This is the first draft of the cover, which I’ve been working on today. My intention is to overlay clean hero art (Probably three) between the title and the license fluff. I want to get the official license but at this stage I’m not sure (if alone) I can reach the levels they are asking for in terms of professional layout and art (HIGH production values, as they say). Under the Fan license of course I can’t angle for donations (to allow those who liked it enough and wanted to support future projects) and wouldn’t be able to use any other means of generating a small tidbit of revenue. The official license would allow me to sell the physical book and take donations on the PDF which I’m still keen to make freely available.
(^ Click for full image)
I feel very isolated at the moment, not only because I’m miles away from friends and loved ones but because I’m writer, illustrator, editor, layout designer and manager/promoter of this little island. Carrying the workload over all the areas isn’t easy, especially when you’re doing 39hrs a week baking bread from 3am – 11pm and juggling apprenticeship paperwork, sometimes it just overwhelms me and I’m faced with that tough choice, work on this or play L4D/TF2 etc. and relax for a few precious moments. Sleep continues to chase me around with a cricket bat, adieu!
Update: I had to redo the parchment background for the innards due to a very silly dpi blunder on software I’m unfamiliar with… here is the redone copy. I may yet tinker with the final design.
-Tompl
Tags: cover work, DTP, The Steamshaft Chronicles
