The Many Fears of Daniel Beck - Illustration and cover design
Cover design and illustration for my debut novel. I wanted to stay somewhere in sight of current design trends for contemporary romance and YA novels, but give it a bit of an edge. The story goes to some darker places, so the cover couldn't feel too twee and pastel. In the end I settled on clean, straight lines, a paper cutout aesthetic and lettering inspired by the great Saul Bass.
Finished cover
Sketching out the figures.
Sketching out the lettering. I forced myself to keep this rough and leave some of the lines to chance. This style of lettering only works when it looks and feels organic, and that means giving up control.
Mockup, testing out the design of cover and spine
Final version of the silhouettes, with an added drop shadow
Additional figure for the back cover