ABRAMS Spring 2014 Covers

We have an incredibly exciting Spring 2014 list for ABRAMS BYR and Amulet Books! Here's a sneak peek at some of the covers I've had the pleasure to design and art direct this season:

 Design by The Heads of State

  Photograph by Jonathan Beckerman Photography

Illustrated by Amy Bates

Illustrated by Ard Hoyt

Illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh

Spring Fever

It's feeling a little Spring-like outside (hey—when we're not buried in snow, I'm hopeful!) so here are two new Spring reads coming from Amulet Books.

Bruised by Sarah Skilton 

When Imogen, a sixteen-year-old black belt in Tae Kwon Do, freezes during a holdup at a local diner, the gunman is shot and killed by the police, and she blames herself for his death. Before the shooting, she believed that her black belt made her stronger than everyone else—more responsible, more capable. But now that her sense of self has been challenged, she must rebuild her life, a process that includes redefining her relationship with her family and navigating first love with the boy who was at the diner with her during the shoot-out. With action, romance, and a complex heroine, Bruised introduces a vibrant new voice to the young adult world—full of dark humor and hard truths.

 Available March 5, 2013  ·  Pre-order now!

In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters 

In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her? Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.

Available April 2, 2013  ·  Pre-order now!

Under the Cover: Anxious Hearts

In honor of Valentine's Day, here's a look at the creation of a classic YA romance: Anxious Hearts, by Tucker Shaw.

Book Summary

“Evangeline,” he repeated, calling at a whisper. “Evangeline.” He was not calling that she may hear, he was calling that somehow her soul might know that he was devoted entirely to her, only to her. “Evangeline, I will find you.”
      Eva and Gabe explore the golden forest of their seaside Maine town, unknowingly tracing the footsteps of two teens, Evangeline and Gabriel, who once lived in the idyllic wooded village of Acadia more than two hundred years ago. On the day that Evangeline and Gabriel were be wed, their village was attacked and the two were separated. And now in the present, Gabe has mysteriously disappeared from Eva.
      A dreamlike, loose retelling of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous love poem “Evangeline,” Anxious Hearts tells an epic tale of unrequited love and the hope that true love can be reunited.

Design Exploration 

My inspiration for this cover actually came one weekend while I was camping. (See below: Me camping, i.e. Me freezing my tookus off!)

Staring out at the trees, trying not to think about cold fingers and toes, I started to think about one of my new book projects, Anxious Hearts. One half of the story is set in the Acadian wilderness of Nova Scotia, so trees and outdoor elements would be essential to the romantic backdrop. I also wanted the cover to show both past and present incarnations of our heroine, Evangeline. So, still thinking about the trees, I did a quick sketch:

And knew the tree was the perfect way to bridge the gap between past Evangeline and present Eva. Now all I needed was a gorgeous model, amazing makeup/prop/set stylists, and one awesome photographer to put it all together. Easily said AND done! I hired one of my favorite photographers, Jonathan Beckerman and he got to work creating this extensive shoot.

Inspiration

A folder of stock photos showing the kind of dramatic lighting and romantic atmospheric elements we were after:

Cover Creation

And Jonathan and Co. engineered (indoors, mind you!) the perfect romantic outdoor shoot.

I pieced some of the shots together to see if my original sketch idea would work—but the vertical title placement didn't fit with the actual image...

So we decided the best solution would be to use more portrait-like photos and wrap the photography around the jacket, putting eighteenth-century Evangeline on the cover, the tree on the spine, and modern-day Eva on the back. The time periods were further separated by blue and yellow tints.

While Jonathan was putting the final touches on the jacket photography, I was working on the title type. I fell in love with the typography and ornamental treatment on the cover of this copy of Longfellow's poem.

Using it as a starting point, I went through a few typographic versions of the title. Some became too Twilight-y, some too floral and fussy...

Until I decided to just drawn the thing myself. The final title treatment is based off of the letter forms of Adobe Garamond and the swirls of Zinco:

The title is also enhanced with ornaments that represent the different time periods. The top ornament belongs to modern Eva and Gabe, and the bottom ornament references the eighteenth-century lovers, Gabriel and Evangeline. I carried this theme throughout the book, using the ornaments as visual clues for the two different narrations.

And the whole thing put together:

Spring '12 Books!

It might feel like Fall, but the Abrams BYR, Amulet, and Appleseed Spring lists are hot! A sneak at some of our upcoming covers:

Surfer Chick by Kristy Dempsey, Illustrated by Henry Cole

George Bellows: Painter with a Punch! by Robert Burleigh, in Association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Jean Laffite: The Pirate Who Saved America by Susan Goldman Rubin, Illustrated by Jeff Himmelman

Oopsy Daisy, Flower Power Book #3 by Lauren Myracle, Cover illustration created in Adobe Illustrator in collaboration with the art of Christine Norrie

Poison Most Vial by Benedict Carey, Cover illustration created in Adobe Illustrator

The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis. Cover is a photographic composite created in Adobe Photoshop. The rose image is a stock photo from Getty Images and the background photo is courtesy of my husband, Stephen Helldorfer, for which he got his first photo credit :)

Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe by Shelley Coriell, Cover photography by Jonathan Beckerman

The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook by Joanne Rocklin, Cover illustration by Chris Buzelli

Shine (paperback) by Lauren Myracle, Cover is a photographic composite created in Adobe Photoshop. (*A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will go to benefit the Matthew Shepard Foundation.)

Get Dressed! words and pictures by Seymour Chwast