When I went into Barnes and Noble recently I remember looking at the YA fiction section and noticing that a lot of the book covers were what I like to call “photoshopped”. That’s not supposed to be denigrating (after all, the We Are Savages cover went through a little photoshopping itself) but it’s just what I call covers that are pictures of people, photographs, set against sort of mystical oddly colored backgrounds. I was lucky in that, unlike many authors, I had some say in the cover design for my book.
I’m happy to say I left the design in general to my illustrator who is much more aware in the visual sense than I am (and did a fantastic job) But, my one request, was that the cover, in fact, be illustrated. I wanted pen, pencil, (in this case pastels) used for drawing. I didn’t want photos. It was just how I felt about the book, I didn’t think a photograph, photoshopped or not, would present the feeling I was looking for in the cover. And I think, it worked out perfectly.