The Evolution of a NERDS book cover

"I imagine people will be surprised at how much work goes into this type of project. I'm surprised, and I participated in it!" —Ethen Beavers

Illustrator: ETHEN BEAVERS

The following shows the process Ethen and I went through working on the cover for Michael Buckley's latest series, NERDS. I wish I could have better descriptions but I don't want to give away all my secrets.

Step one find an Illustrator.

To find the perfect illustrator I teamed up with Michael and headed down to our local comic store, Rocketship  (sadly, now closed) on a cold January afternoon. We shifted through comics and graphic novels , compiling a list of ten names that we would present to our editor Susan Van Metre. In the end Ethen Beavers was the nerd for us. I tracked Ethen down by leaving a message on his art message board since all other searches came up flat. He responded which was a welcomed surprise.

I then sent him Michael's 2nd draft manuscript and a brief summary.

NERDS book description:

A secret spy ring of nerdy elementary school misfits

Combining all the excitement of international espionage and all the awkwardness of elementary school, NERDS, featuring a group of unpopular students who run a spy network from inside their school, hits the mark. With the help of cutting-edge science, their nerdy qualities are enhanced and transformed into incredible abilities! They battle the Hyena, a former junior beauty pageant contestant turned assassin, and an array of James Bond–style villains, each with an evil plan more diabolical and more ridiculous than the last.

Step two begin sketch phase

Ethen's first sketch

My first alternate compositional sketch. The idea was to introduce the all the characters.


Here the idea is the same but a little more realized. We added braces in the type. I add to a nerdy style as well as to highlight the main characters nerdy quality. This would be repeated through out the series. Only there was something still not quite working.

We where forgetting the Spy angle to the NERDS story.
here are some additional sketches working out new compositions



The idea of and official seal came up.
Finally a font was chosen

Here we begin to work out color and how it will be used throughout a 6 book series

Next how to treat the type. I wanted a techie feel to the type as seen below.



Final type

But the seal still is working correctly. So we tried to nerd that up as well.
In the end it proved to be to much.

At last the color and composition is worked out.
Only something is still not working.

Again we needed more spy imagery. So we research James Bond and Mission Impossible imagery.
Ethen worked up these great sketches reworking the characters.

Ethen then combined the two ideas in to a final sketch



Then we took it to a cover meeting to see if we were on track.
Turns out we were!

Final art with out text.

Final Cover with text

Back cover design

Each book features a character. Book 1 features Jackson " Braceface" Jones, the new recruit. The fourteen pounds of metal in his mouth make him the team's go-to gadget guy!

One last bit a of business the CASE COVER! 

Did you know we designed the case covers for NERDS series with a different image than the jacket. I knew it you didn't. Who looks at the case cover anyway. GULP! I do.

Case Cover

The idea for the different case was to reveal the NERDS secret identities as normal kids. Apparently when they are not saving the world they also become fashion disasters.

Also in the NERDS series

NERDS book 2: M is For Mama's Boy

 NERDS Book 3: The Cheerleaders of Doom

NERDS Book 4: The Villain Virus

About the book

Michael Buckley is at his comic best in this madcap new series sure to appeal to kids looking for a quick, exciting read.

Combining all the excitement of international espionage and all the awkwardness of elementary school, NERDS, featuring a group of unpopular students who run a spy network from inside their school, hits the mark. With the help of cutting-edge science, their nerdy qualities are enhanced and transformed into incredible abilities! They battle the Hyena, a former junior beauty pageant contestant turned assassin, and an array of James Bond–style villains, each with an evil plan more diabolical and more ridiculous than the last.

F&P level: V

Praise for NERDS
“An action-packed, tongue-in-cheek take on the world of superheroes and villains. The pacing is quick and the action is plentiful—kids will almost hear the sound effects as they read. NERDS brings a worthy message to the fore—that uncool kids can grow up to be anything but. Funny, clever, and thoroughly entertaining, this title should be popular.”
–School Library Journal 

"The unique format of this book, combined with the imaginative and playful storyline, will appeal to many readers."
–Children's Literature

About the author

Michael Buckley is the author of the New York Times bestselling series and Today Show Al Roker Book Club pick The Sisters Grimm. He has also written and developed shows for Nickelodeon, Disney, MTV Animation, the Sci- Fi Channel, the Discovery Channel, and VH1. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Alison, and son, Finn.

