publishing and creative collaboration
I've been thinking a bit about the collaboration that publishing often engenders--the push and pull of choosing work, preparing galleys and designing covers and how to mazimize that in terms of creating beautiful books and objects. Some of my favorite cover designs are not necessarily the ones I do myself (though that process is highly enjoyable) but the ones where the author has a role. So many dancing girl authors are also damn good artists and this makes their book even lovelier. (Check out Amber Rose Crowtree's recent chap, Harboring the Imperfect, as well as Emma Hyche's Picnic in the Abbatoir.) Other times, they have an image or a piece of art they'd like to use from a friend. Or another designer who is willing to put something together that is print ready. I like variances, since it keeps the series fresh and not too many books in the same vein. (I try to switch it up, but I also tend to gravitate in certain directions and colors--lots of pale blues and greens. Vintage illustrations and collage.(basically what most of my visual art looks like..lol..a recent case in point, the lovely cover for Loren Walker's neverheart)
Sometimes, I am running off a concept or idea, but creating something from scratch to encompass those thoughts. Early in the process, I will typically try to get a sense of what they like--how that manifests in their style. Also what past covers appeal to them. Do they light bright or muted colors? Photos or other media? Simple or maximalist? What sort of fonts and colors should I avoid? What sort of imagery might we try pulling from the book? What is too obvious or expected? What is surprising? If they have no preferences or idea where to start, I will usually try re-reading the manuscript and exploring directions. It's also cool if an author wants to use something I've already created (this happened with Elisabeth Workman's chap recently. She had fallen in love with the conspiracy theories collages, so I created something in the same vein and style for her chap.)
In my own experience with publishers, I've been fortunate to have a similar collaborative relationship. In many cases, the editors ask for work I've made or can create. In others, if I have no idea or appropriate images, they've made some really cool choices (major characters in minor films' design by Mary Ellen Knight is an excellent example, as well as the lovely design Maverick Duck did for beautiful, sinister. ) For salvage, I had a vague idea of a mermaid tattoo that Black Lawrence was able to nail exactly. Other books with them, I provided the artwork (girl show and sex & violence) It's similar with the images I've been working with for the collections I've been issuing myself, as well as various zine projects over time. Of the three that will be issued this year, one is more illustrated (feed), one is a photograph (dark country) and the third (animal, vegetable, monster), a collage.
Even the insides of books are sometimes also a similar design collaboration, especially if there are visual elements inside or complicated formatting. Sometimes, things just don't fit right and we have to make it work (we have literally sometimes turned poems on their sides..lol..) We've also non traditional"books, including some decks of poems and a box project devoted to Emily Dickinson, and funds willing, I always hopw to do more of these non-book books in the future. Even with the most simple design, there is a bit of back and forth on fonts and sizing and titles (to bold or not to bold? to make larger or consistent with the text? how to handle footnotes and epigraphs? All of it, a process I greatly enjoy.
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