Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Demolition Writers


A first for Shelved Books, I'm showing my hardcover and paperback designs for the same title...one makes it...and one doesn't.

A few years back I worked on a cover for Random House called The Secret Society of Demolition Writers. Here is the summary from Amazon:

"In the spirit of the demolition derby, where drivers take heedless risks with reckless abandon, welcome to the first convocation of the Secret Society of Demolition Writers. Here is a one-of-a-kind collection by famous authors writing anonymously–and dangerously. With the usual concerns about reputations and renown cast aside, these twelve daredevils have each contributed an extreme, no-holds-barred unsigned story, each shining as brightly and urgently as hazard lights."

The hardcover jacket I designed is above. The process went relatively smoothly. When the paperback came up, my art director asked me to revisit the original comps and work with them since there might be something there. Originally, I had gone the route of demolition cars. I loved the idea of featuring one on a cover and so along those lines came up with these comps (some trim changes are shown). The subtitle needed to be very prominent:






Playing off the bursts I used, the designs were streamlined so that the type became the focus, (and losing the car reference):



These bold colored variations went through several rounds (really...a lot) before we added in the hand drawn bursts:


This is where it was approved, but alas, the paperback never went to press, so this cover was officially shelved.

3 comments:

Ian Koviak said...

Geez. They took you for a ride with this one. One of those jobs where you try a bunch of stuff that works great and folks keep wanting to change it, and change it, and change it till it's really nothing that special in the end. And I mean that with full respect (the final PB is interesting and nice, but kind of all over the place in terms of what you are meant to read first), I just feel that some of the original ideas were a lot nicer and made visual sense.

Such a compelling title too...

K. Glyder said...

Ian, I agree. Happens often with so many people weighing in...as you know I'm sure!

Z OHora said...

Love these. REally like the Orange helmet.