I'm so excited to announce that the cover for The Train Rolls On is complete, and it is amazing! I can't wait to share it with you!
When the illustration process began, I have to admit that I was nervous. When I originally wrote the story, I had (of course) imagined what the illustrations would look like. I had an idea of how I wanted the train, the animals, and even the scenery to look. So, to turn the illustrations over to someone else was really difficult.
I made sure to do my homework when choosing an illustrator, and I had complete confidence in Christina Wald's skills and experience. At the same time, paying ANY illustrator was a serious commitment, and the last thing that I wanted was to end up disappointed with the result. Luckily, I couldn't be happier with how everything has turned out so far. I'll reveal the finished cover in a minute, but first...a sneak peek into the cover creation process:
In August, Christina created four concept sketches for the book's cover. Scroll through the photos below to view all four concepts:
Right away, I knew that I liked the first concept (Concept 1) the most. I felt that it best represented the wild adventure that the train and animals experienced on their way to the zoo. I asked Christina to move the cardinal so that it was sitting on top of the title (as in Concept 2); however, other than that, the cover sketch was complete (see the revised sketch below).
Keep in mind that the title and other text was included on this sketch (and the color version below) for spacing purposes only. Once Christina converted the sketch into its final color version, the artwork was transferred to David Miles (Book Designer) so that he and I could select the perfect fonts and finalize the cover design. In order to convert the sketch to final art, Christina digitally-painted the cover using Photoshop. Here is what it looked like once she was finished:
Note: A time-lapse video of Christina digitally painting the cover is available on the Books page.
Finally, David and I collaborated to select the fonts and finalize the cover design. Are you ready?
DRUM ROLL PLEASE...
TA-DA! This is what the cover of the finished book will look like! Isn't it incredible? I could not be more excited about it! Seeing my name at the bottom of the cover is so cool and so surreal at the same time. Watch out, world- I'm a children's book author! 😊
Here's one more look at the whole cover creation process. Scroll through the photos below to watch the cover come to life!
This cover far surpasses anything that I could have imagined. In fact, I now find it difficult to envision the book and its characters any other way. Christina has given each character their own personality, and David has created such a cheerful, fun, and fitting design scheme for the book. I am so lucky and so grateful!
On that note, I cannot thank Christina and David enough for their effort and dedication! They worked tirelessly to get this cover completed before the launch of my Kickstarter campaign on October 6th. They are wonderfully talented people, and I consider myself very fortunate to have them on my team!
For more information about Christina Wald, read my Illustrator Spotlight blog here. To learn more about David Miles, check out my Designer Spotlight blog here.
For more information about my upcoming Kickstarter campaign and a sneak peek at the reward packages that I'll be offering to backers, read My First Kickstarter Campaign here.