On Friday, I finally got the go-ahead for the cover for Baby Can Bounce.
When I was deciding on the title, I could have chosen any of the featured actions, but I wanted to keep the alliteration that I established with Baby Goes Baaaaa!, which narrowed it down. Ultimately, Baby Can Bounce! is catchy, plus it's a fun, slightly silly action for a cover.
Inside the actual book, the 'Baby can bounce' page features the slug and snake:
Though the idea of a slug on a cover makes me laugh, slug and snake are not desperately cute and might put some people off (especially those with slug or snake phobias!), but one of my fave characters is the baby croc from Baby can dig:
What seems like months ago, Sarah, my designer at Egmont, sent me a basic cover layout, just to get the ball rolling and give me something to design around. That's really handy, as it gives me some idea how much space the title etc is going to need:
I did a few quick sketches of various possible positions for the bouncing baby croc:
I then placed each of the sketches out into Sarah's layout, moving the text around to fit. I thought it would be more fun if all the lettering was uneven, as if it too was bouncing. I sent Sarah back these 3 alternatives:
And then I waited....
These decisions can sometimes take forever: designers have to wait for pre-scheduled meetings, where other members of the team, particularly Sales, can give input.
This week though, they decided on the one at the top of this post, so it's all-systems-go at last. One good idea the Egmont guys have added is the spider - since he appears on every page inside, it's better with him on the front too.
Right, pastels at the ready... get set... go!
5 comments:
Wonderful post Lynne, thank you for sharing :)
Thanks for sharing the process with us your readers!
I love the movement you've got in your bouncing Croc Lynne, and he's cute as well! Fascinating to hear what a long winded process things can sometimes be, then they'll want it desperately no doubt?
Hope you got the blind sorted out, what with this FANTASTIC sunny weather we are having. I was thinking organza or voile? these might work? You may have melted in the sun by now, I'm just heading back to work in my spare bedroom and the sun will be blazing there too! Best of luck, Julie.
A great story, love all the drawings.
Lovely cover work through.
The croc is a favourite of mine too, and the bouncing spider finishes it off perfectly. :o)
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