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.
12 comments:
I like your sketch, I liked your first cover.
Truly if they want you to change it how about putting it back to them to make a rough sketch for you to work with. They might then realise it isn't as easy as it appears.
I wish you well in this one.
It looks lovely:)
*Fingers crossed that the third time is lucky*
Do you know what astounds me? It's that even when you're naffed off, you produce a sketch that makes me catch my breath!
I'm sure, in the very long run, it will be worth it. Deep breaths now :)
Kim x
Trouble is, Julia, it's not third time lucky. I have only taken the art to finished work twice already but there have been lots and lots of roughs and also strange botched affairs from the designer.
So hard to keep the enthusiasm, but despite all of this, when/if this book makes it to the shelf (it is in serious danger of being pulled at the moment and the project being dumped) all of this noise will be gone and the book will be there in its own, quiet space and I hope, I really hope, will spend much of its time tucked quietly beneath a child's pillow as they dream of sailing away on their own paper boat, a favorite to be revisited over and over until the parent knows the words by heart, and the child too.
its a beauty
i hope all gets figured out for you and this wonderful book will be out there for all the world to see and soon!
best wishes
tabby :)
I like this new sketch. That is frustrating about the previous covers, but in the end I know it is going to be fabulous!
I know I am looking forward to buying this book for my daughter and letting her dream of your stunning imagery!
This morning, I read through some of these blog posts from the beginning and it seems that Starlight has been star-crossed and a struggle from the beginning. And in the time of this creation your mother was ill, and Mr Griffiths was ill, and the house is being blown open, and there is a lively puppy who gets up to things and into stuff, and Pixie has been on-and-off snuffling, and there was winter.
I worked for a company that became enthralled with focus groups. I thought focus groups were fascinating, but not for the reason I was supposed to. I was supposed to go the focus group and come back with clear ideas on how to make our book (or books) "better." Although the panelists were not usually able to articulate what they liked or why, nor why they didn't like what they so emphatically, enthusiastically, maddeningly didn't like, in the shape of the conversation there were answers about what to do. Like the space between the notes in music; like the negative space in visual art.
It might help to have a face-to-face meeting at the publishers with sketchbook in hand and great steaming pots of tea at the ready and talk over all the various ideas you've manifested. Sometimes conversation is the best process. There are things that show up in faces and hands and tone of voice that can point the way more readily than a note on a sketch or an email or even a phone call.
It can be very hard to keep in mind that all the back-and-forthing with the publisher is a sincere attempt to make things the very best they can be. It seems like they don't know what they want -- and maybe they don't -- but they do want that amorphous and frustrating thing called "better." And they do believe in you and James, and they believe in this project.
Without knowing very much about the text and the story, it's hard for me (for any of us, really, who are your fans) to say which of the many beautiful images you've come up with would do all the things a cover needs to do to best serve the book in the marketplace. Looking back over the posts, you have wanted to quit many times. But you have not. You’re so close now, and you have done so much that is beautiful and charming and enchanting. Please do press on and try to have faith in a good outcome. It would be a shame to leave the cover in the hands of the Photoshopinistas.
To dump a project which has your breathtakingly beautiful work on it - would be senseless in the extreme and deeply sad.
Even if it had your drawings, it would still be utterly beautiful. All the work you've shown here on the blog is gorgeous and truly lovely. There is always risk in producing a book and there are some fabulous artists out there - but... you are still one of the very, very best.
Hi Jackie,
I really like this cover - it ties in with the beautiful endpapers you have done which I really loved, they are stunning! I loved your first cover too...
I hope it works out alright for you this time after so many blows and frustrations. I admire your fortitude in sticking with it!
By the way, your 'Gold' exhibition was absolutely stunning!I was so thrilled to have had the chance to see it all. It's one thing to see your paintings on the computer screen, quite another altogether to see them in close up pristine detail! Thankyou!
Best of luck with everything Jackie...
Your work is magical and from the heart. If these fussy people cannot see your talent they are soulless with no vision. Every Sketch you have done for the cover has been perfectly fine!
I am sure every child would think the cover is special too. What the children think of your illustrations is what really matters in the end!
Best wishes from the Ginger Cat club.x
Your little boat is on a long and very rough sea journey but it is strong and determind and you are back in the helm, I am sure it will get to shore safely, I surely trust it will. I like reading the other comments too, it was interesting what my croft wrote.
This is beautiful. Of course i've liked or loved the other ones, too. This reminds me most of the first cover with the lovely zodiac/mandela feel to it... Here's hoping this one will do it for them.
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