In my last update, I said that I was contemplated updating the cover of Handyman Vol. 1. Well, I’ve gone a step better, and updated Vol. 2 as well! I was feeling artsy, but not in a writing sense, so I spent some time fiddling with the covers.
One thing I didn’t really like about my first covers was how lacking in color/saturation they were. They didn’t pop as much as they should. At the same time, I didn’t feel like the first cover was attention grabbing enough. It’s kinda funny, because the image I used for this newest update largely came from the first design iteration I did for the book. I just didn’t end up using it. But now, I’ve improved the original concept and I think it will catch people’s attention much more. The decision not to use it was based on a fear that it didn’t pertain to the book enough. But after a few years, I thought: “Meh, who cares. I think it’s dope.” Haha.
So here are some comparisons to the original cover and the updates.
And here is the original raccoon cover I created before going with the water tower. I actually uploaded this as the cover for the audiobook on certain sites before fully committing to the updated change:
Again, I just thought it needed more color to pop. That is, after all, what most people expect, especially the slightly younger audience that I’m targeting. Now there is a nice bold sun not only to add color, but the make it more fitting to the overall story. While working on Vol. 2, I realized that I could re-use the sun and keep it as another visual theme for the covers (I already had a plan for the 3rd book cover that would involve a sun, so now this is perfect. Vol. 4, which is just an idea at this point, could also use the sun for the cover I had thought up already too).
Another part of the decision to change the cover is actually that, if I remember right, people are more drawn to faces. Even though it’s not a human face, I thought the racoon was also a step in the right direction. It is expressing emotion, so that’s gotta count for something.
Got any thoughts? Be basically the first person ever to comment on my website (other than spam I delete) and let me know what you think!
