Cover Reveal for The House Next Door

For me, the first step is always to read the manuscript of the book I’m illustrating. I love to get a feel for the story, the setting, its characters, and any other details that could really make the cover feel unique and specific to the story the author has envisioned in the text. If I can get immersed in their world, it is always so much easier for me to get excited about conveying the story visually through the cover art. I always get so frustrated when I get a cover brief but don’t have access to the manuscript because it’s not ready yet! If I can read and give time to the story, the cover almost always is more fun to make and turns out better in the end.

My first step towards creating the art is thumbnailing– a process in which I often create dozens of tiny little rectangular, loose doodles that explore different concepts and scenarios for the cover. At this stage, the idea is to not get too wrapped up in details and really just let myself get any and all ideas out on the page. Finding something that works at this scale is the key to the cover working well once the art is fully fleshed out, but to most onlookers these drawings likely look like a bunch of scribbles!! Afterward, I’ll pick a handful of thumbs that feel like a good possible direction, scan them, and then use them as a foundation to create more detailed, digital sketches. At this stage I really try to consider the style and placement of the title and any other text that will need to appear on the cover as well as the overall lighting and mood of the piece. These sketches are the first art I will share with the designer or art director from the publisher that I am working with, who then will take them to the broader team to select which direction will make the strongest cover. Next I implement any notes/edits as I create a rough color sketch, while also finalizing the sizing, formatting, and bleed. Finally, it is time to create the final art! For this cover, my process involved printing out the sketch and using a light box to create pencil drawings that comprise several layers (Usually background+ characters) that I later compile and color digitally.

Typically, I have little to no direct communication with the author during this process. However, they will often fill out a cover form that provides many details or even concepts of what they would like to see on the cover. In Ellen’s case, she compiled so much wonderful information on both the setting and characters, including reference pics of actors or other real kids who might look a bit like who she was envisioning for each role. This is always SO SO helpful and an excellent resource that I will continue to reference all the way through to the end of the process. Once the ball is rolling on the art, the author will communicate with their editor and can give input and feedback on my sketches, which I will often receive alongside broader notes or edits from the team. Sometimes, the author will make special requests, or correct/ provide details on character appearance, setting, etc.

Having illustrated several of Ellen’s other fantastic middle grade books (many of which were also horror or contained horror elements), I really wanted to create something that could stand apart from the others but still convey that great sense of creepiness that oozes from all of her stories. For this one, I was really looking to do something with strong lighting that conveyed the dreadful feeling of peering down into the dark basement and not being sure of what shapes you can make out in the shadows. (you’ll see some of my other sketches focused on looking down rather than up as in the final art) I was coming up from the basement in my own house when I got the idea to reverse the perspective as if you are standing down there with all the creepies and looking up at those vulnerable kiddos at the top. I felt inspired by that super intense angle and the feeling it gave to the cover art, so I took a couple reference pics and started going from there!

4. Can you visually share how the cover evolved from a sketch to final?

 For this cover, the main changes that were made between the sketch and color sketch phase were the size and proportion of the characters at the top of the stairs (they needed to be more prominent). The one additional change that was made in the transition to final art was changing the water guns to a frying pan and tennis racket. While the water guns are present in the text, it was a good call to avoid anyone who thought the kids were holding actual guns when first glancing at the cover of the book. (thanks to Ellen for the suggestions!) I would say that the whole process from start to finish took roughly 20-25 hours including thumbnailing, sketching, the color sketch, edits, and final art.