A Novel Cover Up is a semi-regular feature that looks at how covers are made. Thanks to Random House Children's Books, today Today I have the great pleasure of having Lorenzo Etherington - one half of the Etherington Brothers - stopping by to talk about how he designed the cover for Muddle and Win: The Battle for Sally Jones by John Dickinson. All images in this post are copyrighted to Lorenzo Erthington and used with permission, and can be clicked to enlarge.
Because most of my time is taken up with creating our comic books, I only take on book jackets when the book itself really inspires me. Muddle and Win was one such adventure because it is so alive with creatures and magic and weirdness - right up my street!The first step of my design process was to create the logo. I feel book covers often work best when the typography and the art comes from the same hand, and I wanted the illustration to really hang off a bold and brassy title. The main lettering was created by hand, laid up in the center of all three of the initial roughs to give all the designs a common centerpiece. The proportions of the book were such that I knew I could have fun with the spine too, so I had to make sure the text would reconfigure nicely to run vertically.
