Part of my process for writing on a prompt with the writing group I attend every other Thursday is to design some kind of cover art for the header of the story on my FaceBook page. Lately I’ll come up with a design and then change it a few days later because I’ve had a new take on the idea. I enjoy the challenge but not quite as much as the writing of the story.
Here is what I did this week. If you haven’t already read the story, the link is below. Initially I imagined a silhouette of a cat to touch on my main character’s name, John Katz. I called the story The Ninth Life suggesting the connection between nine lives and John. But it is not in the story… or is it? Look for the clues.
My first design was a black cat silhouette done with different degrees of transparency in a regular, diagonal progression.
When I was reading over the 4th draft of the story I decided that I wanted the phenomenon of Visual Migraines to play more of a role in the cover art. I actually do get visual migraines when my eyes are overly strained or I am really stressed out. The jagged pattern of the cats’ ears made me think of the jagged, chrystal-like shimmering image I get on the right side of my vision in both eyes during a visual migraine. I decided to look for what other people have created to represent what they see when they are having such a migraine and found one in a YouTube video. Here is a still from it.
Notice the contracting light and dark tones with flashes of bright colors on the red end of the spectrum.
I went back to Photoshop and added more silhouettes, changed the colors and transparency levels, and then rearranged them to make the shimmering crystal curve that I see on the right side of my vision. I also added a cross-hair from a rifle scope to touch on John Katz’s military occupation. Here is the result.
And one more take:
Okay then. That is the story behind the story of the cover art for The Ninth Life. I hope you found some of it interesting. What do you think?
