Cover Release: Who Is Saint Giovanni?

Everyone's heard that saying: "Don't judge a book by its cover." TOTALLY judge this book by its cover, please. WHY? Because I love it! Ashley Stewart is the amazing artist behind the cover that I'm so proud to share with you today. The cover has traveled a long journey, my friends. Click here to see each leg of its journey. To read more about Who is Saint Giovanni? click here and here.

I can't thank you guys enough for your support, encouragement, and suggestions! About a month or so ago, I published the Book Cover HELP post, and so many of you offered great suggestions. Thank you for that. And a special thanks to Carol Riggs and Kay Holmen who took the initiative to show me their ideas for the cover via email. Although you may not see your ideas in this final cover, I really appreciated and liked your suggestions!!

Starting this coming Monday, the epic blogging adventure will begin. Who Is Saint Giovanni? will appear in weekly installments on the The Lit Express, YouTube, and in a podcast form. All three mediums can be accessed from The Lit Express. In addition, Ashley will be illustrating a new scene from the book every week to accompany each post. If you're curious about my writing style, click here for a sample from another novel I've written. And if you'd like to see more of Ashley's artwork, please check out her website!

Interview with Ashley Stewart

Can you tell us about yourself, Ashley?  I’m just a girl from a small town in Virginia, with a passion for art, and a dream of one day being able to work full time in the field. Right now it’s my hobby (and my freelance side job), but one day I would like to be able to make my living working in book illustration, comics, or anything else I could get involved with!


What’s your background?  I started  by teaching myself how to draw anime, and from there started to take art classes in high school. When it came time to go to college and choose a major I went for a Bachelors Degree in Studio Art.

Why art?
  I love art! It’s my passion- I constantly feel driven to keep improving, to get better and to keep creating art. I’ve always loved being creative and making things- jewelry, crafts, paintings, etc. I can’t imagine not creating art. I also love being able to create stories and share them through my art- I enjoy writing as well, but for me it feels more comfortable to communicate through pictures.

What do you dislike about your work?
  I feel like at times I dislike everything about my work. As an artist, I think it’s common to never quite be satisfied- you’re always thinking “I could do this better next time” or “I need to improve in these areas.” Once I get some distance on a piece and I haven’t looked at it for a while I can go back and see the things I do like about it- but usually all the flaws are the first things I see. They motivate me to keep trying to improve.

What research do you do?  I usually research every little detail I can. I gather together reference for all the things that will be in a picture- for example if it’s a picture of someone on a horse I’ll research horses, horse anatomy, saddles, riding clothes, people riding horses, different horse breeds, etc. The more you research all the parts that go into the picture, the more authenticity you give the final product.

Thanks Ashley! If you guys have any questions for Ashely, feel free to leave them in the comment section. If are in love with her artwork (like I am) and want to hire her for a special project, you can reach her at stormfire1221(at)aol(dot)com.

_____________________________________________________________

For those of you who have hopped over from Tawni's Cover Crazy post @ The Book Worms, WELCOME! (Cover Crazy is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Worms where bloggers share what they love about YA book covers.) SO, what am I loving about this cover??? (Uh, everything, duh!)

• The color scheme reminds me of Florence, Italy, where Who Is Saint Giovanni? takes place. 
• The detail in the stone wall is amazing!
• The swirls behind the text really unifies the top half with the bottom half, and I love how the bottom half looks smooth and clear and leads into a rougher texture.
• The cracks across Giovanni's face make him look mysterious. What do the cracks represent? Why does he look like an old painting?
• I want to know why the girl is jumping off the bridge.
• I want to know why Giovanni has a saint's halo around his head.
• And, I can really go on and on and on!! hehe

_____________________________________________________________

That about sums up everything I have to say about the book cover. I'm really excited for next Monday, and I hope you are, too! OH YEAH! One last thing:

Giveaways!

It's not too late to sign-up for the first round of giveaways. On Tuesday, April 12th, I will be selecting 3 winners from the pool of people who signed up to:

1. Host a Who is Saint Giovanni? button on their blog or website

2. Post about the Who is Saint Giovanni? blogging event

3. Win an advanced reader copy (ARC) 

Each winner will receive a $15 gift card to Amazon.com or Book Depository (your choice). The more you sign up for, the more chances you'll have to win the grand prize: a Kindle Graphite. (One grand prize winner will be selected after the entire novel appears on this blog.)


To sign up, visit the participation & giveaway page here.

I've recently set up an author fanpage on facebook. To support me in my quest to become a successful author, you can click like button below!! :) Thanks guys.

-RANE-
www.raneanderson.com