cover design Archives - Author K. Williams

Characters Illustrated – Open Book Bog Hop #235

August 3, 2020 By Captain Maiel

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #235
Do you draw your main characters so that a forensic sketch artist could put them on the cover, or do they belong to the reader?

Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop! The authors included in this ongoing series wish to thank you for your reads. We appreciate, even more so, when you share our writings with your friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Prepare to become a regular reader.

Having characters illustrated in a book is probably one of the touchier subjects of writing. This is due to the nature of the process. The characters illustrated are close to our hearts and that description can get locked into our minds as absolutely necessary. It takes some time and practice to get used to how this goes down. Let me unpack it for you, because I have been deeply attached and learned to let go…

The characters illustrated in my books are drawn throughout the narrative. I try to avoid info dumps. Exposition like that can really bog down the writing and annoy the reader. It’s ammature-ish. Yeah, though, there are some instances where it may be unavoidable. Do it delicately. Don’t spend a long page talking about every button and blip. The reader will get a complete illustration as they read, and you have a whole book in which to show them.

This said, don’t suddenly pull a rabbit out of the hat. For instance, Maiel keeps a number of blades tucked in her armor. We know what they’re for, and we know they’re there, so we aren’t surprised when she plucks one out to cut up a danava. Likewise for your historical pieces. Don’t suddenly drop something on a reader and risk it being unbelievable. This could unravel everything you’ve worked on. That said, if someone if one character is seducing another only to ice-pick them in the neck, I bet they hid that pick. You could say:

Donnie looked around the counter for the ice pick, but couldn’t seem to find the damn tool. He muttered to himself and continued to make the drinks using whole cubes, hoping Harriet wouldn’t mind. When he turned, Harriet stared like a cat with a mouse. It was sexy as hell, but dark, and Donnie paused a minute, unsure but that his body told him this would go real well for him.
I literally just made this up for this post…to illustrate characterization.

Do you see the subtlety of the characters illustrated? Avid mystery readers will get the clue. New and moderates will understand that pick is missing, and it will be no surprise at all when Harriet pulls it out of her dress to attack Donnie later. (Can you tell I like Noir?)

You also get the idea of describing characters from this. Harriet becomes pretty clear in your mind: a Lauren Bacall, with those sculpted brows and cat eyes, the slightly grinning lips. Overdoing it would look like: Harriet stared like a cat with a mouse. Bronze hair framed an ivory heart of a face, with green eyes. Her red lips were full and matched her swank crepe dress. You could do this, if it was the first time you met Harriet. But you want to spread it out. Donnie could offer her the drink he had and then touch her bronze hair, gazing deep into her spring meadow eyes. He could kiss her burgundy lips. He could then grip her matching dress, the rough feel of the fabric…just not all at once.

I know you have the burning desire to describe your awesome character but…

Don’t rush it. Let the reader experience things in ample time. Don’t water board them with details. Am I guilty? I probably am. There are just some instances, you need that description to dump quick: a private detective eye-balling someone, might be the best example. But, then, remember, if the dame who came to his office is sitting down to ask for his help, you have a scene to unload that information through. In addition, you want to ask yourself: does it matter to the story or just my heart? Does the reader need this information to understand my character? Is it necessary they have x, y, or z to support some characterization or plot device?

I full know how it is to have a design in your heart and mind, and be unable to unlock the two. The desire to share that complete picture with the reader can be very strong, because the writer feels strongly about the details. When I get to the Aghart Chronicles of Trailokya, there are going to be some interesting descriptions I will have to wrestle out of my heart’s grip. The above questions are the best way to manage that.

Where did I learn this? I learned those questions from listening to motivational speakers on the topic of anxiety. I am not lying. This is another reason that branching out in your topics of study can be really useful to your writing. After all, what is at the heart of not being able to let go of the leather pants description you spent a paragraph on in your draft? It’s anxiety. You are concerned the reader will not see the character in the way you want them to. The problem is, you can’t really control that.

