Crafting Cover Design with Magic
By
Felicity Heaton
Firstly, I’d like to thank Melissa for inviting me to come to her blog as part of my Paranormal Pandemonium 2011 Blog Tour and talk about my books. I’m a paranormal romance author who mostly focuses on writing sexy vampires, dark angels, and deadly demons, but sometimes I tackle witchcraft too, and that’s what I’ve done with Ascension.
I wanted to capture that magic and passion in the cover for the novel. See, I’m not only the author but the artist too. I’m professionally trained as a graphic designer and have been using Photoshop for more years than I care to admit, and I like nothing more than creating graphics and covers for my books. I love creating covers for my books because I feel I know the characters and story the most, and that helps me design a cover that really suits the book and will speak to readers, giving them a glimpse of the story before they even start reading.
With the cover of Ascension, I wanted something that reflected the intensity within its pages, the desire and magic, the heat and the danger. I had an initial idea that I just couldn’t create with stock photography and some Photoshop magic, but the cover that I eventually created was one that spoke to me more than the initial design idea. I used red and orange hues to represent the passion and the heat in the story, but also the danger, and brought in elements from the story such as the New York skyline, and the magical symbols. The magical markings really help tie the two halves of the book together and add that extra layer of witchiness about it, giving readers a clear indication of what the book is about.
Lealandra, the witch heroine, is represented in the lower half of the cover and in a way she appears in part of the book, with her hair swirling as though she’s underwater as the power of her magic pulses through her, threatening to take control. I decided to have her towering over the New York City skyline to add another level of danger to the cover, an indication that she’s powerful enough to be a danger to the city and could level it if her power gets out of control.
Taig, the half-demon half-human hero takes up the top half of the book, as dominant on the cover as he is in the book, with his demon wings on show. I loved putting wings on the stock picture of the man I had found as it really brought Taig to life on the cover. I wanted to keep them subtle. At the start of the story, Lealandra has never seen Taig’s demonic appearance and doesn’t know he has wings, so I wanted to keep that sort of mystery about him. Just a glimpse of the demon in him if readers look closely enough. The male model is perfect for Taig. Taig is burly and powerful, and I think the cover shows that.
The last thing I had to do with the cover was chose a font that really said magic to me, and brought the two halves of the design together. I’d had my eye on this font for a while, since I had designed another cover, and had written it down as the one to use on the cover for Ascension. It fits the book perfectly.
I’m still learning about creating covers but this is one that I’m particularly proud of and I wanted to share the meaning behind the cover and the reasons I chose specific elements.
If anyone has any questions about any of my covers, I’d be happy to answer them if you leave a comment on this blog post.
If you’re a reader looking for an action-packed, magical and passionate urban fantasy romance with a difference, then head on over to my website and check out the excerpt of Ascension: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk
Ascension is available now in e-book format direct from my site, on Amazon Kindle, and other retailers, and is also available in paperback from Amazon.com
Ascension
Felicity Heaton
A witch on the verge of achieving phenomenal power, Lealandra must turn to her half-breed demon ex-lover Taig for protection from the dark force that is after her and also from her own magic.
With her Counter-Balance dead and her coven against her, Taig’s blood and power is the only thing that can help her control her magic and survive the ascension and gain the strength to defeat her enemy.
Old feelings come flooding back as Taig allows her into his world and Lealandra finds herself fighting not only for survival but to win his broken heart again and heal the pain in their past. Can he forgive her for walking out on him all those years ago and will he ever believe her when she tells him that he’s not a monster but the man that she loves?
Biography:
Felicity Heaton is a romance author writing as both Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton. She is passionate about penning paranormal tales full of vampires, witches, werewolves, angels and shape-shifters, and has been interested in all things preternatural and fantastical since she was just a child. Her other passion is science-fiction and she likes nothing more than to immerse herself in a whole new universe and the amazing species therein. She used to while away days at school and college dreaming of vampires, werewolves and witches, or being lost in space, and used to while away evenings watching movies about them or reading gothic horror stories, science-fiction and romances.
Having tried her hand at various romance genres, it was only natural for her to turn her focus back to the paranormal, fantasy and science-fiction worlds she enjoys so much. She loves to write seductive, sexy and strong vampires, werewolves, witches, angels and alien species. The worlds she often dreams up for them are vicious, dark and dangerous, reflecting aspects of the heroines and heroes, but her characters also love deeply, laugh, cry and feel every emotion as keenly as anyone does. She makes no excuses for the darkness surrounding them, especially the paranormal creatures, and says that this is their world. She’s just honoured to write down their adventures.
If you want to know more about me, or want to get in touch, you can find me at the following places:
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