful Winter Solstice, a Happy Hanukkah, a magical Kwanzaa, and especially a Happy and Safe New Year's. College is done for now and I hope to post more frequently again once I get back from Stockton after this weekend.  We'll be visiting and staying with family up there for a couple of days.  Then we'll be back home and some friends will be staying with us for New Year's.  Lot's of changes coming up for us in the coming year that I'll tell you about in another post soon.  In the meantime, blessings on you all and enjoy the holiday season all of you. I hope to post again before the year is out.  Take care.