My dad's got a great mystery novel series (the St. Germaine books), but has written a new book that's less a cozy and more of a hard-boiled. It's set in 1940s Chicago, with a cop who had been a pro footballer back in the days of leather helmets. I enjoyed the heck out of the first draft (I haven't read the final version yet), and asked if I might take a crack at designing the cover. He said sure. Here was my mock up - I sent him a bunch of different color versions, and this is the one he liked best:
He ran it by his book folks, who cautioned him that it looked a little too much like a graphic novel, so I eliminated the line-work on the final version and made it more of a collage-y type of deal. Anyway, here's the front cover:
Here's the wraparound, though it doesn't yet have publisher logo/ISBN/text yet.
Anyway, it was fun! He's been very patient, too - I told him I'd do this back in the summer, but pressing deadlines have prevented me from doing so. Anyway, not sure when it's coming out, but keep your eyes peeled - I think it's soon. I might eliminate the shadow on the big guys gun arm, and just have it be all light orange, save the gun itself. Thoughts?