Book Cover: Sea Of Regret

' Sea of Regret' is the newest novel from Carolyn J. Rose.  It is the sequel to her earlier novel 'An Uncertain Refuge.' I had the pleasure of doing the cover art for her again. 

This is my first published wraparound cover. Which means my artwork gets to wander around the entire cover of the book. Besides being twice the fun, it was twice the learning experience. What I found interesting was the need to know how thick the book is so I can make the spine the correct width. The cover and the back are both 6X9". The spine width is determined by the number of pages with the paper bond and font size taken into account. Even then it's a best guess to get as close as possible.   

The story takes place on the Oregon coast and was described as rocky and rough. We ended up with the above photo I took in Cape May, New Jersey.

Before we decided on this photo the idea we were tossing around was maybe a heart drawn in the sand about to be washed away by the surf. I travel to Cape May often so I went with a mission and drew a lot of hearts in the sand. 

Carolyn and I tease each other about the "collaboration process" and how it's probably best that we live on opposite coasts. The heart idea never gelled and we went with the rocks.

 The process took us down the road where I learned how to dip the title just over the horizon and put a reflection on the water. For a finishing touch I wrote Carolyn's name in the sand. 

I love starting out with an idea and figuring out how to make it a reality. 

This has been my favorite cover so far.