Shelf Candy Saturday #43: Endurance, by Willow Rose

 

 

 

Welcome to

Shelf Candy Saturday!!

This weekly meme/blog hop, hosted here,

features beautiful book covers!

It was originally hosted by

Stephanie @

Five Alarm Book Reviews,

a blog I really miss...

 

 

If you'd like to participate, just grab my button (or create your own), write your own post, and link up in the Linky widget at the bottom of this post. Just be sure to click on "Read more" so that the entire post will open up.

 

As a bonus, you can include information on the artist, designer, and/or photographer in your post, but it's not required. You can simply feature a cover and explain why you love it!

 

 

 

 

Here's my choice for this week!

 

 

 

 

Endurance

(Afterlife #3)

Willow Rose

CreateSpace

April 19. 2012

Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy,

Young Adult

 

 

 

Why do I love this cover?

 

Of all the colors of the rainbow, I can find none more beautiful than blue!  Although I do like other colors as well, none can compare to blue, in my opinion.  It's hard to explain the feeling of aesthetic satisfaction I experience whenever I look at something blue...

 

This cover is an exquisite jewel.  The color has been handled with such mastery, such attention to detail.  The various shades all form a perfectly blissful harmony.  The feeling is one of spaciousness, of boundless eternity, of soaring peace.  The glittering sea, the brilliant sky awash with soft clouds, the shining planets hanging in the pristine atmosphere...everything is just perfect!

 

The girl in the royal blue dress ecstatically lifts her face to the gentle breeze, as she flies through this blissful landscape, without wings. 

 

This cover makes me feel as if I, too, am floating through the endless sky and sea of eternity...everything is blue, everything is peaceful and serene...

 

The gray frame around the breathtaking scene of the girl floating above sea and sky is also gorgeous.  The gray has a hint of blue in it.  There's also an intricate, beautiful pattern, of a darker gray shade, all over the frame.  One has to take a close look in order to see it, but it's there.  The swirly designs all around it are based on the shape of a scallop shell, thus echoing the sea theme. 

 

I also love the fonts used for the title and the author's name.  Both of them are graceful and elegant, and blend in perfectly with the cover image.

 

I wish I had a poster of this book cover to hang on one of my bedroom walls.  At the end of a long, stressful day, what better way to relax than to contemplate this glorious scene, and forget all about the stress, the busy schedules, the boring routines, and simply float off into the universe?

 

 

 

 

 

 

This brilliant cover was created by

the highly talented

Jean Sigetty Boeje,

who also happens to be

Willow Rose's husband!!

 

 

 

 

You can access Boeje's Facebook page

HERE.

 

I have previously featured

a Boeje cover,

which he created for another

Willow Rose novel, titled Savage.

You can access that post

HERE.

 

Since I couldn't find any links for

this cover artist,

I requested a mini-interview,

which he graciously granted.

My inspiration for doing this interview 

came from another book blogger,

Lee @ shewolfreads,

who first came up with the idea

of interviewing cover artists

for her Shelf Candy Saturday posts.

Thanks, Lee!

 

 

 

Here's the interview! 

 

 

1.) What's your background as a graphic designer?

 

I made my first 3D intro graphics for a major TV station in 1989.  Since that time, I have been doing all kinds of graphics for TV programs.  Before we moved to the USA, I was head of the graphic department at the largest TV station in Denmark for 9 years.  I work mainly in Photoshop CS5.

 

2.)  How do you go about creating a cover? Do you focus on a particular character in the novel, the setting, or all of the characters?

 

Creating a book cover is like a symbiosis of the author and the cover artist.  I really need to get in the author's head and understand the book with all the emotions and ambiance.  I start out by reading the book, and then talk with the author about what she/he thinks is most important.  Then I make a couple of drafts.  I always try to 'speak' the language of the book with my covers.  With the Scandinavian suspense novels, I drew on my knowledge of Danish design, and made them more minimalistic.  The paranormal romance novels had a lot more elements and were way more complicated, with 3D titles, frames, ornaments, and other effects.

 

3.)  Do you use a combination of traditional and digital techniques, or only digital?

 

If by 'traditional' you mean painting by hand, then no.  I only work with digital.   I always use pictures; sometimes I buy them, and other times, I take them myself.  I'm a professional photographer/cameraman.  So it's a mixture of photos, fonts, and layers of graphics put together.  I'm more a digital composer than an artist.  : )

 

4.)  What future covers for books by Willow Rose are you planning to illustrate?

 

I have illustrated her next novel.  It's the third in the Rebekka Frank Series.  It's a Scandinavian suspense/thriller/horror novel.  It's coming out late November.

 

5.)  What other authors' covers are you planning to illustrate?

 

I have just started a book cover design business, so hopefully I will get some jobs through that.  Otherwise, Willow Rose is keeping me pretty busy.  Other than the cover designs, I do the formatting of both ebooks and paperbacks, distributing and marketing.  So I have my hands full!  : )

 

 



 

 

 

 

I'd like to thank Jan Boeje

for these interesting answers,

and I hope he continues to create

such beautiful covers!!

 

 

 

Contact information for Mr. Boeje:

 

Publisher and graphic designer

at

The Danish Media Corporation

140 Teresa Lane

Merritt Island, FL  32952

USA

sigetty@mac.com

 

 

 

 

 

What do you think of my choice?

What beautiful covers

are you featuring this week?