They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but feel free to make an exception in this case.
Working with an illustrator to craft the concept and then fine-tune the details was a new experience for me. Although the book contains three stories, “The Body Politic” is the centerpiece and the one I wanted the cover image to focus on.
I talked Rue briefly through the story when I first raised the possibility of commissioning them to create this cover. I didn't commit to anything right away, but Rue immediately came up with some rough sketches that got me thinking. I sent the email to actually commit to the commission the day my coronavirus stimulus check dropped into my bank account.
Then, over the next two weeks or so, Rue emailed sketches of ideas, possible color schemes, and reference pieces. I gave some feedback and suggestions and asked some questions, and, at the end, we landed on a rough sketch that I was excited about:
Then Rue made a transfer image, with new lettering, that would be used for the final image. It was my last chance to make any changes! (I didn't have any.)
From this sketch, Rue completed the image in pencil, putting in all the wonderful shading and details. What’s more, they did it in a livestream on Twitch; you can watch the previous image turn into the next one on Rue’s Twitch channel.
Finally, Rue took the image into Photoshop for the finishing touches — color! — and voilà!
I hope to have The Body Politic available to order very soon (it depends in part on Amazon). Follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook for the latest, and, of course, watch this space!