Hockey

The next cover I tackled for the kids books involved hockey.

Initially, the only information I was given about this cover was to make the player look like a young Matt Damon-type. I was just hoping he was a player and not a goalie as I started doing thumbnails and sketching away.

Finally, I had to break down and ask, plead, for any information about the character. But, mostly I was looking for his team name and if he already had a designated number in the story. Like I said, it's always easier to read the stories first before you start doing the covers.

But, I try to please.

The character's team was called the Rangers. I created a simple "R" for his chest but I did give him a similar design and color to the New York Rangers hockey team. I hope some hockey fan out there appreciates it.

For the final three covers I was provided photos by the client's art department. One of the reasons, even after I did a cool job on the skateboard background, that they still wanted me to draw all the backgrounds myself was they thought I could never find photos of hockey rinks or rodeos on my own. In the end they simply provided the photos themselves.

With the changes and comments I received on the former skateboarding cover I kept this cover and its background much more simple. It seems on this round of covers they don't want a completed cover. They want pieces. Pieces they can then muck around with themselves and make it their own.

So, on this one, instead of adding textures and cool motion lines, I kept it simple.

We'll have to wait and see how this one turns out when it hits book shelves.