I’m so excited to reveal the cover for Anne Ursu’s The Real Boy. After working with this same team for Breadcrumbs, I was thrilled to be asked back for Anne’s next book. Breadcrumbs had so much wonderful imagery for me to work with, and I wondered what her new script had in store for me. Lavishly dressed noble women, magicians (and their assistants), apothecaries, and friendly cats? Yes, count me in.
Figuring out the cover for The Real Boy was an interesting process, and it started with lots of thumbnails and lots of sketches. We weren’t sure what we wanted for the cover, we just knew that Oscar, the main character, assistant to a powerful magician, would be on it.
After reading through the manuscript, I started to gather references. I looked at photos of the spice markets of Istanbul, the backgrounds from various Miyazaki movies, and different furniture and clothing from the post-Renaissance era. Since this was an entirely new fantasy world, I made sure to really do my research and get a feel for what everything could look like.
Then I began on rough sketches to zero in on what we wanted for the cover:
We liked the center one, but thought Oscar would be sitting on the floor instead. I also tried a version showing more of his face.
From here, I mocked up a few color options, and we flipped Oscar to have his back towards us.
Ultimately, this cover wasn’t right. The rest of the team at Harper didn’t like it, and it didn’t really hint enough at the magic in the story. In retrospect, the cats looked pretty foreboding also. So we scrapped this approach, and tried some new settings for Oscar.
Everyone liked the cover with Oscar entering the magician’s study, but his pose wasn’t right. He needed to be more reverent and awestruck, less exaggerated.
We continued down this direction, but my colors were becoming too sweet, not hinting at any possible dangers. Plus, Oscar had gone too far in the other direction, and was getting too stiff.
Finally, more tinkering with lighting, some discussions about lamps, and some editing of the objects in the room…
along with the addition of hand lettering by Sarah Hoy…and we’d arrived at a cover for The Real Boy!
I love the process that goes into creating a cover, and this one, in particular, was a pleasure to illustrate. I hope readers enjoy the world Anne has written, and the one I got to draw. Thanks!
The Real Boy by Anne Ursu and published by Walden Pond Press hits stores on September 24th!
Erin McGuire is a children’s book illustrator living in Dallas, Texas. She has illustrated such books as Nancy Drew Diaries, Breadcrumbs, Saranormal, and French Ducks in Venice. Outside of work, she enjoys her book club, baking, and camping. As an avid reader and lifelong lover of books, getting to illustrate stories for kids every day is her dream job. Erin’s work can be found online at http://www.emcguire.net and on her blog at http://emcguire.blogspot.com.
Love this post! Process, decision-making, art thought….this is good. Thank you. Can’t wait for the book….
Your thought process was fascinating to read. I loved Breadcrumbs, and now I’m excited to read A Real Boy. Thank you for sharing!
What gorgeous paintings! Thanks for bringing us through a process we don’t usually get to know about. The selected cover is wonderful, though I love the one with the boy, seated and surrounded by cats & lanterns, glancing back at us.
I was clueless to this process. It is fascinating. Can’t wait to read the book.
Always reassuring when the cover shows that the artist has read the book. I’ll look forward to this one.
Your work is beautiful and really captures the imagination. I can’t wait to show this post to my 7 year old son who writes and illustrates homemade books with printer paper and his signature green staples, as well as having an impressive stack of full journals with all his hopes, dreams, and ravings about macaroni and cheese. He has his own characters, as well as making up stories about existing characters from books and t.v. He has a special affinity for all things Titanic; he reads anything about it he can get his hands on, and is very curious and open with questions, his imaginings, his fears, his sadness, and awe about the “Unsinkable” ship.Many of his stories take place on the Titanic; sometimes ending in peril, sometimes ending with his characters saving the ship and all souls aboard. My point of telling you about my son who says he is going to be a writer and illustrator when he grows up, is that I know he will be fascinated with your generous show of the basic process of how “grown up”, published illustrators produce their magic! Thanks ~ Ilene
This. Looks. Amazing.
I fell hard for Anne Ursa’s Breadcrumbs. “Really” looking forward to this one!!
Thanks so much for posting about the process behind creating this gorgeous cover! I loved the Breadcrumbs cover and feel the same way about this one~ so full of imagination and wonder
Can’t wait to read the book!
Oh, wow. I love everything about it. Beautiful!
I love this. So much of the illustrating process is shrouded in mystery (at least for this author). Thank you for sharing — and showing the parallels in drafting, revising, and reaching your final work.
That’s absolutely gorgeous, and thank you for giving such a great insight into the whole process. I am enormously jealous of your talent.
I adore this. Erin’s illustrations are gorgeous. I loved her work in both Breadcrumbs as well as French Ducks in Venice. Her attention to detail and consideration of the text she’s creating for is phenomenal. The Real Boy is no exception to this. I’m so excited to be able to read about her process here, thank you so much for sharing! Cannot wait for this one!
I *love* this! And especially since Erin McGuire is the illustrator for my last book and my new one coming up in April. She is so talented. I frequently go to her website just to admire all the beautiful artwork.
Thanks so much for sharing your book cover creation journey.
The work is absolutely beautiful. I am not an illustrator (not in a long shot), so seeing your process from an author perspective is interesting. Great post.
So interesting! I really enjoyed seeing and hearing about the process for making cover art. Thanks!
It never ceases to amaze me how much goes into creating a really good cover for a novel and as a reader that admittedly sometimes chooses a book based on a really well done cover, I appreciate your efforts on this one! It’s beautifully done and the author isn’t too shabby either! Thanks for the detailed explanation!
I love this post! I can’t wait for the book! Students would love to see this process. Thank you for sharing.
Reblogged this on Operatingrn's Blog and commented:
This is a very cool look at the Illustrator’s process for cover design.
Erin – thank you for sharing your work and the process of coming up with the final book cover. It was a fascinating behind the scenes peek at the process, plus a chance to look at gorgeous drawings.
I loved Breadcrumbs and how your illustrations enhanced the story. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on The Real Boy as soon as possible.