To celebrate the release of debut middle grade adventure series Globe Defenders I am sharing a special guest post from award winning illustrator Marco Guadalupi on the process of creating the cover art. The series written by debut author Jonny Daymond is published by New Frontier and takes readers on an exhilarating journey to the Amazon rainforest.
The first step was to take notes while reading the illustrator brief. Understanding how to draw the characters and position them in the setting was the next step. After taking the initial notes, I recalled an old animated TV series that I watched as a child, Captain Planet and the Planeteers. In this story, the protagonists also fought against criminals who were destroying the natural environment. Next I sketched the initial draft for the cover. They were almost like doodles, but for me, this is a crucial step – the most important phase in the entire creation process.
I then sent the initial sketches to Verity Clark for discussion. After an exchange of emails and understanding the direction to take, I continued working on the drawing, cleaning up the scene to achieve a polished design. I also began considering the colours and created a small colour sketch. During this phase, I like to experiment. I chose colours for the scene (in this case, many greens) and decided what needed to stand out. I put one of the protagonists at the centre of the scene. He is running while being followed by others who are positioned on the sides, in the shadows. Once the colours were agreed upon, I started the final art. For the last step, I added all the finer details, until I completed the scene. I followed the same process for the back cover, but I incorporated much more action and used a different colour palette to evoke a carnival atmosphere.
Naturally, for both the front cover and the back cover, I took into account spaces for the title, logos and the text. These are elements that impact the composition. I was really happy with the final result and I am pleased to have had the opportunity to illustrate the cover for this exciting novel for young readers (and beyond).
Discover more about illustrator Marco Guadalupi here: https://www.instagram.com/marcoguadalupi85
Discover more about author Jonny Daymond and the Globe Defenders: https://www.jonnydaymond.com/
My thanks to Tina and Midas PR for the blogtour spot.
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Illustrator https://twitter.com/marcoguadalupi
Publisher https://twitter.com/NFPublishingUK