The Conditions of Will Cover Story

I have a toxic trait: If you ask me about my favourite cover, it’s my most recent cover.

But really!! I swear, this is it. 

For a variety of reasons, but if I had to pick one, it would be that I put brush to paint to canvas for this one. Maybe it's the Turpentine fumes, but oil painting makes me feel some kinda way. 

The Cover Illustration Process for The Conditions of Will

This cover is a mix of pencil + oil paint + watercolour + gold foil + procreate. I tried to capture progress along the way but I usually struggle with that. Both because it's a bit embarrassing for my artistic ego, but also because once I‘m in a flow state I could be getting a call from the lead singer of the Christian emo band I grew up with totally obsessed with, and I wouldn’t pick up (I'm just kidding Matthew Theissen, I'd drop everything I was doing).

This is a reminder of how my perfect long-legged brilliant best friend's creative vision brings out the best in me

This entire concept was all her handy work and I just had the pleasure of bringing it to life. 

It’s another case of something I would have never done on my own, so if you are one of the wonderful people in my DMs asking me about how to get started in book cover illustration, I wish I had more for you than 'find a once in a lifetime author with a once in a lifetime imagination..' but I SWEAR that’s the truth to it. 

Okay... process for those who are interested, but if you'd rather see it in action I tried to capture it on Instagram here and TikTok here. 

COVER 

• Get Jessie's references which are usually a mix of Pinterest boards and screenshots

• Draw a bunch of working sketches 

• Do a ‘colour script’ which is a concept I learned from a Pixar book Jessie bought me which is where you kind of just block in the colour scheme 

• Do a few speed paints

• Do an initial oil painting where most of it is good but the face is not so you need to do that separately (such is life right?)

• Do two separate oil paintings of skies with gold foil that you can overlay with your initial oil painting to bring more texture

• Start the main character's face with pencil, then oil painting, finish it in Procreate and add it to the piece 

• Sketch out the titles and try a million different colour-ways and fonts in a text with Jessie until we get something we like

  
  

BACK COVER (much more straight forward I swear)

• Get Jessie's references

• Paint a flaming sacred heart

• Take a photo on your iPhone 

• Bring it into Procreate and touch it up a little 

• Send it to Jessie 

• Have her send you a LadyGaga “spectacular” gif in return

• Take that as a sign it's approved

• Send to the publishers

• aaaaand scene.

Anyway, just another chaotic descriptive blog of me living out my dreams, and if some publishers wake up one day and decide to redo this cover with some kind of photographic target-airport-esque treatment then you know, God Bless them but also, number 2 on my shitlist (number 1 is every person who has ever walked slowly in front of me as per the following meme). 

Honestly, It's hard to know where I end and inflatable baby Yoda begins

All my love, as always,

Emmy xxx