I absolutely love before and afters! The first is the sketch idea I drew and presented at a covers meeting and subsequently commissioned.
The second is the final cover which had many, many iterations of roughs in-between. The illustration is by the studio Raid71.
An exciting commission came through to produce a picture book for Studio Press, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK. This was a ‘mega’ urgent job (excuse the pun) and a passion project of singer/presenter celebrity Rochelle Humes of S Club and The Saturdays fame. I worked closely with editor Jasmine Richards and the amazing illustrator Rachel Suzanne. Working round the clock we produced a completed picture book from start to finish in under two months!
I mapped out and storyboarded the insides, drew up thumbnail sketches and then art directed the illustrator from roughs to final artwork, oh and designed the cover. Buy here!
You may see the cover work in progress below . . .
Colour options
I sketched up various options for the cover so the Rochelle had lots to choose from.
This is my most recent cover design commissioned from a client in the States, it is my first job that I got through Reedsy—a network for publishing professionals who come from all over the globe. Reedsy was founded by Emmanual Nataf in 2014 after receiving funding from the European Union and has since built up a trusted reputation using professional editors, designers, marketeers and ghostwriters who have experience crafting quality books.
Written by Priya Ardis who has a background in computer science, Merlin Raj is a story about a service dog who finds his training is not enough when Mom Raj can't come home for the holidays. When he learns to use computer science in hopes of giving his best friend, Matthew, the perfect holiday, he finds his true purpose isn't just to help Matthew walk but to be part of the family.
For this brief, I designed a few variations of the cover using the authors’ illustrators artwork of Merlin—who’s rather cute!
Meet Briony Denley . . . under-appreciated wife, underwhelmed mother, and unchallenged mojito drinker. Candid, witty, and unashamedly tongue in cheek; 'The Ordinarily Extraordinary Life of Briony' is an addictive feel-good read of first world problems in modern day life.
It was really refreshing to design my first ever chicklit novel, The Ordinarily Extraordinary Life of Briony written by debut author Purbeck Wintour—which is absolutely hilarious. Here I designed and illustrated the cover with hand-lettered typography with insides that feature my illustrated chapter heads. It is without doubt the funniest book I have read in a long time, laugh-out-loud and a compulsive read full of witty one-liners.
Designs for a children’s book about global warming for Quarto Publishing. The brief was to have a mainly typographical approach with spot images. A fun project with a serious subject, adding touches of lightness and humour.
