Bad Hair Day

So proud of this project.  Adrienne Vincent Sutton,  A friend who is self publishing her first children's novel, gave me the honor of designing her book cover, and it is now off to print!  I love the outcome, but this beauty went through several stages to get finished.  I usually paint by hand and enjoy doing so, but since the success of this book will rely heavily on it's web presence, I decided to go digital.  I'm a newbie to digital painting but have been trying to challenge myself since I now have the means to do so.  Photoshop and Corel Painter, I love you.  You are both, the wind beneath my wings.

After reading the book, I felt an immediate connection to the main character.  Struggling with my own natural hair journey since childhood, has made this subject matter near and dear to my heart.  I was inspired to create a cover that would make girls and boys pick up the book and say, "Hey that girl is kind of fly, and her hair is kind of fly too.  But why is it in two totally different styles?"  Pick up the book and find out, young whipper snappers.
(I said that in my Yoda voice)    

I started with this sketch this past Spring, on the airplane in route to the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia.  I felt a freedom I haven't felt in a long time on that plane, traveling for work.  I can't tell you how long it had been since I had picked up my favorite sketchbook.  This girl easily oozed out of my pencil like I had been sketching everyday!  After revising the lip and the eyes, the client settled on the following sketch, I scanned it and cleaned it up in photoshop.

I love sketching on brown paper.  I just want to lick the page, it's so buttery and delicious.  First challenge:  Capture the look she had right at this moment, a crucial point in the story.  And that look on her face says it all.  This moment sums up the main character's whole dilemma....

but you'll have to read the story for yourself to find out.  

I wanted the title to be as unruly as her hair.  Then I had to drop in a bit of the setting for some background.   

TIME TO PAINT! 

I started with the hair first because the hair is everything in this story and getting it right would be my biggest challenge.  ESPECIALLY, that amazing fro!  

When I say this hair took layers upon layers of work, I mean I stopped counting how many times I created a new layer.  I finally got what I was going for.  I probably took the long route, but I learned a lot through the process.  Main thing, it's the same as painting on canvas, just with different tools.  Man that Wacom tablet is a treasure!  Now to capture that pretty brown skin.  Airbrushes, you rock!

Finding this version of a lock in a reference picture, then playing with it in photoshop to make it follow my vision, really was a turning point in this process.  It supported the color choices I had already made in the hair and really inspired the rest of the color story.  

I would call this my "Aha Moment."

I love the colors.  She's almost there.......mo' layers, mo' layers, MO' layers!

Now this.....this is "The One"!  Bout' time!

And now for the back cover and spine design, drum roll please........

BAM! (applause and the crowd goes wild!) 

I did that thang!  Thank you!  Thank you very much!  "In the face!"

Stay tuned, because as soon as this baby gets printed you can order on line and have a copy of your very own.  You're gonna love it.  Go to www.adriennevincentsutton.com to find out more and spread the word!

And holla at your boy!  

UPDATE:  AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZON!!!

"Bad Hair Day" by Adrienne Vincent Sutton

Cover Art by:  Me!

D.L. Tucker Illustration

woop woop