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The Making of a Children's Picture Book Cover -Through the Wardrobe: How C. S. Lewis Created Narnia

10/10/2019

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The process for making a cover can take a while because it has to please many people: the author and illustrator, the editor, the art director, the designer, sales and marketing, and in the end, the booksellers, parents, and reader.
The cover has to look good on a bookshelf, or no one will pick it up. It also has to look good on social media, and even as a tiny thumbnail on a catalog—it has to catch the buyer’s eye.

As with the rest of the book's art, cover ideas begin as many little sketches called...

Thumbnails!

I edited my ideas down to about nine, added a bit of color, and sent a page of small thumbnails to the editor and art director to see which ideas they liked best.

The art director chose a few. She liked number 5 (second row, center) because the focus was on C. S. Lewis, but we could also see the wardrobe and all of the characters behind him. But she also liked that in number 4, the characters were coming out of the wardrobe. We decided to combine the two: have the lion coming out of the wardrobe, a mouse on top of the table, and C. S. Lewis sitting in front of the wardrobe.

The art director asked for a tighter sketch of this idea. Back to the drawing table.

Sketch time!

Sometimes, I like to draw the elements separately and put them together in Photoshop. That way, I can move things around more easily to see what works best.

I sent the art director some finished sketches...

We decided that in this one, the lion looked too friendly, so...

I made him a little fiercer. Then, the art director sent these two sketches to the sales and marketing department:

But marketing decided that a lion coming out of the wardrobe might be too confusing for the reader, because the lion never actually comes out of the wardrobe in the Narnia Chronicles. They were fine with leaving the mouse on the table, but they preferred him standing instead of running.

So, I made some revisions, moving the lion inside and shrinking him down quite a bit. I also moved the beavers back and added a queen in the forest. I made some adjustments to Jack’s ears and mouth. This was the final approved sketch:

The lettering...

In the very beginning of the process, I sent the art director an example of what I envisioned for the title lettering. I liked the idea of medieval, Celtic letters, so I drew a sample:

She liked the direction I was heading in, and said she would hire a calligrapher to hand letter the title. Here was the final result!--

On to the colors...

The designer and editor then asked about the colors I would be using. They requested bright colors and high contrast.

I sent along a digitally colored sketch to the designer, telling him that the colors would be much brighter:

I had considered doing a white background, similar to my first book, FREE AS A BIRD, but we decided it would look too stark. So the designer mocked up a few versions of the color sketch with different colors behind it: cream, purple, blue. In the end, the team decided on a shade of blue:

I offered to do a few washes in blue acrylic paints for the background, separate from the cover image, that we could combine digitally later on.
Finally, everything was approved! I had about a week or two for...

Final art!

I got out my inks and acrylic paints...

Oh wait! The case cover!

Before I show you the final cover result, I want to tell you about the case cover! So, a case cover is like a second cover that goes underneath the dust jacket. From the start, I knew that I wanted the case cover to be the wardrobe doors. Thankfully, the case cover doesn't really have to be approved by anyone except the art director, designer and/or editor.

This is a picture of C. S. Lewis' wardrobe:

Because the doors are narrower than the dimensions of the book, I had to trim them for the cover.

The sketch:

It was approved! So I went to final:

Snail mail...

It was then time to mail the final art. I sent it 2-day priority, so it actually got there pretty quickly. But I'm always a little nervous until the art arrives safely at the publishing house.

Finally, the cover...

Not too long after, the designer put everything together, added the beautiful hand-lettered title, and sent me the files:

I hope you found this interesting and useful!

Thank you to all who were involved in the process--
Publishing team: Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins
Editor: Kristin Rens
Art Director: Dana Fritts
Designer: Neil Swaab
Letterer: Leah Palmer Preiss

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Living the Dream Book Award!

7/16/2019

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I was honored to receive the 2019 Living the Dream Book Award from Manhattan Country School, Central Park East II, and Children's Workshop School!

Thank you so much for bringing me to your wonderful school. It was a pleasure to meet the teachers and students, and to talk about Malala, dreaming, and changing the world!
For more pictures and information, check out Manhattan Country School's blog post:
https://www.manhattancountryschool.org/and-winner-mlk-living-dream-book-award

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Author Fair!

11/28/2018

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Hey all! I'll be at a local author fair on December 1st at Anderson Main Library in Anderson, SC from 1pm to 4pm. See you there! Here's the link!

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Reading at Anderson Library, Anderson, SC

8/31/2018

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Hope to see you there!!

