New back cover

Whilst the light in my new studio is beautiful in daytime at night it is not conducive to photographing work, but hopefully this will give some idea of what the almost finished back cover looks like. Now only the front to go, again.

New large rough for cover, with details

When all is said and done...

.. and the cover is finished and proofed, when the book is printed and bound and in the shops and makes its way to its final destination, a family, a child, quiet moments of peace and sharing, all that has gone before will not be evident anywhere in the pages of the book. With luck it will look like a dream, like the paintings and words came effortlessly together flowing from the creativity of author and illustrator.
With luck it will become a favorite bedtime book, tattered and battered by the turning of pages and reading, reading, reading. It will grow up and feed the imagination of a child who will escape from his or her worries of everyday life on a paper boat of their own making. It will be a key, a portal that guides them into the wonderful wealth of their own creativity and imagination.
It is with this hope that I have returned again to this project and it is to reveal something of the working process behind picture book production that I began this blog.
I hope that by the end of this Starlight Sailor will shine in bookshops all around the world.

Cover cover cover cover cover........

New cover rough approved.
Or is it really approved?
They like it.
But do they really like it?
I feel that I am entering the territory of The Mighty Boosh here.
Or am I really entering the territory of The Mighty Boosh?

Eating humble pie

Thanks for all the messages of support. Felt so much better to have walked away from this. Unfortunately I have had to eat my words and try yet again to pull a cover out. Either that or the whole project gets pulled.
Barefoot are a good publisher. They do know what they are talking about and have published many very fine and beautiful books. Somehow, with this one , we all seem to have lost the plot, apart from James who remains very reasonable, calm and steady.
So, new cover rough, yet again.

On further reflection

I quit.
I have had enough of this.
I have done my best, many times over, and it wasn't good enough.
I have bent over backwards to be accommodating.
And now I feel like a rag that has been rung out one to many times and this is not a good way to feel and not productive to creativity.
So, I quit.

First new rough

First thoughts, something completely different and elegant, with white background and cloth spine and gold foil.
Much of the design would depend on some very elegant calligraphy.

Covers, proofs, patience.

There has been silence for a while on Starlight. The proofs turned up and were not met with any degree of delight. That is all I wish to say on that matter.
So now it is time to look again at the book.
I sent back tracings showing where I thought the type should go, and how, and also which type face to use.
Also the cover has been looked at again and the decision seems to be that I should have another go.
Third time lucky?