Kathryn Gauci writes with insight and sensitivity about the difficult and intertwined histories of Greece and Turkey, and also about the great drama of the Second World War. Her characters are caught up in the flow of events, and often forced to deal with great tragedies and make impossible choices. The Carpet Weaver of Usak depicts Greeks living alongside Turks in Asia Minor, a circumstance almost unimaginable today. Typefaces used: Orpheus Pro and Playfair italic. Code Name Camille explores the world of the Resistance in France, and the attendant dangers and betrayals.
Rain — Book Cover Design
Mala Naidoo writes literary fiction — she prefers evocative, atmospheric cover images. For this collection of short stories. the composition we designed incorporated four images, including the barely visible hut in the woods (featured in one of her stories). The title typeface is Roman SD and the subtitle and author name use Essonnes.
Epic Fiction and Domestic Dramas — Book Cover Design
Thomas and Rose spans the globe and many decades, while Memoirs of a Stay at Home Dad charts the efforts of one dad to raise his children and deal with the changing roles of men. The Thomas and Rose cover uses the sharply cut and elegant Orpheus Pro for the title, and the Stay at Home Dad sports the rough and warm finesse of Five Boroughs.
Rubber Brain — Cover Design
A bright and cheerful cover for a book showcasing techniques for increasing mental productivity and resilience, and targeting tertiary students. The rubbery title typeface is Hamurz and the subtitle is Gilbert.
“In this book, five leading psychological educators show you simple tools derived from a wide range of solid science covering everything from positive psychology to goal setting, from mindfulness to CBT, and from emotional regulation to moral reasoning, to optimise your thinking.”
Virtual Box Set — Cover Design
Some of the conventions of print live on in digital books ... for example bundled sets of books are often depicted as an actual box set of the printed kind. We set up the pictured box set for Peter Ralph, the successful author of numerous financial thrillers.
“I’ve been involved in business and business litigation for most of my life and my story-telling is coloured by the days and weeks I’ve spent in lawyers’ offices, barristers’ chambers and courts waiting for the wheels of justice to grind to a conclusion. I enjoy slightly changing the facts, adding a little more violence than actually took place and changing the names of the characters to protect the guilty to produce what are hopefully enthralling business themed suspense novels.”
Australian Book Designers Association
There's an organisation for everything, even book designers. ABDA showcases the work of a group of designers with diverse approaches and workflows. It even organises awards, a few events and posts interviews with individual designers. Here's my interview from their archives.
Introducing the Illustrations of Pawel Nowacki
Pawel has illustrated several books with us now, with a range of subject matter. He has adapted well to every request and produces illustrations with personality and energy. Here's an introduction from Pawel:
"My name is Pawel (the Polish cognate of Paul) and I’m a freelance illustrator based in Poznań, Poland. When I was a small boy, my father showed me a ballpen-made portrait — I've been drawing ever since. Being self-taught, I barely ever leave my pencil behind, wanting to be a better artist. Working almost my entire life in IT business has given me an interesting perspective on art, and at the same time equipped me with some skills that are helping me out with my art work. Coming from two such distant worlds is both advantage and a challenge which I take happily, having a great motivation from my family, especially from my beautiful wife Joanna.
I really enjoy black and white drawings. Book illustrations, comics and graphic novels were always something special for me. Being able to actually create book illustrations is like fulfilling my childhood dreams. This is also why I really enjoy working with Luke, for he is a professional, honest and friendly person, giving me the opportunity to do what I really love:)
If you are a book author and want to decorate your book with any kind of illustration I'm more than happy to help you. I always like to research the subject of the illustration to fit it best for authors idea. I usually do hand-drawn, pencil to paper sketches then scan and add some processing work on the computer with use of a graphic tablet. I always like to leave a hand-drawn feeling to the final effect. I can create book illustrations, portraits, caricatures, etc. but I stay open for any kind of drawing / art idea you might have!
You can have a look at some of my previous works on my portfolio archive at pawel-nowacki.tumblr.com/archive and also on my Instagram account: www.instagram.com/nowacki_pawel, (user: nowacki_pawel)"
Author Testimonials #5
“I would strongly recommend you to anyone requiring this kind of service. I absolutely love it. Thank you so much. You are a genius.”
Client Testimonials #4
““Your cover is receiving accolades galore...you must take several bows and be delighted with the response to what I felt was an amazing depiction of the book. In this instance you CAN tell a book by its cover!!””
Greek Courage
In the early 19th Century Greek patriots began the long and bloody process of re-establishing their independence after centuries under the Ottoman yoke. Yvonne Payne's story Rodanthe's Gift dramatises aspects of the rebellion that took place in Crete. We combined images of a mountainous Cretan landscape, gold Napoleons and a contemporary artwork. The title type is Yana. More information here.
Ancient Egyptian Saga — Book Cover
A great catastrophe is afoot in this sweeping saga set in Ancient Egypt. We used a beautiful 19th century illustration with vivid saturated colours and combined it with a hint of the Egyptian desert and a meteorite trail (essential to the plot). Title type set in Yana.