...and I got to do the cover!
Yes that's right, he wanted something fun and light-hearted, and had the brilliant idea (I may be a little biased...) to use a caricature on the cover.
Yes that's right, he wanted something fun and light-hearted, and had the brilliant idea (I may be a little biased...) to use a caricature on the cover.
(I think ALL books should have caricatures on their covers, incidentally. Please lobby your congressman.)
He also came up with the concept to show a news satellite van with stickers from all the stations he's worked at over his career. As well as a dotted-line map showing the cities he lived in along the way.
After an initial rough sketch to make sure we were on the same page, I proceeded to the line art and watercolor. For this part, I shamelessly channeled my cartooning idol Jack Davis (not saying I succeeded --- Davis had the skills of a 9th level hierophant. Which is pretty whack, if you know anything about hierophants.)
Then, I took the art into Photoshop and added the background map, as well as the text. What a blast to see it all come together:
Here's the thumbnail rough:
