Covenant GIVEAWAY & a Look at the Series Cover Art with Designer Kate Kaynak & author Jennifer L. Armentrout!

 

A Backwards Story is happy to be a part of Stuck in Books' tour for Jennifer L. Armentrout's upcoming novel PURE!  Check out the tour schedule to see the list of events.  On April 9th, check back in with A Backwards Story for my review of the second book in the amazing Covenant series!  Also, drop by the end of this post for a giveaway of HALF-BLOOD and PURE!

 

PURE is the second of four books in Jennifer L. Armentrout's mythological Covenant series.  Jennifer has also published OBSIDIAN, the first book in her Lux series.  Later this year, she'll release the third Covenant novel, the second Lux novel, and her first-stand alone novel, CURSE.  

I adore Jennifer L. Armentrout and will read anything she writes!  
 
Visit last year's review of HALF-BLOOD if you have yet to read this amazing series!


Check out Jennifer's blog and find her on Facebook and Twitter.

♥

Kate Kaynak is not only a talented cover design, she's also the author of the popular Ganzfield series (which I've been meaning to read and haven't gotten around to obtaining just yet!).  In addition to all that, she's an editor with the awesome publishing company Spencer Hill Press!

Check out Kate's web page and find her on Facebook and Twitter.

An interview in two parts

I. With Designer Kate Kaynak

How did you come up with the design for the Covenant series?  Did you go through multiple concepts before creating the design we all know and love?

Jennifer and I sent a bunch of ideas back and forth. We knew we wanted to tie in the flowers (nightshade and hibiscus both have roles in the first book), and we played with the idea of incorporating images of the Greek gods, as well. When we came across the fire flower images, we both had the same, "Yes!" reaction. The only decisions after that were which flowers and colors to use on each cover. 

Do the wisps of smoke forming flowers on each cover have a special meaning?

The flame/smoke imagery worked for us because Aiden can control fire, and he has that WONDERFUL fiery entrance in the first scene of HALF-BLOOD.

Did you have a specific color palette in mind when creating the covers for the Covenant?  Do you know what APOLLYON's color scheme will be yet?

HALF-BLOOD was purple because of the hibiscus, which was Alex's mother's favorite flower. And we wanted the others to have a similar, jewel-tone intensity. As for APOLLYON, the color-scheme matches Seth's eyes. We have the APOLLYON cover ready to go, but it's a tad spoiler-ish, so we're not going to go public with the full version until closer to the DEITY release.

DEITY's cover is unique in that, for the first time, there is more than a wispy smoke flower on the cover.  This time, we see a hint of shoulder, of hair, of a glowing mark.  What made you decide to add these elements to the design?  Will you do something similar for APOLLYON? 

The back cover of PURE has a hint of an image of Aiden, and the hair, neck, and shoulder on the front of DEITY are Alex--that mark on her neck is actually mentioned in the book. We have someone on the cover of Apollyon, too. With each book, the people become more prominent and visible.

What other books have you designed covers for?  What was/were your favorite design(s)?

I really do love the covers for the Covenant books--they're some of my favorites. I do some of the cover designs for other Spencer Hill titles, as well, although we've also been working with artists like Victoria Caswell and Gary McCluskey, who have done some beautiful work for us. I recently did the designs for PERFECTION, PODs, and FINN FINNEGAN, as well as the new cover for the MINDER re-release.

How did you get your start in design?  What have your influences been?
 
I've always loved drawing, and I took a bunch of art classes when I was at Yale. I also worked on one of the campus magazines there, where I first learned the basics of layout and graphic design. 

Is it hard balancing your work as a designer with your writing career?

Actually, the design work is the easiest part of my job, because it's so much fun! We at Spencer Hill make a promise to all our authors: we'll never stick them with covers they hate. So sometimes we go back and forth a couple dozen times--tweaking, rearranging, changing--but in the end, the final cover makes us all happy.
~

It's wonderful to work with Jennifer on her books--they are some of my all-time favorite reads!
(Mine, too!)

II. With Author Jennifer L. Armentrout

Did you have any say in the art concept for the COVENANT series?  What has the process been like?

I did have say in the process, but ultimately it's the publisher's decision. It was really fun seeing the cover go from concept to an actual cover.

Which cover is your favorite so far?

APOLLYON.
(Oh, between you and Kate, I REALLY can't wait to see APOLLYON's cover.  Who's with me!?)

I love how different DEITY is from the previous covers.  What went into this?  Can you tell us a little about the mysterious mark on the girl's shoulder? 

 

DEITY still has the flaming flower design, so we wanted to make sure that cover tied in. The "girl" is Alex and it's a Mark of the Apollyon.

(Haha, I DID know it was supposed to be Alex on the cover, but I never think of the models as actually being the characters, so I never refer to them as such.  As far as the Mark of the Apollyon, duh, I feel stupid.  I should have known that.  I always envisioned it differently, lol!)

Is there anything you want to add about the cover art or the design process?

It's really fun, like I said, to see and hear the concepts and watch it actually become a cover. The team at SHP is great and they do value any input I have.

Ladies, thank you so much for stopping by and teasing us with hints of what's to come as well as giving us a backstage look at how the existing covers were created!

Bookworms, stop back at A Backwards Story on April 9th for my review of this novel!

Now, it's your turn!

 

You have THREE chances to win great prizes!

Mocha Latte Reads and Stuck in Books are both offering tour-wide giveaways.  You get an entry every time you comment on someone's tour post.  If you leave a comment for Kate and Jennifer today, you'll receive an extra entry!

1) Mocha Latte Reads' Giveaway Post

2) Stuck in Books' Giveaway Post

and...I'm offering up my own ARCs of both HALF-BLOOD and PURE for you to win!

3) Enter to win by filling out the following form!

Contest ends at the tour's end on April 14, 2012!