99Designs
Book Cover Designs and Retouching
A Queen to Come
The brief was for a book cover with a single axe in the centre of the cover. It needed
to be a dark grey colour, with an intricate design on the hilt in red, which moves up
and onto the centre of the blade itself.
Bowman of the Yard Trilogy
The brief was to create a series of crime novel book covers with a sense of the
macabre and a feel for the time and location (1880s London). The book was aimed at
Crime and Victorian history buffs, any age, any location. Paticulary for anyone who
loves Sherlock Holmes and Poirot or who watched Ripper Street or Peaky Blinders.
The Piercing of the Crown
The brief was to create a simple, non-distracting background and a single, bold,
captivating icon that is representative of the book. No stock imagery was allowed to
be used, so all imagery was created in photoshop.
The Soldiers Code
The brief was to create a book cover of an exploration of six ancient warrior cultures
(Samurai, Spartan, Viking, Knight, Gladiator, & Legionary), original biblical
language, and history that brings powerful insight, wisdom, and weaponry for the
Christian’s spiritual warfare. The author wanted three thematic elements in the
design: A. Christian spiritual warfare. B. The six warrior cultures (find ways to work
imagery which depicts these in your design, whether it comes from stock images of
these ancient warriors or more iconic touches like different helmets, weaponry, or
shields). C. Rich colouring & texture, the kind that makes a viewer feel like he/she
can run fingers over the details, feel the accents, depth, beveling, etc.
The Ascendants
The brief was to create a science fiction, action and adventure book cover for ages 12
years and up. The author wanted a futuristic style city that has begun to crumble to
the ground from the war, with extreme weather, fires, intense storms. To show a young
freedom fighter that lives below ground who emerge from underground bunkers to fight a
diamond shaped mothership.
Soul Sceptre
The brief was to create a fantasy, action and adventure book cover for teens and
adults. The author wanted the main character holding the “Soul Scepter” overhead which
emits a huge mystical red flame which conveys that the two main characters had been
taken back to medieval times. He wanted the cover to be eye-catching and discernible
when thumbnail-sized on a screen.
JOY
The brief was to create a classy and simple Sci-Fi book cover. The author wanted the
word “JOY” being the dominant feature, either it's typography or as a graphic element.
The book is a dark novel but wanted to show the story moving toward light as there is
a sense of hope at the end. The main characters are a human looking android in a white
lab coat who carries a girl in his arms for much of the book. The author wanted show
that at one point in the journey, they pass through St. Louis and see the ruins of the
Gateway Arch. The back cover wanted to show the end of the journey with a Native
American reservation in the mountains.
David James Trilogy - Love letters to the Virgin Mary/Jesus
The brief was to create a book cover that combines the three Abrahamic faiths of
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all tell a bigger story, that they’re all connected.
Ultimately, this book is meant to be a love story that would unite the world behind
the idea that there must be at least one fairy tale we all would be willing to believe
in. I used a floral pattern to convey this along with the Star of David to the top of
the hammer and a red 5 petal rose in the heart of the hammer to symbolise all 5 of
Christ’s wounds. The second book in a planned trilogy. The author wanted a cross to
replace the hammer with the Star of David centre, also lightening bolts shaped to
subtly represent Mjolnir (the hammer of the thunder god, Thor) from the previous book.
David Paul Powers and the Quest for the Child Crystals
The book is targeted at kids around 10-12 years old. The author wanted to avoid
something that looks like a typical sci-fi cookie cutter type of cover preferring
something with a more comic book cover. The first book of three, he was looking for a
‘lighter’ colour scheme with hopeful, youthful colours. I illustrated the cover on a
iPad in Procreate and then took it into Photoshop for final colour work.
