[I posted this originally in the summer of 2021 as we were getting ready to send Ex Libris to the printer]
What do you think, will this jump out at you from across the bookstore? Maybe even as a thumbnail online? I’m excited about it!
The cover’s a collaboration between me and my publisher, Tom Kaczynski. I had the initial concept and made a sketch of it a few years ago.
Once Tom approved it, I drew up the final art—including the fairly elaborate and head-breaking miniature comic spread which tells a story while conforming to the shape of the spiral which is pulling us to the middle of the cover (and, my idea is, into the book itself).
Tom had the idea to extend the spiral to the background and really use it as an overarching design element, which he then extended to the treatment of the type, giving it an early modernist flavor very much in keeping with the mood and inspirations of the book.
Here’s a small gallery featuring my original sketch and early pencils as well as a few alternate takes of Tom’s:
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