One of the best connections and investments that I've made as an author is to work with my cover artist Tom Clohosy-Cole. Tom is a British artist who is one of the top talents in the cover design industry and in my (not at all biased) opinion - he's the best cover artist working today.
Besides completing two absolutely brilliant pieces of cover art for my books, Tom has drawn the covers of countless other classic children's novels. If you are keen - take a look at his portfolio here: https://www.tomclohosycole.co.uk/book-covers
Or just check the junior fiction section of any bookstore - you'll see his artwork everywhere.
So how did I, as an Australian based, Kiwi writer, end up working with a British cover artist who lives in London?
Well essentially it all comes down to the magic of the internet and me taking a chance. When the first book in my Partners in Time series was in the editing stages I started looking around for a cover artist. I tried a few of the market places where you can find freelance professionals (Reedsy and Fiver) but none of them seemed quite what I had in mind.
Then one Saturday, after footy, I decided to start looking up middle grade fiction - particularly books with covers I really liked - and find out who the artists who designed them were.
And over and over again I found the same name pop up - Tom's.
So I looked up his email address (which turned out to be an agency) and sent an email explaining that I was a beginning author who really liked his work and asking whether he did freelance cover art.
It turned out - he did. And he had availability.
Over the next couple of months Tom drew an amazing piece of art for Partners in Time. Check it out.
What I loved (and still do) about this piece of art was how it really helps set the tone of the novel. Children in a madcap adventure through a world on fire.
I thought it captured the mood perfectly and the feedback I have gotten since is universally positive.
So... what about book two?
Well... I gave you a preview of the front cover last week. But let me show you the whole artwork (without any of the title or book info) so you can see how good it is.
And how good it's going to look on the published book.
Enjoy!!
(Next week - the whole cover - blurb and all!)
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