Readers are going to envision characters in the exact way that they’re going to envision your characters. You can tell them blue, but the exact hue of blue isn’t going to be yours. So, you might say, cerulean then. Still not going to be the same cerulean you see. It’s closer, but is it exact? You can’t do that. You’re asking to take control of the reader’s mind, and that is just impossible–unless you are doing a film.

Only in film and art can you render the exact image that you’re thinking onto the page of the viewer’s mind. I have commissioned drawings of Maiel and Gediel, and the artists did amazing work. They really worked with me, though. I have created my own art, but I am limited by my skill levels in the various mediums available to me, and also limited by the mediums available. Creating art is not cheap and it is not easy. I like graphics and pictures, because I am very film focused, but that isn’t always possible.

What if I just have them illustrated on the covers, the characters I really need them to see exactly as I do?

The covers of my books–you may have noticed–do not have the main characters depicted. Why? Am I avoiding giving them a visual of these amazing characters I created? Aside from the obvious uniform items of a US Federal Civil War cavalry soldier, you get no face. I even worked a little on the body shape from the photograph. This is a young man of virile build. The model was close, but not exact. His uniform was impeccable, as was his horse. His face wasn’t anywhere close to any of the men in my book. He was in his later 40s/50s, with dark short hair. Joseph is a 20-something with shaggy blond hair. Moreover, I wanted the focus on the horse. This is a horse-soldier story, and the symbolism and connection to equines was a must.

The Trailokya covers do contain a few characters, but these characters are iconic figures that need no describing: Argus (arctic wolf), Pallus (barn owl, male), and Shee (black wolf). There’s nothing to leave to the imagination about them. They are perfect specimens of their species, and nothing more must be said. Including them on the covers, hints at the presence of Maiel. Is she standing right beside you?

OP-DEC features a snippet of a scene. Each item helps to describe and symbolize characters and plot points. It’s really a fun cover, and remains my favorite. I have a print hanging in my entry hall. The designer did an amazing job taking my thoughts and turning them visual. You know what that tells me? I am a powerful story teller who can communicate a cinematic experience–at least to other artists! I know this is the case, because much of the criticism of my work has compared it to film. It only makes sense as I write screenplays as well. They’re vastly different styles, but one cannot help to inform the other. This is why film often reaches to the library shelves for material.

Hopefully this article has been some help to you as a writer and an interesting window into the process for readers. If you love reading, studying writing only opens up that experience more! Click on one of the links below to continue the hop and find out more ways to work with description…

An Interview with My Cover Artist – Open Book Blog Hop #215

March 16, 2020 By Captain Maiel

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #215
Interview your cover designer (even if it’s you!)(talk about other covers they have worked on, what you love about their work, etc.)

Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop! The authors included in this ongoing series wish to thank you for your reads. We appreciate, even more so, when you share our writings with your friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Prepare to become a regular reader.

Back in March of 2015, I interviewed my cover artist for this blog. I’ll include it as my response to this question this month because he is extremely busy and tough to pin down for sometimes. With everything on his plate normally and the redesign of his website, I don’t want to disturb him to supply information he’s already done for me.

Originally Posted March 24, 2015.

OP-DEC: Operation Deceit a Screenplay by K. Wiliams — OP-DEC: Operation Deceit, the first book we worked on together. This currently hangs in my foyer.

Through mutual friends I met Scott Deyett, graphic artist, and was immediately impressed by his body of work at InHouse Graphics, LLC. I hired him to do the cover for OP-DEC: Operation Deceit and have since hired him to do the rest of the covers for my books, some graphics for my website, bookmarks and the all important business cards. If life is willing, I will probably have Mr. Deyett design the covers for my books from here to eternity…unless someone offers me the most epic artwork to ever exist, and is simultaneously NOT Deyett. (That person probably doesn’t exist.)

k_williams_header desgined by Scott Deyett

So, this month, I asked if he’d mind me interviewing him for the Artist portion of the blog. He’s joined me at Booktrope Publishing and done some covers for other authors that have just wowed my socks off. Our conversations during meetings are always entertaining. He leads a very interesting life. It also has occurred to me that a lot of people don’t understand the nature of his art/business. This is the perfect opportunity for a behind the scenes look at graphic design:

Most artists have rituals before they can create, is there something in particular that you must do or have before you can work? Not so much a “ritual”… if it’s a more mundane thing, like a business card or brochure, then I might research what has been done for other businesses of the same nature, so I can see what barriers have been set–turn the music on and go. If it’s a more creative project, like a book cover or poster, crank the music, maybe doodle a little sketch for the basic composition of what I’m looking for, browse my stock images for the right subject matter I need, and then finally search my library of textures to see what I can use to layer for the right feel of the piece. Then, I go to town on it. Digitally, stock art plays a big part of my projects and given the amount of experience I have from the years I’ve been doing this, I can visualize pretty easily how things will fall when I piece them together in my head. Oh, there may or may not be a sacrificial goat in there somewhere. Maybe.
What or who gives you inspiration? Well, when growing up, I played table top RPGs, read comic books, played video games… anything I could do to spark my imagination. But, I often found more inspiration from darker media. It’s those dynamic, darker subject matters that I’ve noticed give more of an emotional response from myself, and others. It’s something I carried with me throughout my undergraduate degree in Fine Arts. I’d cover massive sections of paper, maybe 6’ x 9’, in solid black pastel and then cut back into it with an eraser to let the imagery form. Almost in a very Caravaggio style, the subject emerged from this sea of darkness. I think a lot of this comes from growing up in the 80’s when we had an overabundance of darker tones in our entertainment without worry or concern of what it might do to the youth of the day (Maybe not so much a good thing, after all?!). Secret of NIMH, The Last Unicorn, Watership Down, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Transformers: the Movie- I can go on and on. All of them are amazingly dark visuals, with muted hues, gritty storylines and remarkable life lessons. There are few things in life that can stir a sense of emotion than watching a spectral Reaper Bunny prance around, beckoning the hero of the story to come with it.
Who was your favorite artist growing, and is it the same person now? I guess if I had to pick someone I would say artist Dave McKean who’s known for working with Neil Gaiman. I’ve always been illustrative with my own personal work and his illustrative works are an amazing. They are these complex visual montages of mixed media and texture. He would work in hand drawn marks, photos, three-dimensional objects and more, all manipulated into a single form or scene. And again, his tones are very dark and in their twisted interpretations, tell an amazing story. I’d highly recommend looking up the Vertigo Tarot deck he did. Unbelievable imagery.
Do you ever have to do research for your work and what sort of research is involved? Actually I get inspiration from all around me. As cheesy of a reply as that seems, it’s true. I’m constantly observing the world around me to see how everything reacts visually to everything else. I take that knowledge into my work which tends to deal mostly with combining all sorts of elements and making them feel like they are all in the same plane, believably. To do that you have to know how light sources, shadows, atmosphere, reflections, the elements, all these things interact and affect the attributes of the subject. You get that from the world around you.
What are you working on now that you can tell our readers about? Oh, all sorts of things. My business offers so many services that it’s never a dull moment at the computer. Currently I’ve got some nice book covers going on, a couple logos, promotions for a Las Vegas client and a BDSM Card Game. Yep. BDSM. I said it’s never dull, right?

Scott Deyett is owner and Creative Director at InHouse Graphics, LLC. He studied at Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute and SUNY Oswego. He lives in central New York with his fiancé and two beautiful little girls. Deyett joined Booktrope as a designer in 2014. His most notable client is certain Magician from America’s Got Talent, Mat Franco (2014).

What I love about his work is how clean and well designed it is. It’s sharp and eye-catching. I like that Scott is able to take a vision from your head and put it into a graphic to be used for your covers or advertising. When he created OP-DEC, I was honestly floored by this ability. It was like a vision straight out of my book. His work now graces many other books and advertising across the United States. He’s impressive in skill and will be in business for many years to come. Who knows? Maybe, I’ll be able to influence the future producers of OP-DEC to bring him on for the posters! No pressure, Scott.

Author as CEO – Open Book Blog Hop #116

March 26, 2018 By Captain Maiel

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #116

Being the CEO. How do you handle all the tasks you must juggle in this writing/
publishing world? Do you hire out certain tasks? Why or why not?