Evolution of the Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes cover

The story of how the Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes cover came to be started with Lisa's first book My Life in Pink & Green. This cover was a huge success and perhaps the easiest cover I have ever worked on. I credit this cover to a relaxing Sunday afternoon. I had just finished a large tasty sandwich from Los Paisanos in Brooklyn. My eyes were heavy and bored from watching the Sunday afternoon TV which means golf, a nap soon followed. Sadly, I was dreaming about work in particular this cover problem only to wake with an idea. Below is a sketch of my first idea which as you can see pretty much became the cover. Only I cropped out the potato chip grease from my fingers.

The final cover

There is only one problem to having a successful cover idea . . . repeating that success. Ugh!
Since this cover idea went over so well everyone from sales, editorial and even buyers want deanother "Pink & Green" cover. Sure sounds great, right? Only Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes was its own story and didn't really work with the design of "Pink & Green." The other issue was now that we launched Lisa Greenwald, we wanted to create a brand look for her books. Ugh! How to do all this and make it look like it belongs with "Pink & Green." This was going to take more than tasty sandwich induced genius.

About the book—Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes

When a blizzard threatens to ruin Valentine’s Day, three seventh-grade friends make and distribute fortune cookies to their lonely neighbors—and confront the secrets they’ve been keeping from one another.

Confident Kate doesn’t notice much but the latest gossip, and shy Georgia can’t say out loud what’s always on her mind. They’re joined by observant, careful Olivia, whose epic, single-minded crush on PBJ (real name: Phillip Becker-Jacobs) is starting to frustrate the other two. Using fortune cookies that mysteriously always seem to speak directly to the person who opens them, the three girls try to work together to bring some love to their building, while reminding each other why they’re such good friends to begin with.

With all the right ingredients to appeal to tween girls.

I started at the beginning trying many different and same approaches. Since the girls make cookies. Why not have the same design as "Pink & Green?"

But it just didn't work with the book. This book had three main characters. Olivia, Kate and Georgia. So having one person on the cover didn't seem right. Perhaps I need to just try a new direction all together and focus on the cookies and that the book is set on Valentines Day in a snow storm.

Flower as snow? Thanks to Martha Mihalick for messing up her kitchen

Still not right but a few pieces seemed to work.
1. Vibrant colors
2. Snow pattern
3. Font choice

Things that didn't work
1. There was still the problem of on image representing 3 main characters
2. It didn't look like "Pink & Green."

Still sticking with the heart cookie and snow theme. Here you see I we have three cookies representing each girl.

At this stage we were far enough along that we felt it was time to start photographing the elements we needed. I hired photographer and friend Morgan R. Levy to shoot the heart cookies and a few other props. Lucky for me it was almost Valentines day and Betty Bakery had the exact cookies I was looking for.

The next day once the cookies were baked Morgan and I set up shop in my kitchen to start photographing

Kentucky watched

Here are a few out takes

Back cover ideas.

Olivia, Kate and Georgia make cookies to give to there friends and place them in Chinese food containers.

Snowflake mesh pattern for background.

We also shot fortune cookies. The girls actually bake fortune cookies in the story.

At this point Morgan left for Iceland to work on her thesis.

There was still talk at this point that the cover was still not syncing up with "Pink in Green." The problem was we had left out any human presence. We needed a human element. But how to do this with out showing a face or a figure. I went back and took a look at "Pink in Green", going over all the elements. The hands, the hands. These were the elements we were looking for the connect it all together. By simply placing them in much the same posed as on "Pink in Green" it helps the viewer visually connect the two books.


The next problem in Morgan's absence I hired photographer Jonathan R. Beckerman, my brother. He was the photographer for My Life in Pink & Green. Normally Jonathan is my go to photographer for all photographic covers but earlier in the project he was all booked up. He and I have worked on many covers together. Such as Struts & Frets, Anxious Hearts, Troy High, The Girls, and Anahita's Woven Riddle. Now I needed some hands. With in the week he delivered just the right ones.

Back cover design mimics the layout of My Life in Pink & Green

The final cover

Final layouts

Spot Gloss sparkle layer

Jacket proofs at the printer in Hagerstown, Maryland