To celebrate the gorgeous final cover for THE VESPERTINE, we were lucky enough to get a chance to interview the cover designer! Regina Roff (http://www.reginaroff.com) is an Associate Designer at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and she was kind enough to answer some of our burning cover questions.
I originally went to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia for Illustration; after 2 years and some of the program I began to realize that my skills for designing were surpassing my skills for illustrating (plus, I really loved designing) so I changed my track to design.
I had always had an interest in children's illustration (which was reflected in my early illustration work) and marrying that interest with my design skills led me to the field of children's book design.
I was very fortunate to meet my art director, Christine Kettner, at a portfolio review. She liked my work and just happened to have an open position and the rest is history. That was about a year ago.
I have a special relationship with YA covers because I have friends who are designers and friends who are illustrators. My favorite team is Elizabeth Parisi (creative director of Scholastic) and Tim O'Brien (illustrator extraordinaire) with the covers for THE HUNGER GAMES and other great titles.
* What is the process for picking "the perfect" cover for a book?
Then I read the manuscript and take notes about the mood, any scenes that strike me as good cover possibilities and details like totems, settings, colors, etc that might help build the image. Then it's a process of working with the art director and the editor to choose if we're going to go with an illustrator, have me build something with stock imagery, or hire a photographer.
Then a HUGE meeting of editorial, marketing, production and design, happens where the cover comp is discussed and approved (or not).
In this case, Carol Chu- another designer here at Harcourt- is the one who found the final image we used..
The second is getting comps approved. I love making the comps, don't get me wrong, but it can be a very long and arduous process sometimes and there's nothing better than hearing that "OK, go to finish!" after all that hard work.
Lastly, I love picking out the case and endpapers. It seems like such a trivial thing, but deciding what the actual board and endpapers look like is a lot of fun and can add so much character to a book when you remove the jacket. It's like a little hidden treasure under there sometimes!
(And I recommend checking out the boards of THE VESPERTINE when it comes out; I have some fun ideas for what will be hidden under that jacket!)
* What was an important element from THE VESPERTINE that you wanted captured for the cover?
Thank you, Regina!! If you want even more behind-the-cover-scenes action, check out her blog, where she shares cover designs that didn't make it, details on layout, and more!
Thank you to Saundra Mitchell, author of The Vespertine for this wonderful opportunity and for letting us host this AWESOME GIVEAWAY!
3 winners have the chance to win some amazing prizes. Here's what our prize packs contains: 1st Winner-
· 1 signed ARC
· 1 signed dance card
· 1 signed special bookmark
· 1 silver & amber sun pendant on a black silk cord.
· 1 blown glass amber pen w/ amber ink & rest
· 1 bar of Bay Rum and 1 bar of Apple Jack handmade soap
· 1 signed dance card
· 1 signed special bookmark
· 1 signed regular bookmark
· 1 bar of either Bay Rum or Apple Jack handmade soap