Elusive: An International Thriller Book Cover Design

Tonight I’m working on an update/makeover for Sara Rosett’s International Thriller “Elusive”.

Here is the original cover.

Some things I don’t like about it: the original background image (street) has no styling, same with the gun/money. I would have run a filtered action once I put them both together to make the colors more cohesive and a little more dark and mysterious. Doesn’t look like a thriller book cover to me.

Not loving the Red text ( a little hard to read). The title is transparent, and has a white stroke and a black stroke/drop shadow… there’s too much going on.

Here are some of my samples:

 

Another dark, supernatural fantasy book cover for a paranormal romance

Today I’m working on a prequel to Gwen Ellery’s “Miss Hyde Series: SIMMER”. We spent a long, long time on the first one, but it’s awesome. For this short-story companion novelette, Gwen wanted to use a combination of these Dreamstime photos for the lovesick hero.

After a few hours of hard work, we’ve got this. I love it. What do you think?

 

We decided to lose the jacket, add some fog, and put a girl in the back.

A SUMMARY OF SMITTEN

Before passion simmers, first it smites …

In Smitten, the prequel to Simmer, nineteen-year-old Andor dreams of fleeing Vienna with his is young lady love to escape violence at the hands of the revolutionaries whose meetings he and his girl used to attend. But can he trust her not to reveal their plans? She’s so changeable. Is this love, or is she using him in a dangerous game?  For more about the Miss Hyde Series, visit http://www.gwenellery.com:

 

Creative Book Covers: Special Summer Deals!

This spring my book cover service exploded, as the word spread and my book covers got out there in the real world of book publishing.

I was having a hard time keeping up, so I closed this site for a couple of months to think about where I want this business to go.

I’m finally back open: I’ve kept my book design services affordable, and added some rules (number of revisions, etc) that should make the process smoother and faster for everyone.

If you’re thinking about getting a book cover later this summer, I’d appreciate it if you put in your order early: I’d rather book orders in advance so I know how much work is coming, so I can plan and organize my time.

Otherwise, if I suddenly get swamped with orders, I’ll have to close the site again and you might miss your window.

During the summer only, if you order a cover I’ll throw in a web site review, and a couple of ads if you need them (for Facebook, Google, etc).

Just remind me and say the secret password: “templeton.”

After a hard, sweaty summer in Taipei filled with book cover work, I plan to be back in Oregon for the winter holidays, possibly with trips to Hawaii and Mexico thrown in. So I’ll be taking on less work in the fall of 2012.

 

Thanks!

Derek