Cover Art

[darkemeralds]

I need a book cover!

There are quickie template-based designs online, and there's $5000 for original artwork, and there's not much in between.

"Well, what do you want to wind up with?" asked my sister Helen.

"Basically this," said I:

"...but a) without Jared Padalecki's face; b) not stolen from a copyright fashion shoot with Johnny Depp; and c) featuring a poet shirt and buckskin breeches rather than that 20th century tuxedo."

"So let's do our own photoshoot."



Well, why not? We have cameras. Everybody has a camera. We have tripods and lights and friends and junk shops and Craigslist. What the hell.

All we need is a tall, lanky red-haired model. And a high-backed wing chair. And some gold brocade. And a poet shirt. Some yellowish pants. A riding crop. A few gew-gaws that can pass for Georgian ornaments.

Yesterday I found the chair on Craigslist--twenty bucks! And they delivered it in an hour!

(Just add gold brocade)

...so, feeling lucky, I went to the Rebuilding Center and came back with some ornamental junk for under $10.


...and then I found this thing at the corner resale shop. Weighs a ton!


Still to come:

• Large quantities of gold brocade
• Drippy candles
• An oriental style rug
• That poet shirt
• A model

Wish me luck!

Comments

[alexseanchai]

Best luck!

[darkemeralds]

Thank you. I need to head out to Goodwill in search of a 70s gold brocade bedspread or set of drapes. :D

[sporky_rat]

You might be able to go with one of the Thanksgiving tablecloths that were being sold this year - they would definitely pass the ten foot rule. There were sort of a harvesty-gold-burnt looking gold with the jacquard look. (I've seen them at our local thrift stores.)

[darkemeralds]

Funny you should mention those! I was taken aback to discover a number of listings on eBay for "holiday table cloths" some of them more Christmasy, some more Thanksgivingy, and I was all, "Huh?" When did shiny golden tablecloths become a thing for the holiday season?

I found some bronze-y green/gold damask curtains at Goodwill that might work--going to do some test photos to check for appropriate contrast and tone. It's all a big adventure in not-having--CLUE-what-I'm-doing-but-what-the-heck.

[sporky_rat]

I have no idea when they became a thing, but they worked out beautifully for making a super fancy mantel decoration for friends at Thanksgiving.

[dine]

sadly, your photos aren't loading - but I look forward to further updates on your acquisitions for the photoshoot

[darkemeralds]

If you get a chance, try refreshing. I re-coded everything using DW's new photo hosting. I'd like to know how it works, because clearly I'm not seeing the same thing other people are seeing.

[dine]

photo's are working now, and after embiggening, I must say that chair and the brass whatsit are perfect!

[darkemeralds]

And who doesn't love a good brass whatsit! :D

Thank you for checking back. DW's new photo hosting defaults to thumbnails with embiggening, not my favorite method, but I didn't have time to dig through the code and experiment. I'll test it further later on.

[lamentables]

You seem to have fixed the photo issue: last night there was nothing visible at all, this morning there are pics.

Good luck with your new role, and especially with finding a suitable model!

[darkemeralds]

Thank you! I'm afraid we have no such photographic talent as yours around here, but I hope we'll wind up with an image at least suitable for massive Photoshopping.

[donutsweeper]

ooh that chair looks PERFECT for it. Hee, the first apartment I lived in had these awful red velvet/velour, gold patterned curtains that were heavy as hell and just terrible to look at but the pattern was almost exactly the one on your Restraint cover. With luck your local goodwill or similar type store will have something like them for you to repurpose.

[darkemeralds]

Isn't it great? I started the day yesterday thinking, wow, I'll be lucky to find ANYTHING in the next few weeks, and then there it was, first item on Craigslist under "wingback chair", and so cheap!

And it's actually a fairly comfortable chair. It might be worth having reupholstered. On the other hand, for $20, I can afford to hot-glue and staple and screw and pin things onto it for the shoot, and then put it out for someone else to cart off.

The curtains you describe would be perfect. That's exactly the sort of thing I'm going hunting for at Goodwill this afternoon.

[branchandroot]

I have to say, some of the best covers I've seen (that had specific requirements like this) were self-shoots, so I think you're on the right track. Gold brocade, ho!

[darkemeralds]

That's good to know. Can you think of any specific examples? I'd love to have a look!

[branchandroot]

I'm especially fond of some of Thea Hayworth's.

[darkemeralds]

Thank you. Those are great! Very distinctive. And though the books don't seem to be any kind of a series, the style of the different covers, with a single object photographed close up, creates an author "brand". That's a really good idea.

[ranunculus]

Great idea, have fun!

[darkemeralds]

We're having a blast so far!

Cover

[frahulettaes]

Hi! I think that contacting the local Jane Austen Society or Regency Dance group might net you a tallish gentleman in the right era of garb. Also, with new fangled software, the image you have can be made to look hand painted enough to pass copyright. I have a friend, Walter Nelson, at lahacal.org who runs a fair amount of regency events. He might be able to point you to someone who could help. He's lovely, I've known him for twenty years and if you tell him I sent you, will probably be very helpful if he can.
Do you have the image above without type? I'd like to try messing with it if that would be okay.

Re: Cover

[frahulettaes]

Walter won't know me as gherkins, he'll know me as Joan Hulett. Also, I used to be Chickenfried_Jo and before that, fra_hulettaes. Times being what they are.

Re: Cover

[darkemeralds]

That is such a great idea! And as a matter of fact, a very dear friend of mine belongs to both the local Jane Austen society AND a dance group. So I did hit her up for leads, and she came up with a couple of poet-shirt possibilities (though no models, alas--those groups tend to the older side, apparently).

I don't have an unadulterated version of that lovely manip anymore, but you're welcome to fiddle around with this one that I turned into a phone screen a couple of years ago.

Not at all sure that link will work, because who the hell knows how Google Photos works, but sharing isn't their biggest thing. Let me know.

Re: Cover

[frahulettaes]

Perfect!! I'll mess around a bit and see what happens.

[tehomet]

Fascinating. :D I love your finds.

[darkemeralds]

:D

I'm getting really tired of them! I moved the chair into my living room, rolled up my own IKEA rug and put down my sister's Persian one, shifted half the furniture into my bedroom...and here everything sits, all cattywampus and out of order, which drives me nuts.

The thing is, it's taken weeks to find a model--mostly because I was so squeamish about trying. But I finally got a nice looking young man to sign on, and we're doing the photo shoot this coming Tuesday, God willing and creek don't rise.

Then I can have my house back!