"There's That Sun Again" Cover Reveal

A look into creating the cover for a poetry children's book

Hello Sketchbugs,

Happy August! I am proud to share the cover for my upcoming book There’s That Sun Again, written by Mk Despres, edited by Taylor Norman, page design by Jennifer Browne and published by Neal Porter Books, an imprint of Holiday House. The book is full of lavish poetry and some of the boldest compositions I’ve ever made. I will also be announcing a pre order campaign (although a little late) sometime in the next few weeks, where you might be able to get some goodies! Look out for the book in stores 10/8/24!

The process for the cover was different from The Book From Far Away, as Mk’s poetry gave off a different feel from Bruce’s manuscript. Their words glide through the page, like a warm breeze and take the reader through the adventures of a new friendship and the passage of the day so effortlessly. Also, since the book relies on poetry, there is so much up to interpretation so I wanted the cover to be a little vague. To achieve this vagueness, I aimed for the text to be featured predominantly, sort of like books of old. I love old book covers with the illustrations almost draped over the text box. This technique doesn’t not give too much away yet also gives slices of what’s to come. I looked to covers by Maxfield Parrish, Leo and Diane Dillon, Arnold Lobel and Maurice sendak for inspiration in evoking that whimsical, nostalgic energy.

Controversial opinion: Maxfield Parrish's early work has so much more life than his later paintings.

Now that I had the moodboard down, I had to get the character designs together. The book features two children becoming friends and I wanted to make sure they had a contemporary feel but still worked with the flow of the dreamlike setting I was going for. I will elaborate more on how these characters came to be, but here is a little doodle of them together. I am very proud of the fish shirt as was Mk, Taylor and Jennifer.

Me with the characters

Now that the elements were all together, it was time to sketch the cover. I sent these three sketches to Taylor and Jennifer and waited with baited breather to see which one they were drawn to. I wanted to have elements of the neighborhood, the children, and the fantastical things they create, factor into the layout. Plus I wanted to make room for the text to feature prominently.

Cover sketches

After much deliberation, they came back with cover 1. I was ecstatic as it was one of my favorites, along with 3 (sorry 2). And we were able to include sketch 3 in another way as you will see if you order the book.

The chosen one!

The final cover actually came a little later than the interiors. I had planned the cover to out in the sketch phase but then kind of forgot about it in the heat of all the other illustrations. I did the linework with graphite on bristol paper. I can’t wait to share some other pencil work here soon!

The pencil outline

After feedback and fixing up all the colors here and there digitally, the final product was born! I was happy with how the cover came out despite internal doubts and trying out a new color style for the whole book. Sometimes trying new things can work!

This book has been a long time in the making, from the humble query from Holiday House in 2022 to the nights spent at the drawing table sketching bit by bit. This book would not have been made without the guidance of legendary editors Taylor Norman and Jennifer Browne. Additionally, thanks to my agent Rebecca Sherman and publisher Neal Porter Books, whose work made this book possible.

And while I would love for you to pre-order the book (this helps so much with sales), look forward to a post about fun pre-order merch with local bookstores!

Extra Cool Things

• Fellow illustrator

  Meg Hunt
  has an amazing book coming out September called The Good Night Garage. Pre-order it in the link shown.

• Fellow illustrators and agent sisters

  Lian Cho
  and
  Katie Kordesh
  have some amazing books coming out/ already come out.

  • Pre-order Lian’s magnum opus, Pigtown Party and get some sweet deals HERE For more info on the book, check out Lian’s amazing substack post!

  • Order Katie’s Enola’s Best Friend, the best hotdog book I’ve ever seen HERE. Also check out her amazing reels promoting the book. I laughed, cried and wanted a hot dog best friend immediately.

• I mentioned my lovely frog hat in the last post, and wanted to shout out where I got it: The Blacksburg Farmers Market. It’s an expansive market held every Saturday during the summer in Blacksburg, VA (same town as Virginia Tech). The frog hats are actually part of the town’s 16 Frog Project: an amazing local project were 16 bronze frog statues are placed in historical areas of the town to call attention to the freshwater nearby. I found 5 frogs on my travels and would have found more if it wasn’t 90 degrees that day. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend this activity.

Another peak at illustrations in “There’s That Sun Again”