I’ve had a busy time lately working with illustrators – and enjoyed every minute!
After a careful search of artists’ portfolios online, I found Maria Forrester, who created the fabulous cover artwork for Walking on Gold. Maria lives 100 miles away and we have yet to meet, but I feel as if I know her very well through all the emails we’ve exchanged. www.mariaforrester.co.uk
I wanted someone who could capture the archaeology in my story, as well as convey the wind, waves and sunshine of my character’s world.
Once Maria had agreed to take on the commission, I sent her some notes of what I had in mind, along with photographs, scribbles, and short passages from the story. We agreed that she’d do some roughs for approval before we went to finished art.
When the roughs came, they were really inventive and gave us something concrete to ‘talk’ about. As the montage photograph shows, Maria used lots of interesting textures and techniques – rubbings of fossils and coins, drawings of grasses, watercolour, acrylic paint and even clingfilm.
We spent a lot of time discussing colour and (very patient) Maria made several ‘tweaks’ before she arrived at the stunning combo of gold sand, blue-green sea and magenta t shirt.
When the final artwork came, I was delighted: wind, waves, sunshine, and archaeology all in evidence. And those seagulls are just perfect. Thanks, Maria.
Check out http://www.theaoi.com/ for their really helpful Guide to Commissioning.
Walking on Gold cover roughs
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