A friend approached me about doing a book cover for a book called Sanctuary by her friend, Eve Queen. Upon listening to the general direction they were hoping to take with the cover and reading the first few chapters of the book, I knew that this would be a project I would enjoy doing.
The book takes place at a mental institution in the forests of Missouri and features a mysterious boy who has been hiding in the woods around the institution for years. I wanted to make sure that the cover was as faithful to the source material as possible. I was careful to use trees within the cover design that are native to Missouri. I also wanted to include the wild boy in the design because the image of him creeping out of the background was a striking image that immediately hints to the viewer that this book fits into the psychological fiction genre. The font choice was also carefully considered. I didn't want something obsessively perfect because the book focuses on people and situations that aren't cookie-cutter representations of an "average" person. I didn't want something so expressive that it almost seems cheesy either. I chose a font that is clean but imperfect. It's personal and looks like it could have been handwritten. I wanted it to feel like one of the characters could have written it with a sharpie rather than a precise and unfeeling machine.
It's an excellent book and I'm happy to recommend it (and not just because I did the cover)! Please check it out on Amazon and feel free to share it in support its up-and-coming author, Eve Queen. You can purchase it or read it for free with kindle unlimited here.