Mundie Moms

Monday, November 15, 2010

Interview with The Vespertine cover designer, Regina Roff & Giveaway

To celebrate the gorgeous final cover for THE VESPERTINE, we were lucky enough to get a chance to interview the cover designer! Regina Roff (http://www.reginaroff.com) is an Associate Designer at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and she was kind enough to answer some of our burning cover questions.


* How do you become a cover designer?


I originally went to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia for Illustration; after 2 years and some of the program I began to realize that my skills for designing were surpassing my skills for illustrating (plus, I really loved designing) so I changed my track to design.

I had always had an interest in children's illustration (which was reflected in my early illustration work) and marrying that interest with my design skills led me to the field of children's book design.

I was very fortunate to meet my art director, Christine Kettner, at a portfolio review. She liked my work and just happened to have an open position and the rest is history. That was about a year ago.


* What are some of your favorite YA or MG covers (yours or others')? Do you ever redesign covers made by other artists in your mind?

I have a special relationship with YA covers because I have friends who are designers and friends who are illustrators. My favorite team is Elizabeth Parisi (creative director of Scholastic) and Tim O'Brien (illustrator extraordinaire) with the covers for THE HUNGER GAMES and other great titles.

Some more of my current favorite covers are the covers for SHIVER and LINGER, the covers for the HOUSE OF NIGHT series, and the HARRY POTTER series (love that typography! so iconic!)

* What is the process for picking "the perfect" cover for a book?


It's quite a process! It's more developing than picking. It starts with the manuscript getting sent to the art department through the editorial staff. If I'm working on a book, my art director will pass me the materials which include the manuscript, a form that gives me important info like main character descriptions, a synopsis, and book covers that the editors feel have the 'look' they'd like to see for the book.

Then I read the manuscript and take notes about the mood, any scenes that strike me as good cover possibilities and details like totems, settings, colors, etc that might help build the image. Then it's a process of working with the art director and the editor to choose if we're going to go with an illustrator, have me build something with stock imagery, or hire a photographer.

Then a HUGE meeting of editorial, marketing, production and design, happens where the cover comp is discussed and approved (or not).


* In working on the cover, do you read the book whose cover you're making or do you talk to the authors for their input?


As I mentioned above, I do read the book. Sometimes authors have input at the outset that we take into consideration, but if not, I generally don't consult them.


* Do you do photo shoots or use stock photography more often?


In this case, Carol Chu- another designer here at Harcourt- is the one who found the final image we used..


* What's your favorite part of designing covers?


I have a few favorite parts. :D The first is reading the manuscript. I have always been an avid reader and one of the real joys of my job is getting to read these books and watch them unfold from just a manuscript in Microsoft Word to a real bound book I can hold in my hands.


The second is getting comps approved. I love making the comps, don't get me wrong, but it can be a very long and arduous process sometimes and there's nothing better than hearing that "OK, go to finish!" after all that hard work.


Lastly, I love picking out the case and endpapers. It seems like such a trivial thing, but deciding what the actual board and endpapers look like is a lot of fun and can add so much character to a book when you remove the jacket. It's like a little hidden treasure under there sometimes!


(And I recommend checking out the boards of THE VESPERTINE when it comes out; I have some fun ideas for what will be hidden under that jacket!)


* What was an important element from THE VESPERTINE that you wanted captured for the cover?


THE VESPERTINE was a beautiful story that for me combined the best parts of historical fiction and supernatural romance. I wanted that to be conveyed through the imagery and the typography. I wanted to make sure that the setting sun feeling was echoed in the color scheme as well, since the sunset is so important in the story.


____________________________________


Thank you, Regina!! If you want even more behind-the-cover-scenes action, check out her blog, where she shares cover designs that didn't make it, details on layout, and more!


Thank you to Saundra Mitchell, author of The Vespertine for this wonderful opportunity and for letting us host this AWESOME GIVEAWAY!


3 winners have the chance to win some amazing prizes. Here's what our prize packs contains: 1st Winner-

· 1 signed ARC

· 1 signed dance card

· 1 signed special bookmark

· 1 silver & amber sun pendant on a black silk cord.