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Free as a Bird book release party!

6/10/2018

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It's been several months since the book release party for Free As a Bird, but I wanted to share it with you. My sister, Lilia, took most of these great pics!

M. Judson Booksellers in downtown Greenville, SC. were the wonderful hosts!
We decided to do the release on a Saturday at 6 pm.

It was so amazing to see friends and family, and even some people I hadn't met before, come to celebrate!

I began with a reading of the book...

...and then answered some questions from the audience.

My favorite part was getting to meet and talk with people as I signed the books!

Meanwhile, the yummy cupcakes made by The Chocolate Moose (which is located inside of M. Judson) were getting devoured. That raspberry frosting is ahhh-mazing!!

My adorable nephew Elias:

Then, it was time for pics with friends and family...

with my parents:

with my husband and children:

and with my brothers and sisters:

Then, I signed a few more books for the store...

...and that was the end of a wonderful night! I had a great time. Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with me!

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Illustrator Show and Tell!

4/17/2018

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Hope to see you there!! We'll be talking about process and publishing!

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Book Launch!

1/6/2018

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I hope you can join me for the book launch for FREE AS A BIRD!!! See you there?

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Reviews for Free as a Bird

10/5/2017

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How exciting! Reviews are starting to come in for Free as a Bird: The Story of Malala.
So far, pretty good!

Booklist had some very nice things to say:

"Maslo creates a sensitive overview of Malala Yousafzai’s life in this picture-book biography for young readers. “She wanted to be free, like the kites. She wanted to fly,” Maslo writes. “Malala will be free as a bird!” Complementing the inspirational text are whimsical illustrations depicting Malala growing up outside the cultural confines of girls in Pakistan.

Malala was encouraged to fly free by her parents as she sought to further her education. The story progresses showing the tumultuous times of the Taliban, whose extremist ideas include destroying all-girl schools.

The art seamlessly flows into darker hues and tense emotions as it culminates in Malala’s miraculous brush with death (handled fairly abstractly). The resolution switches back to lighter hues as Malala’s determination sets in.

An awe-inspiring tribute to the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner ever,
and a solid introduction for younger readers to a different religion, culture, and fight for women’s rights."

— Jessica Anne Bratt

And a review from Kirkus:

"In Maslo’s picture-book debut, she frames Malala’s story around the concept of freedom. The book opens with a quote from Malala’s father: “I did not clip her wings, and that’s all.” It ends with another quote from him as well: “Don’t you think she is meant for the skies!” Malala’s father’s influence is highlighted throughout: his love, encouragement, and support and his inspiring example. Other than the direct quotes, the prose is simple.

The color palette of the pictures effectively conveys moments of hope, fear, and violence with swaths of dark gray, black and blue, patches of red, and ample white space.

While most accounts of Malala’s story note that she used a pseudonym and wrote for an international blog, the illustrations in this book show her speaking on television before she was attacked by the Taliban. An ample quote from her speech at the United Nations Youth Assembly captures Malala’s message well, but the overall narrative about Malala as an individual seeking “freedom” subdues the part of her message that contextualizes her speech as one voice with and for many other voices. A detailed author’s note, timeline, biographical note, and further resources section round out this offering."

Thank you, reviewers!

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Cover Reveal!

6/15/2017

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I was honored that All the Wonders, a wonderful site that features the latest in children's literature, hosted my cover reveal for FREE AS A BIRD: The Story of Malala today!

A big thanks to Matthew Winner and Blake Hamilton, the founders of the site, and Mike Ciccotello, the designer. As for the cover itself, it was also a team effort: all of the amazing people at Balzer + Bray, including my editor, Kristin Daly Rens, and the designer, Rachel Zegar. (It's crazy how many people it takes to pull something like this off!!)

Well, here's the link to the cover reveal and mini interview:
http://www.allthewonders.com/books/book-cover-premiere-free-as-a-bird/

Let me know what you think!

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The Making of a Children's Picture Book Cover -Through the Wardrobe: How C. S. Lewis Created Narnia

Thumbnails!

Sketch time!

The lettering...

On to the colors...

Final art!

Oh wait! The case cover!

Snail mail...

Finally, the cover...

Living the Dream Book Award!

Author Fair!

Reading at Anderson Library, Anderson, SC

Free as a Bird book release party!

Illustrator Show and Tell!

Book Launch!

Reviews for Free as a Bird

Cover Reveal!

Lina Maslo

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