Brooklyn Waterfall

On Press with Elf Realm: The Low Road Jacket

Ever wonder what jackets look like before they are placed on books?
Here is a photo of some covers literally fresh off the presses.

A drawing a day

"It's not you, it's me"

In the past week I have gotten back on the horse with my drawings. I am still working out the direction of my work, but I have a feeling that is a good thing. It will help in my exploration, right? I plan on posting a new drawing at least once a day. I hope to keep this pace up for a while. I feel I need to, just to stay on course. It's so easy to get distracted. To stay focused I have been coming into the office/studio and working (since I get up stupid early because of a very needy kitty). Check out what I have been up to. http://cwdrawings.blogspot.com/

p.s. They are for sale and I do take commissions. Just sayin . . .

IRA Glass on Good Taste

Mocca Festival or the day the hottest day alive

The Big Splash— Interiors

Most book interiors either Adult or Young Adult are not always designed by the same designer as the jacket. This is mainly a function of managing the huge work load of a list. (I think) Luckily I have been fortunate enough never to fall into just doing one or the other. I think I would get bored. As a designer I want to control the whole project, ( this is not a comment on my personality, I swear) to make sure it has one voice. As a consumer when a book is designed by one person there is a wholeness and vision that I appreciate. I feel cheated some how when the jacket and interior don't match in design. Like someone is telling you a story and the half way through they change the main characters name from Mary to Steve. ( Just trust me that's what its' like ) I know there are bigger things to worry about in life. Like, what's for dinner? Is that the cat making that noise? How old is this milk? But I don't really have anything else to worry about at the moment. Here is an example of an interior linking up with the jacket design to create beautiful jacket and interior love. (The Big Splash, Fall 2008)

Kirkus Reviews – August 1 Issue


THE BIG SPLASH

Welcome to Franklin Middle School, where a junior gang of petty thieves and mobsters shakes kids down and humiliates them with water guns. Seventh-grader Matt Stevens, the class detective, is hired by fellow middle-schooler Vinny Biggs (something of a pint-sized Godfather) to recover a lost trinket from Nikki “Fingers,” one of the fastest shots in school. Nikki has decided to go straight because her younger sister has entered the school. This knock-off noir kicks in when Nikki, about to hand over the charm to Matt, is “taken out”—soaked in a place to make it look like she’s had an accident. This humiliation, a highly visible and common practice, immediately turns victims into social outcasts. Matt’s detective instincts tell him that Vinny may have set him up, and he sets out to learn who was really behind this act. Matt Stevens may turn out to be a bankable franchise: His first-person present-tense narration carries in it echoes of Marlowe, and the simple plot makes some crafty twists and turns as it goes along. (Fiction. 9-11)

Freakin' Huge BOOK EXPO Banner

When I was working on this banner the biggest I ever saw it was 11x17 inches NOT feet.



Kinney and his ENORMOUS banner