BTS – Creating the Birthstone Goddesses Calendar Part 2 – Cover Planning & Design

I’m happy to report that since my last Behind the Scenes post about the calendar, I’ve gotten the OK from my printer that they can do the size I’d like for a decent rate!  That’s one less worry as we move forward with this process.  Being able to have my calendar made by a local shop eliminates so much waiting time from the process.

I’ve also completed the interior art based on the 2023 grids, which I’ve added pagan holidays in addition to major US holidays to pay respect to my Goddesses’ pagan inspirations.  Here’s a little sneak peek of the interiors!

I ended up changing my mind from including the mandala in the background of the grid for a couple of reasons. 1. They actually ended up looking too busy with the additional lines from the mandala design and 2. It would take a lot of extra time to clean up the mandalas for this purpose.

Cover Types

With the interiors sorted out, it was time to start thinking of one of the most important presentation pieces that a customer will judge your entire calendar by – the cover.  There are a couple of choices here.  I could use one singularly impressive image that already exists in the interior of my calendar as the cover OR create a new singularly impressive painting.  

Personally, I want to go big and make an all-new painting of the Goddess’ logo character, the Lady of Eternity!  And thus I have set a challenge for myself.

What’s In A Cover?

It’s also time to start thinking of what kind of elements need to be included in the cover.  Llewelyn did a great job previewing what collectors need to know about how the actual calendar pages look, as well as Stephanie’s info.

I’ll need to keep the following in mind as I design my front and back cover graphics.

A front cover tends to include:

  • A sample of the art with a title and year.  I like that Stephanie’s has just enough flourish and color in the title text to be more interesting than a plainer font, but isn’t too distracting from the art.

  • The artist’s name featured prominently (especially if you have a recognizable name)

A back cover tends to include:

  • A preview of the interior art (single pages and full page spread)

  • A description of what kinds of holidays are included

  • An ISBN if you’re planning to offer your calendar through Amazon or other outlets. For example, I use Amazon Advantage, which requires ISBNs. I got a pack of 10 ISBNs through Bowker that I save for use with distribution of my coloring books and other future releases, including digital ones which will require their own separate ISBNs from their physical counterparts.

  • Info about the artist

  • Price (MSRP), publisher, copyright info, and location of printing (more on figuring out the MSRP later)

  • Social media icons, biz logo, and website url

Cover Design

Next, I roughed out my cover layouts in Photoshop so I have an idea of where all my info will fit along with my image.  I’ll be sharing more of my process for the front cover painting in an upcoming Secret Sketchbook post, so keep your eyes peeled for that!  

Here’s a rough idea of a very bare bones grayscale verson of the front cover concept with the completed back cover.

Next, I’ll be spending some time with the cover painting to sort out her composition and narrative details.  I’m excited to get my hands dirty with traditional media again!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving in the meanwhile and a great day if you don’t celebrate.

More soon!
♥ Ang

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