Book cover images are an essential part of a book’s appeal, with a huge range of approaches, making them a great area to be commissioned in. AOI members have the exclusive opportunity to explore these by taking part in one or more of four online sessions for the Illustration for Publishing: Book Covers Season Creative Practice Course. Presenters include a publishing art director and highly experienced illustrators.
Each session we welcome a guest illustrator or art director who presents on a specialised area of book covers for adults. This course focuses on covers with different approaches in fiction and non-fiction and includes a HarperCollins art director talking about illustrators and book covers. There’s a Q&A after each presentation to give you the opportunity to ask questions.
The Creative Practice course is hosted by illustrator, Dave Bain.
Each session gives you the opportunity to respond to one of two briefs especially set by the session presenter. We encourage you to make up to 3 rough ideas from the brief to bring along to the session, where you’ll be able to discuss your ideas with fellow illustrators in an informal setting.
Send any completed illustrations to [email protected], as we curate several Folios with work from the sessions.
Session 1: April 30 (Tuesday), 2024 at 7.00-8.30pm
Non-fiction illustration for adults with Jennifer N R Smith
Creating non-fiction book covers can involve projects which include interesting research projects about the natural world and more.
In this session, Jennifer will go through the process of working with a publishing client in non-fiction, from research, to drafts, to final execution.
She will also cover her illustration journey and the benefits of following your own interests when it comes to developing your portfolio.
Session 2: May 16 (Thursday), 2024 at 7.00-8.30pm
Commissioning insights – Working with an art director on book covers with Ellie Game
Deputy Art Director at HarperColllins, Ellie Game, commissions across an range of adult genres, from romance to thrillers, non-fiction to mass market titles.
Ellie will talk about working with illustrators: putting a brief together; selecting the right illustrator for the job; how much direction is given; the expectations of roughs; artwork tweaks and the illustrator’s attitude.
Session 3: May 28 (Tuesday), 2024 at 7.00-8.30pm
Creating fiction book covers with Lucy Davey
Lucy is an illustrator with over 100 book cover credits to her name, and her covers have a particular focus on scene setting, narrative, characters, decoration and also the use of hand rendered typography for titles and authors’ names.
Lucy uses flat colour, limited palettes and grainy textures to create contemporary work with a classic feel, and her publishing clients include HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, Orion, Headline and Macmillan.
Session 4: June 11 (Tuesday), 2024 at 7.00-8.30pm
Creating covers with atmosphere and impact with Zoë van Dijk
Zoë is a US illustrator who works across a range of illustration applications. In this session she will introduce her work, going into detail on the publishing side of her illustrations, covering her process and book covers commissions. She will discuss use of depth and contrast, and the use of interesting perspectives in her illustrations.
Zoë’s clients include Penguin Random House and Folio, whose limited edition of A Long Way to a Small Planet by Becky Chambers has just been published with artwork and a print from Zoë.
AOI Members have access to all Inside Illustration content.
Check out the briefs and video presentations from other Inside Illustration seasons