· 1 blown glass amber pen w/ amber ink & rest

· 1 bar of Bay Rum and 1 bar of Apple Jack handmade soap

2 additional prize packs containing:

· 1 signed dance card

· 1 signed special bookmark

· 1 signed regular bookmark

· 1 bar of either Bay Rum or Apple Jack handmade soap

30 comments:

  1. It's not often I get to read interviews with cover designers-- awesome interview! And thanks for the giveaway! :)

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  2. Great interview, I've always been curious about what goes into making these beautiful covers. =)

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  3. So, SO GORGEOUS. Thanks for sharing the process, ladies!

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  4. Fascinating interview!

    And I can't WAIT to read The Vespertine.

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  5. Thanks for sharing this! How neat to hear from the cover designers.

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  6. The Vespertine looks fabulous! I love looking at eye candy...thank you for the interview, it's great to hear from another viewpoint how a book comes into being! Thanks also for allowing international participants.

    Michelle
    http://cloverhillbookreviews.blogspot.com

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  7. This was a great interview!! so great!! I love the cover of The Vespertine

    Kristen
    My Bloody Fairy Tale

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  8. Thank you for the comments! The Vespertine is a fabulous read and is already a favorite of mine for 2011. I highly recommend pre-ordering it!!

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  9. I don't think I've ever read an interview with a cover designer before! How cool! And thanks for sharing. The cover looks gorgeous!

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  10. This is so interesting. I've often wondered what the artist/designer's process was. The cover is SO, SO important. I've seen it make or break a novel's marketability, affecting the big book stores willingness to buy the book, before even reading it! The artist holds the writer's career in their hands at this final stage of the process.

    Regina Roff did a great job with this cover. I would pick it off the shelf!

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  11. This was really interesting! The Vespertine is a beautiful cover. Choosing my favorite for the contest was really tough though I have to admit. There are a lot of beautiful covers out there!

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  12. Thank you for the outstanding interview.
    I really enjoyed learning about the process of book cover creation.
    All the best,
    RKCharron

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  13. great interview and super contest! Thanks! Beautiful cover! and knowing the how and whys are fun to read about ♥

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  14. The cover really is gorgeous -- loved the interview. It's really so exciting to see the creativity and thought that goes into cover design! Thank you for the giveaway as well.

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  15. Fab Contest! It's really interesting to read about the work that goes into creating such gorgeous covers and this one is a stunner!

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  16. I loved reading the Vespertine and love the new cover for it! Hope it's okay that I've posted about this and linked to this page on my blog, comacalm.blogspot.com

    =D

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  17. Thanks for the interview! It's really cool to hear from the cover designer. I'm still partial to The Vespertine's previous cover incarnation, but the final cover is gorgeous, too. :)
    (And thanks for the giveaway! Oh my gosh!)

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  18. Awesome interview, MMs!!! Thank you so much for posting it. I loved learning more about the cover design process. Very cool.

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  19. What a fantastic interview! That cover is beautiful, and I loved learning a bit about the process behind creating it.
    Thank you for the contest :)

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  20. Fab interview! We can't forgot the other fab minds behind the books we all love to read!

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  21. I love to take off a gorgeous book cover to discover a gorgeous book underneath! What an incredible and fun career! How lucky.

    Thank you so much for the great interview. What a fun one to read.

    Thank you also for the chance to win! How exciting. This book looks INCREDIBLE!!!

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  22. Great interview!

    Interesting things to know!

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  23. I enjoyed reading about the insight and thought that goes into creating a book cover - thanks for the interview.

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  24. This was an awesome interview. I haven't read any interviews with the cover designers. It's nice to find out how the process works.

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  25. Love the interview. It's fun to see the design side of book publishing. I'm the photographer of the cover image and want to say thank you for choosing it for the Vespertine. The designer did a wonderful job!

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  26. The interview was great! I've always thought of the importance cover designers have but never actually have read anything on it. Its great to know more of what is hard work is put into the books we love to read!

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  27. Gorgeous cover! I have bought so many books just for the cover, though some have been disappointing. I can't be mad though--it speaks of the skill of the designer who can make a bad book look good! :D Great interview, and I'll definitely be looking for more Regina Roff cover designs in the future.

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  28. Wonderful interview. It's so important for the cover to really bring out the essence of the novel. When I think of covers for my (unpublished) wip, I always think of things that I believe bring out an element in the book. Then I tell my daughter and she designs it. :)

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  29. Thanks for this very rare interview of a cover designer. It's really interesting !

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