Switch by A.S. King, cover art by Nicki Crock and Samira Iravani
When Penguin Random House reached out to me in July of this year, asking if I would be interested in creating the artwork for a new YA novel, I was 1. Excited by the idea of a new challenge, I’ve done very little illustration work and never a book cover and 2. Thrilled to have the opportunity to read a manuscript before it gets published! (Seriously, as a book geek, this was Grade A Level Excitement. Any other writers out there that need a beta reader, hit me up!!) Switch is “a surreal and timely novel about isolation and human connection” from Michael L. Printz Award winner A.S. King. Samira Iravani from Penguin Random House was my collaborator and designer for this project.
How did this project fall into my lap?!? I am a sculptor who makes weird stuff about houses and community, who’s never made a book cover before, let alone a book written by a critically acclaimed author! Well, once you read the synopsis I think you’ll see why Penguin Random House got in touch.
Time has stopped. It's been June 23, 2020 for nearly a year as far as anyone can tell. Frantic adults demand teenagers focus on finding practical solutions to the worldwide crisis. Not everyone is on board though. Javelin-throwing prodigy Truda Becker is pretty sure her "Solution Time" class won't solve the world's problems, but she does have a few ideas what might. Truda lives in a house with a switch that no one ever touches, a switch her father protects every day by nailing it into hundreds of progressively larger boxes. But Truda's got a crow bar, and one way or another, she's going to see what happens when she flips the switch.
Boxes, frozen time, mysterious stuff going on inside a house, it’s got all of my favorite things! Plus it’s got a bright, complex, resolute, female protagonist! It’s truly an honor for me to represent Amy’s book in this way.
Samira and I worked through several rounds of concepts for the cover, some were closely related to artwork I’ve already created, some were brand new ideas more directly related to the text. Samira was my champion through the entire process, always inviting me to follow my gut and explore what I thought was working best. After trying out a few different ideas, a piece I made a couple years ago popped up in the conversation. It showed four white paper houses cut in such a way as to make it seem that they are sinking into a table. When I made them, I also morphed them into a gif that made it seem like they were either rising, or falling, or maybe even breathing. The editor liked the tumbling motion of the houses, and the shallow depth of field. The whole team was excited about creating something fun with houses.
Inspiration piece from my 30 day project in 2015.
Since that inspiration piece was a few years old, and I knew I could do better than 30 minutes I probably spent putting those original houses together, I decided to remake that piece with Switch in mind. I experimented with house size, shape, orientation and motion, but tried to keep the basic aesthetics of the piece.
Moxie “helping” during the design phase.
When I sent my glass experiments to the team, side by side with the houses set on a wooden table, the report from all parties was YES, WE LIKE THE GLASS, GO WITH THE GLASS. I’m paraphrasing of course. And thus a vision for the final piece was born!
Why yes, that is two Harry Potters, a wooden box and wrapping paper container anchoring the the piece against my wall. I’m a PROFESSIONAL.
A few of my experiment rejects.
One of the variations more closely related to the inspiration.
Once I settled on the dimensions and aesthetics of the new house (I started thinking of them as one house that is transforming, rather then 5 individual houses), I worked through a ton of tumbling variations, remaking and changing the angle of the house ever so slightly so it cascaded into the table at the perfect angle.
And then I started to think how interesting it would be to see the side of the house that’s disappearing, so the underbelly is seen just as much as the surface. Could I figure out a way to do this? I started experimenting with a sheet of glass, taping my various levels of topsy-turvy houses to it. This is always how it goes for me, once I get started, things change and shift, sometimes in really unexpected ways. It can be a tough choice to either stay the course with your original intent, or allow it to morph.
The final photograph I sent for approval.
Obviously, the final photograph I sent is different from what is on the cover. Samira told me that manipulating photos in photoshop is her happy place and she did an AMAZING JOB transforming my bland walls and white houses into the colorful masterpiece you’ll see on your bookshelf. She set the type and expertly shifted the colors to set the scene for readers and match the tone and cadence of the book’s voice. I could not be more pleased and excited with how it came together. Truly the highlight of 2020 for me. Don’t forget to pre-order a copy of Switch, coming May 2021!