Summer Boy design process


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		This design uses multiple pieces of art to create the cover for The Summer Boy cover. The book is not yet for sale, but coming soon.


	Design objectives are to communicate: It’s about 2 teens, a boy and a girl. It takes place on a ranch in Texas. It’s HOT in the summer in Texas. There’s murder. Click the image below for a better look.

Summer Boy photo 200W The original stock photo: the boy, Jesse, is terminally shy, especially around girls. He would look away from a girl, no matter how attracted he is. But he thinks about things, too.

Summer Girl photo 200W The original stock photo: the girl, Lola, is outgoing and flirtatious. She likes Jesse immediately. We wanted to create a sense of tension between the two.

Manipulating the photos lets the cover give the idea that they are near each other, that she’s gazing at him, and he’s looking away.

bluebonnet field Patches of bluebonnet flowers are mentioned in the novel early on, and I liked the idea of them for a sense of place. We found this stock photo that gave both bluebonnets and a ranch-style fence.


	We liked the idea of a single bluebonnet for the back cover design. It symbolizes the softer elements of the story. There is murder at the ranch, and this illustration of blood did the trick for us.

		The Summer Boy is a “novel of Texas” about the people of that state. On the cover and the interior I used this shape of Texas, created from an image found on the Internet, to symbolize that.




	Novel, Kathleen Toomey Jabs Fuze Publishing