If it was easy enough to do one car for a cover, then the next cover in the Stone Arch Books Nascar series would just have to get a little bit tougher.Two cars, side by side, racing for the glory in a book titled "Race Car Rivals"!
Like with the first, I did this cover before I read the interior manuscript so it was up to my art director to lead the way and let me know what she wanted for the covers. It's always funny to do the cover first and then read the story second. Sometimes there are little details you wish you could change once you really know the story and how the characters deal with each other. But, in the case of this one, my art director was dead on and it fits with the story perfectly.
The story deals with a kid who's a huge fan of racing. Luckily for him, his uncle works with one of the local tracks and gets him in to meet one of the racers and spend the day with him. Unfortunately for the kid, it's the rival of his favorite racer. What starts out as a rocky relationship finally ends in friendship as the kid realizes his idol is not all he's cracked up to be and the driver who the press labels as a villain isn't that bad of a guy at all. It's fun to see this kid learn a bit of a lesson and apply it to his own go-kart racing life.
I really enjoyed this story and saw the cover as yet another challenge. Two cars at once, going head to head, and trying to make it look as exciting as possible.
As before, here are the initial designs for the cars (it was easier to submit these car designs for changes before I went and put them in the backgrounds and did all the special effects on them) as well as the original cover I submitted before being cropped and the type and title laid in.
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment