The long lazy afternoons...

WAY WAY WAY back in August, I was commissioned to create some pretty stylistic covers for Bernard Beckett's teen-fiction novels Genesis and August. Both briefs were pretty specific, but the joy came from working with the AD, Chong, who was both very encouraging but open to my style and my interpretation of the brief.

The most interesting direction of the two was August (the two protagonists in the car), as the cover is designed to sit upside-down on bookshelves, creating an up-close sense of intrigue about the face that their hair is 'floating' and colour is rushing to their heads. The reality is the car is upside down in mid-air.

Meanwhile, the sense of desolation and loneliness was difficult to achieve in the Genesis cover, with the character designed to look barely alive, but ambiguous nonetheless. Several options were original attempted with her body draped over the edge of the boat, and her hand running along the surface of the water.

This is the first time I've worked on an actual series of book covers and it's been a really great experience. Can't begin to describe how excited I am about these titles. Both books will be on shelves in February 2011.

Roughs:

Pencils:

Inks:

Colours: