Meet My Fantastic Cover Artist ~ Francessca Wingfield!

Welcome back to FOR THE COVER CONSCIOUS. Today I have the pleasure of hosting my outstanding cover artist, Francessca Wingfield! Let's hear from her...

Okay, first of all, tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? Married? Single? Kids? Pets?

Hi there Mary, well I live in Leicester which is the UK. I have worked in mental health for 10 years but in the recent months have left to follow my dream and I am now my own boss in Cover Design. I also recently got married to my childhood sweetheart of 13 years, you could say I’ve got my happily ever after. I have two children both boys of 8 years and 3 years, hard work but I wouldn’t have them any other way, we also have a puppy called Skye shes a black Labrador and she costs us more than the kids already with the destruction of wires, plasterboard and SHOES!



2) Before you became a full time cover artist, what did you do for a living? Did you enjoy it?

I have worked in forensic mental health for 10 years until recently. I was a senior healthcare support worker and although I initially loved it, it was very demanding and took a strain on my family life, as well as my own mental health. I have decided in recent months to give that up and work solely on my business, which is ultimately where my passion lies.

3) How did you get into making covers?

It actually started with reading and reviewing for authors. I would make teasers to go with my reviews to enhance the experience on my website. It then developed into cover design when Kelsey Burns, author come great friend, spotted my work and encouraged me to design covers. I started by working with Erotic Dreams Publishing and the business just grew from there really.

4) Besides creating covers, I know you also design logos and run promotions for authors. Can you tell us a bit about that?

Design is the main branch of my business, however, we also work on branding for authors, so logo designs, banner designs, roller banners, for authors to work with the continuity across all their work. I have been running promotions for authors for some time. I initially began doing these informally as a way to assist authors in reaching a wider market. We now have well over 600 blogs on our mailing list. The idea with any promotion is to try and get the best possible reach, so we not only send the materials to the blogs, but we also work hard to tag each author in each individual post, as many of you know, the more interaction on a post the better visuals it will get through Facebook. We run different promotions, including different price ranges in order to help ever author. We run a £5 option which is literally a small email and request the blogs post on behalf of the author, we then do a mini reveal or release and this is £15 which would mean we create HTML and FB post and request the blogs post on a set date. There is then the main release which is £25 and this includes all of the above plus review options and dealing with ARC’s on behalf of the author and setting up a sign up form for the bloggers. We also run week long tours, events and parties. 

5) What part of your job do you enjoy most? What is difficult?

What I enjoy most is working hand in hand with the authors to create exactly what they imagine for their book. At the end of the day, this is their “baby” as such, and I want to do their creation justice, so I tend to work side by side every step of the way. That way if they're uncertain of anything, or something isn’t working on the cover, we can work together to make it PERFECT. Hmmmmm … most difficult is knowing my own limitations. I still class myself as a relatively new designer and am always having to research new techniques in order to make sure every cover is unique. Something else which is difficult is hours of trawling through stock images to find what works, but also what hasn’t been used 100’s of times on other covers, although I have to admit I love the challenge of making an image 100% unique even though it has been used before.

6) I know you were recently married and used your design skills in preparing for that. Can you share what you did with us? (If you had pictures to send, that would be great. Someone may want to hire you to do their wedding.)

Of course I made my own seating plan, invitations, save the dates, table cards, confetti cones, menus, etc. Let me show you an example of some of them here, I haven’t got the professional images as yet :

Just lovely!

How do you balance the demands of everyday life and your design 

work?

With great difficulty. It was much, much harder when I worked too, as I would be doing a 12 hour shift then the next day I’d have my three year old running around. Trying to concentrate I would end up working late into the night to get things done and ready. It is now much easier. My son is in childcare (I don’t know where I would be without the best childminder, Mel Mel. She’s more like family) four days a week now, so I get most of it done then. Although my house looks like a bombs site ha ha ha!

Do you have any hobbies you’d like to share?

I love my reading, always have. It's one of my great ways to escape reality! The majority of any time I have left I spend with my boys or hubby, just watching them grow and learn. I’m not sure that’s a hobby, but it should be because I get so much enjoyment out of watching them find themselves. Don’t get me wrong, it’s also majorly challenging at times!

Now, just for fun, choose a couple of these to answer:

If you could be any animal, what animal would you choose, and why? 

Bird – I could fly wherever I wanted.

When trick-or-treating as a kid, was there any kind of candy that you didn’t like to get? 

Those licorice, all sorts. YUK!

What was one of the best Christmas presents you ever received? 

When I was younger it was a KAREOKE machine, although I’m sure my neighbors didn’t think so!

If you owned a CB radio what would your "handle" be? 

Frantic Frans Fun and Frolics

What CD is in your CD player right now? Or what was the last song you listened to in your digital library? 

I was going to say I actually don’t own a CD player. EEEEK! But digital wise, it would have been my wedding song on repeat, Ed Sheeran "Perfect". 

Love Ed Sheeran!

Name your favorite children's story. 

Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime 

What was your nickname growing up or now? 

Everybody just shortens my name to Fran, although my Husband HATES it! Growing up it used to be Ginge. Then I was a true ginger. The image below is what my hen do did for me so I wouldn’t feel left out!

Who was your hero when you were a child, and what did you do to be like them? 

OMG! I am not proud of this one, but it was the Spice Girls! Me and my friends tried to have a band like them! Very embarrassing!

What is your concept of a fruitful day? 

One laugh, one smile from my family makes every day that more special. Now if I had completed my to do list too, I'M ON TO A WINNER!

What is your biggest pet peeve? 

CRUNCHING CRISPS OUT LOUD! ARGH!!!!!

What one thing (modern convenience) could you not live without? 

My phone, but only if it had wifi or 3g.

What is your favorite smell? 

The smell of pine. It always reminds me of Christmas!

That is a wonderful smell! Thank you for joining us today and for being an awesome cover artist!

Contact Francessca if you're interested in her work. She's easy to work with, inexpensive, and talented.


Website – http://francesscas-romance-reviews.com/

Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/FrancesscasRomanceReviews/

Facebook Group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/FrancesscasPRandDesigns/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/francesscas_rr

Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.co.uk/francesscasr/pins/ 

~ Three's A Charm! At Least In Steven Novak's Case! ~

Howdy! Today I wanted to chat about the making of the cover for the third book in my ROMANTIC KNIGHTS TRILOGY. When I first started thinking about covers for these books, I had an idea. Three books, three main characters, seemed like a no brainer. I asked Steven Novak, my cover artist, (novakillustration.com) if he could put half of their faces on the blade of a sword, either like a reflection or an etching, and then make it look like a laser sword. 

Book One, LEAP INTO THE KNIGHT, was the story of Darius and Maggie's love affair and had Darius on the cover. The very first cover Steven sent me was perfect! I couldn't believe that he had gotten it so close to the way I visualized it in my head. The only change I asked for was to bring the color up a little. 

Book Two, LADY OF THE KNIGHT, has all three characters, of course, but it revolves around Maggie and some tough choices she has to face. This time the cover creation was harder. The images I chose just weren't working well and the red background color we started with made her look angry. But, after some work, I was pleased with the final product. (The full story is in an earlier blog post. http://forthecoverconscious.blogspot.com/2015/02/join-me-for-cover-work-and-another.html)

       

                         

Book Three would be Orion's story. He is both looking to clear Darius' good name, and make amends with Maggie. Here's a blurb~



Maggie’s grief is nearly crippling.

She’s afraid she may never find happiness again, especially when someone seems to be targeting her loved ones.


For Orion, no other woman is like her.

So to take his mind off Maggie, he continues to investigate The Eleven. Will he find evidence to confirm his suspicion that all is not as it seems on the Grand Council?

Can Orion, Maggie and The Forgotten Ones take on The Eleven and win?

The Eleven members of the Grand Council hold all the power. Can the ragtag group Orion gathered help him to restore his Master’s good name? Or will taking the risk mean losing the people he loves? One thing’s for certain, it’s bound to be a Knight to remember.

So, Orion in a sword, right? Not that difficult. Here is what Steven sent me:

Good start! He's keeping the branding consistent with the way the text is set up, and the general sword image. But this is the character's right eye, where the other two were the left. Also, the hilt is reddish, not like in the others. 

Okay, now we're more in line with the other covers, but I'm starting to wonder about the red. The book is about fighting the forces of evil, so it works in that sense. But it is also the last in the series and ends on a note of peace, as all is resolved. Red doesn't seem to fit that. I ask Steven if he can do it in green.

I'm liking it, showing it around to a couple of people, getting them to vote on what color they like better. Of course the vote is split somewhat down the middle. I'm thinking that someday I may want to do a boxed set of the trilogy, so I decide to put them together, to see if that clears up the green/red issue.

Now, this is a matter of taste, of course, but I feel like the green, purple, blue are all kind of soothing colors and the red just doesn't match the mood. I asked Steven for one more thing. Could he make the green darker. Here's the cover.

And voila, the final product! But poor Steven is not off the hook yet. I need a teaser. I send him some images and quotes to choose from, and he came up with this...

Love this, but, you know, I'm me, so...I ask Steven to make the right side more black than green and then backlight the book. I also want the print larger, even if he has to make the book smaller. Here's the final. 

So, a lot goes into making teasers and covers, especially if you're picky, like me. But the reward is having something you are satisfied with, or even thrilled with. I will forever be grateful that I found, and chose to work with Steven. He's got a great eye, fabulous imagination, and, above all, is patient. 

So what are your thoughts? Would you have chosen differently? I did see one thing that I would still change, if I hadn't already paid Steven months ago and had the book up everywhere. There are two question marks after the tagline. 

Here's a little teaser I did for the whole trilogy.

~ You Can Lose Your Way in a BLACKOUT, Or Find Something Magical ~

I am very excited about this cover for a couple of reasons. One is that the background is my own photo, taken here in town at The Fox and Hound building, which holds The Fox and Hound Day Spa, condominiums, and various offices. It is a beautiful old building in downtown Bloomington, Illinois and the owner, Vicki Tilton, allowed me to wander around and take pictures for the cover of BLACKOUT, my first contemporary romance (without elements of suspense). I threw some of my pictures and some from stock photos at my cover designer, Steven Novak, and I'll show you what he came up with. First, a blurb to both entice you, ;) and give you a feel for what I was trying to capture in this cover.  

Blurb ~

Max. The consummate ladies man.

Max is good looking, but not an absolute knockout. With his charm though, he could have any woman he wants. Once he meets Faith, he doesn’t want anyone else.



Eli. He is a knockout.

But a dark past shadows him and holds him captive. Drinking dulls the pain, but meeting Faith makes him want to change all that.



Faith. She loves them both.


When a blackout brings her together with Eli, she’s happier than she’s ever been before. When another blackout tears them apart, Max is there to pick up the pieces. But can she forget the man who first made her whole?

So, we gots ourselves a little love triangle here! These are both great guys. Faith couldn't lose anyway she chose~but, at the same time, she does suffer a loss in choosing. Sigh. Anyway, that's what we going for. Love triangle, contemporary, both guys are construction workers at the beginning, Faith is a waitress. Let's take a look at what Steven came up with from the images I sent him.

Okay, I actually love this cover. The colors are beautiful. Like the font. It says contemporary. But this cover doesn't say love triangle. And while it does say construction, it doesn't give us HOT construction worker, just hardworking construction worker. And who needs that? ;)  Granted, these are images I sent him, but sometimes it's hard to know until you see it all together. Next--->

Okay. LOVIN' this one! The background picture is a set of stairs at Fox and Hound. It captures, for me, the mood of the book, the many layers and building of Eli and Faith's relationship, with all its twists and turns. It also gives that angsty feel, I think. I love how the guys are shadowy, like she's conjuring them up in her mind while trying to decide on which to choose. I like the way she is turning, looking over her shoulder, like she is knotted inside by this decision. She's looking back at her past relationship with Eli, while still moving forward with Max. You almost get the feel that she'd like to run away from this decision altogether. One problem though. As I'm sharing this cover with writer friends I keep getting the same response. The guys look too alike. Upon further examination I discover the reason why they look so much alike is they are both photos of the same model! Well, at least I am consistent in what I like in men. So, we can't have that, and I ask Steven to change it.

Okay, better. The guy on the left really captures Max. But the guy on the right isn't exactly Eli. And we've lost that neat translucent effect. 

Now we've got it! He's added the tagline and the collection name. I like the backlighting on the title and my name. The guy with the longer hair really captures the soulful look of Eli. With two hunks like this, how can she choose? You'll just have to read the book to find out! 

BLACKOUT will be available June 1st with a release date of June 15th! 

Thanks for joining me! Any thoughts on the evolution of the cover? 

What Happens When You Design a Book Cover UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR? Brilliance!

My last post showed what can happen when a cover artist and the author are on the same page. Like my cover for TAKEN BY STORM. I told Steven what I want and he sent it. I thought it was gorgeous! No changes needed to be made. That's got to be kind of rare.


However, Steven and I don't always start on the same page. But, with a lot of patience on his part, we eventually get there. Today we're going to be looking at the cover creation for my romantic suspense, UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR. Let's start off with a blurb to give you an idea of what we're trying to capture.

Blurb ~

Dylan Fisher is a paramedic & part-time mall Santa Claus. But he never heard anyone ask for what Delaney asked for, a dad. When Dylan’s eyes land on her mother, Keira Kelly, he almost finds himself in need of CPR. She was stunning.

Keira is still grieving the loss of her husband, but a reckless driver has her thinking about nothing but survival. When she wakes in the hospital to find a hunky paramedic at her bedside she begins having thoughts that would put her on the Naughty List for sure.

Okay. So it needs to say hot paramedic, Christmas, and romantic suspense. That's a lot to encompass in one cover. Here's the first cover I got from Steven. 

I've got to admit, as this picture slowly came up on my computer I was like, wow! I love it. Only problem was Dylan's a paramedic, not a doc.

So we get cover 2.  And, yowza!Again, I love it, but I'm a little concerned that this isn't right for my book. Maybe it's me, but bare-chested men make me think the book's going to be really racy. Now I think my writing is hot, but not verging on erotica by any means. I also feel like we're missing the suspense element. I suggest adding siren lights to give it that urgency and the tagline, "When Christmas magic turns to murder." I show the cover around and several people comment that they aren't getting a Christmas feel, so I suggest adding some holly. About now I'm definitely kicked off Steven's Christmas card list and probably well on my way to being an ex-client. 

Cover three. Whoa! Too much going on here. I meant the ambulance lights instead of the guy. And now the guy's all funky colored...

Cover four. Now we've got urgency all right, but no romance. Sigh. I ask Steven to bring the guy back, but put a shirt on him. I'm also moving the holly around to get it in just the right spot. Steven's replies are getting shorter. "Take a look at this one." He no doubt is imagining a special place for me in the fiery pit.

Cover, gulp, five. I really, really like this one. 

...but is there too much white now? Could we make his shirt red to bring out the Christmassy feels?

Cover six. Okay. Really

digging this! We've got Christmas going on. The tagline gives us the suspense. The dude is fully clothed, but still hot. This is working!

But, although I liked the banner being purple before, now it doesn't work. I ask Steven to change the banner to red, and the font on the tagline to black, and the exclamation point to a period. I'm always getting carried away with exclamation points. I'm excitable. 

At this point Steven is either a). rethinking his choice of careers, or b). figuring out a way to do away with me that involves hemlock. Cover 7. Now it's really coming together. It's 

Christmasy, we've got the hot guy, and suspense with the tagline, and we're all color coordinated. Or are we? I had one last change to make. 

Steven?! (In my best whiny voice.) Can you make the banner red closer to the red on his shirt? And change the REAL ROMANCE COLLECTION to green? Our final cover--->

I'm sure Steven was breathing a sigh of relief!

So whatcha think? Better than where we started?

~ FOR THE COVER CONSCIOUS GETS THE INSIDE SCOOP FROM STEVEN NOVAK! ~

So Steven, you’re a freelance graphic designer, an illustrator, a cover artist, and an author. What do you do in your spare time? Ha. That is an amazing amount of talent in a number of different areas. With all of these freelance gigs, do you have time for what we authors call a “day job?”

Actually, graphic design is my “day job.” Besides book covers, I do a lot of work for social media professionals, web graphics, and I’ve done a little product design in the past. It keeps the food on the table long enough for me to stuff it down my gullet, extract the nutrients and process the waste.

Biology!

Ah! Colorful answer! I would expect nothing less. Your bio says you’re from Chicago but now you live in Southern California. What took you out there? Do you like it in sunny California?

I was actually at school in Ohio when I met my wife online. We maintained a long distance relationship for a year or so and met a couple times in person. The day I graduated I informed my mother that I was moving in with her, and that she lived in California. I also let my mother know that she was ten years older and had a son that was only seven years younger than me.

So that went over well.

Actually, believe it or not, she was completely cool with it.

I think she was just happy I’d met someone. I was a bit of a weirdo growing up, a loner. I can count the friends I had in high school on zero hands.

That was almost fifteen years ago.

See? I knew exactly what I was doing.



I was the same way growing up, Steven. They

say geniuses are often ostracized, so that would explain our problem. When did you first become interested in art?

I can’t honestly say I remember an exact time. I’ve always loved drawing. It’s really the only thing I was ever any good at growing up. I had an “unusual” childhood. Sometimes it was good and sometimes it was really, really, really bad. I loved books, and comic books, and writing, but drawing was my friend. I could always count on it and it was always there. Still is.


It's always good to have a way to escape our cares. You have art, I have writing, and I hope many of our readers have reading! According to your website you’ve written seven books and three picture books. Your Breadcrumbs for the Nasties series is about a post- apocalyptic wasteland. Tell us more about that and your other writing.

Yeah, I’ve written a lot of stuff. None of it has ever sold very well, but honestly, I haven’t bothered to do a whole lot of promotion, and that’s probably not why I wrote any of it in the first place. Unlike graphic design, writing isn’t putting any food in my belly.

Unless you count that one Subway sandwich I had that one time.

It might have paid for that.

Breadcrumbs is a project I started about a year and a half ago. It’s told from the perspective of a ten year-old girl who is left alone in a world filled with monsters and human beings that are a heck of a lot worse than monsters. She meets a mystery man who barely talks, but seems to have her best interests in mind for some unknown reason. There’s a lot of action, a couple comments on humanity, and some overly descriptive grossness.

The goal of the project, and the reason I got excited about writing it, was to spin every genre trope on its head over the course of the series. The people you want to live probably won’t live. The people you want to die probably won’t die. The story isn’t what you want it to be about, and by the time the series end you’ll probably want to punch me in the face.

If that doesn’t make you want to buy it, nothing will.

Since you’re my favorite (and only) cover

artist, I want to ask you a few questions about that. On the average, how many prospective covers do you create before you and the author settle on a final product?

Awww shucks… * blushes *

It depends. Every cover is different. Every author is really different. Honestly, most of the time the process is pretty smooth. On average, most covers tend to take about three-to-four days to finish. I pride myself in being exceptionally fast and flexible.

I’m also pretty cheap. As an indie author myself, I’m well aware of budgetary constrictions and price my work accordingly.

If you’re an indie author looking for a quality cover at a quality price drop me a line at: novakillustration@gmail.com

Seems I’m far better at promoting my design services than my writing. Go figure.



I can vouch for all of that. Steven is fast, professional, patient, and inexpensive. How often do you have an author take your first design without requesting any changes? (My cover for Taken by Storm I loved right from the start and asked for no changes.)

That’s pretty rare. There’s usually something they

want tweaked, even if it’s something really little. There have been a handful of occasions when the first version was signed off on though.

I love those occasions.

I really do.



Describe your most frustrating experience when creating a cover.


Eh, I don’t know that I can think of something specific. I’ve been doing book covers for indie authors for a little over two years and only twice have I had to tell an author that it just wasn’t working. I’m not a quitter. My job is to find a way to give an author exactly what they’re looking for and sometimes that takes a little back and forth. On the couple occasions when I couldn’t make it work with an author it was a mutual parting of ways. You can tell when it’s not working and it’s not really anyone’s fault. Not every designer is right for every project. It happens.



Is a difficult when an author asks you to change what you feel is a perfect cover and make it into something you don’t personally like?

(Steven also does great teasers like above.)

Nope. Not at all. Not even a teeny, tiny bit. It’s not my cover. It’s not my baby and it’s not my vision. If I’m not especially fond of a cover I do for someone I never have to look at it again. If they don’t like it, that really sucks for them. It’s the face of their words and they’ll have to see it every day. My job as a cover designer is to bring someone else’s vision to life, not mine. I can make Steven-specific art on my own time. And I do.








I'm very proud of my Steven Novak cover

art and have some of it framed and use it as my desktop wallpaper. Love it! What is the oddest thing that’s happened to you during the course of you career?

Hm. There was a period of time around 2009 when the economy tanked, and I couldn’t find work, and I ended up vacuuming the local Best Buy at 4:00 in the morning just to make ends meet. By the time 4:30 rolled around I was scrubbing the toilets in the ladies bathroom.

Three years later I had the most financially successful year of my adult life.

So that was pretty “odd.”



Finally, who is your favorite client? (bats eyelashes) Just kidding, you don’t have to answer that. It’s been great having you on.

Of course it’s you.

Then me. I love the covers I do for myself.

I’m very agreeable.