Hello all! I’m taking a short break from writing Betrayer of Blood (Catalysts of Chaos Book 2), to do something I haven’t really done here before – a series of posts on the evolution of a book cover. Hopefully everyone will enjoy getting a peek into the process. The cover I’m sharing is for a not-yet-titled release in the upcoming Villains of Dimmingwood prequel series (coming in 2017). All artwork in this post is by the excellent Michael Gauss, who’s done 11 (and counting!) covers for my books.

How does the process work? In the beginning, I describe my characters and setting to Mike. He does several early sketches of possibilities for the cover and we choose the one that best suits the book. This part is always tough because, when I first get the sketches, I want all of them!

Here are several early drafts done for the Villains of Dimmingwood cover:

Although I was intrigued by the top two, I loved #3 the most, so we narrowed it down to that one. Here’s an early look at the work-in-progress with color added.

Next week, I’ll post more progress pics, as the cover continues to take shape. See you then!