Welcome back to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop! If you’re new to the series, the authors included are grateful for your reads and appreciate, even more so, when you share our writings with your friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Be prepared to become a regular reader.

A lot of authors don’t realize that they are the head of a small business. When you endeavor to become published, as I’ve written about before, there are tasks that reach beyond just writing. A good number of you are already familiar with this, probably working on your second or third novels by now. However, it cannot hurt to reiterate what is involved.

Picture yourself as the CEO of a business. Your product is your finished novel. What would you need to have in place to produce that book? Other than capital, you need employees to work on different tasks. First and foremost, you are the writer creating the bulk of the product you plan to sell. Next, you’ll need an editor, a proof-reader, a designer, and a cover designer. The tasks don’t stop there, but those are the main check boxes. If you’d like a little more information on what to expect, please note the following: you’ll need to manage your selling platform (social media, website, internet sales points, appearances such as signings). And, you’ll need a person to manage your calendar and keep up your supplies.

That sounds like a lot! Well, it is, and it’s what you’re responsible for doing if you want to be successful. Being an author isn’t the glamorous image you see in movies. It’s very hard work, and most of it happens behind the scenes. Many first time authors think the majority of items listed will be done for them once they get the holy grail contract, but it won’t be. I’ve published alone and I’ve published with a company. Unless you’re a big time author, and even they must do their own bookings and other tasks in many cases, you will be responsible for getting it done. Mainstream publishing can give you some additional credibility, but if you haven’t already built that around you, then it is very unlikely such a publisher would consider your work.

Outsourcing, if you can afford it, is a great way to manage all the tasks that are sure to fall on your soldiers. Of the list above, do you know which items are absolutely required outsourcing? I hope you said editing, proofreading and cover designing, likely the website, too. Our threshold for working with and understanding the technology used in

the publishing industry is expanding as we become more used to computers and all they can manage to do, so other items, including a website, are usually within the purview of the modern author. In my personal experience, the items highlighted in this paragraph as absolute outsources, were the things that I hired out for. The reasons behind this rule: the author shouldn’t edit their own work as they need a second set of eyes to truly achieve a good edit besides a skilled professional; the marketing and design aspects of the cover and website require their own expert. If you think you’re that expert, you should still hire someone else.

I’m an experienced writer and editor. In fact, my day job utilizes those skills. Still, I would not edit my own work. You can do rewrites and polishes, but don’t rely on them to be enough. In addition to that, a proofreader who is not your editor should be hired. Hiring just about anyone for this job is sort of reasonable, so long as they have clerical or writing experience. Someone who does this for a living, however, will be worth every penny. Consider that they are finding all the mistakes and polishing them out, a secondary editor. I’ve been blessed to work with fantastic editors and proofreaders in the past. They helped make my book into the vision I had for it. Going on my own would not have developed the high-quality product I am proud to offer my readers today.

Cover designers and book designers dress your work. Visual art is a passion of mine, but I am under no delusions that I am the best artist to dress my book. Again, the vision that I have for my book can often times stretch beyond my comfort zone. That’s why I hire out. Every mistake would make me nuts. Book designers format your book to work well with all publishing platforms. If you don’t know what you’re doing, then you can really create a headache for yourself—with mahy long hours and lots of tears.

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With my first publication (Blue Honor in 2009), I did as much as I could to help ease the cost. I then used the money from my sales to afford a good editor and cover designer. I handled everything else, including web design. My next publication received some white glove treatment, and it shows. A print of the cover hangs in my home to remind me of the fantastic team I had assembled around my work.

Sadly, we don’t always get to hold those teams together, which is true of any business. Our workers are often hired from under us, or move on to other projects and lives that make them inaccessible for what we are planning next. Thus, an interview process should be constructed and tabs kept on the publishing-verse, so one can find the best team for their project when needed. (This is a great reason not to be a jerk to other authors. Cutting yourself off with a bad attitude can make it much harder to find good people to work with.)

I don’t miss my old website, but I was proud of what I had created at that time. Each step in my work opened doors to better options. My advice: do the best that you can with what you have, and use the successes that you gain along the way to build a better platform, and make meeting your vision possible.