Last month I blogged about my designer’s initial Southern Discomfort cover designs. I gave feedback, Sam came back with fresh suggestions.
I suggested that as the hand of glory — a black-magic talisman made out of the hand of a hanged man — plays a large role in the book, that would be a useful visual sign of the fantasy element. With that guidance and the other thoughts discussed at the link, Sam sent me these.
As you can see, the first one captures the Gothic feel of some of Sam’s first designs, plus it gets that Maria, my protagonist, isn’t wearing a dress. We’ve got the hand of glory, the ruined Southern mansion, one of the malevolent crows running through the book. The second two are modeled on one of the less literal covers in Sam’s first set, conveying Maria’s vagabond status. The newspaper in #3 suggests the era.
For another non-literal cover Sam offered this one.
Here we’ve got vagabond and ravens, with the feathers catching fire to suggest something’s not normal.
#4 is cute and distinctive but it looked a little too rom-com for me. #3, despite the hand of glory and the newspaper, didn’t work well at all.
#2 I like. It’s a way to work in multiple different elements, it stands out … but like the similar cover in the first five it doesn’t suggest the dark aspects of the book.
#1 worked best. I gave Sam more feedback — the hand of glory should be smaller, I’d like to get Gwalchmai and a cat (cats play an important background role in the book) on the cover — and let her get to work.
The results? I’ll get to them soon.
All art by Samantha Collins. All rights reside with current owners.
