Toward the Gleam

So, what to do with a book which features a protagonist based on a rather famous author but who is never named?

Well, in the case of Toward the Gleam I thought of evoking the author's art without copying it. Trouble is, I am not talented enough to do it myself.

But I did know someone who is.



Here's the sketch I sent off to illustrator and artisan Daniel Mitsui. He sent back a much more detailed sketch which needed only minor revision, and the final artwork arrived very soon after.

You can see the original black and white illustrations he did here. (I loved the cover so much that I got permission to have him do a title page as well)



Here's the final cover. It's in solid spot colors: black, cream, and metallic silver and gold. I had to create separate "plates" for each color in Photoshop and layer them to get the effect you see. It looks even better in person due to the spot-gloss.

Padre Pio Under Investigation

A new book detailing the Vatican investigation of Padre Pio, with documents from the Secret Archive.

I wanted Padre Pio to look isolated and lonely on the cover. The crucifix at the top is a photo I took in Lisbon, from a cathedral that collapsed in the big earthquake they had in the 18th century.

Manalive : book version

Click for a bigger view. I previously designed an audio book version of this.

I wanted the lettering to look hand lettered, but also wanted more precision than I had on the audio book. I laid out the type, printed it, and traced over with pen by hand to get the look I wanted.