More Covers

I told you I would do a two part series on Frances and Richard Lockridge this week.  I was only half right. I do expect to do one part of it on Friday, but tonight, I was too busy drawing pictures.

So I'm going to send those of you who are interested off to read a review I posted on Tumblr for the only Lockridge book back in print (at least in the Mr. and Mrs. North series): The Dishonest Murderer.

And then I'm going to show you some of the pictures I've been playing with.  I've done a lot more than this, but these are finished covers I did for Self-Pub Book Covers (which is currently off-line for new uploads, but I think they let people buy covers. Not sure).

Here are some I did with filters on photos of my own. It's got both a mystery and a non-fiction feel. 

And here's a photo of Max, my orange cat, which played with filters and colors.  I suppose I should have gone more blue for the demon werecat feel, but I do like that purple.  And Max has been in a wild mood lately....

I already did one cat design in the concept below.  I thought I might do a couple, in case someone does want a series. 

And this is a concept I stole from an old book at Gutenberg.  I want to play with it more. Maybe do some different designs with different trees.  Also, I need to decide if the background should have something in it.  (It is an alternative place for a title, too.)

I also have a bunch of unfinished things I can't really show you.

The pictures above really have mediocre typography, because I'm designing them specifically so that people can set type on them with Self-Pub Book Covers' online tool.  I'm choosing colors to go with their limited choice of type colors, too.

But when it comes to design, typography is really where my heart is, and so I think I'm going to do a regular feature on illustration and typography, mostly on Tuesdays.

Tomorrow, we'll have the last real episode of Test of Freedom (though there will be a teaser episode for where the story goes next on Monday).  And Friday, I'm going to talk about how Francess and Richard Lockridges were a strong influence on me -- particularly with my Starling and Marquette series.

See you in the funny papers.