Naughty Nights Press presents Cover Artist Valerie Tibbs!

In keeping with our month long interviews with cover artists,Naughty Nights Press is very fortunate in having the lovely and artistic Valerie Tibbs as our guest today.

NNP: How long have you been creating book covers for?

VT: I started in August 2008. But I have been a graphic designer for about fifteen years.

NNP:What got you into creating book covers?

VT: I was impressed by many of the covers out there and I was dismayed at others out there and thought I could do a better job. I applied to several publishers, got rejected, and kept trying until Aspen Mountain gave me my big break.

NNP: Is there a certain medium you prefer to work with?

VT: I use Photoshop 99% of the time. Occasionally I need to use Adobe Illustrator for vector images, but I still go back into Photoshop to finish the project.

NNP: How closely do you work with the Author and Publisher when it comes to creating a book cover?

VT: This depends on the publisher. Most of the time I work with the art director and they work with the author. At a particular publisher, I work with the editor, who works with the authors. Then it goes to the art director, then to the EIC. At another publisher, it’s strictly me and the publisher. So it does vary.

NNP: Do you find that it can be frustrating at times trying to get the cover exactly right?

VT: Yes, on many occasions no matter what the author has described in the cover art request, it is impossible to comply. So, we have to make concessions and we end up going back and forth several times. As an example, for one publisher/cover I ended up doing seventeen different mockups for a cover before everyone was happy. This is not the norm, and most other cover artists would have refused to do that many, but I really wanted to make everyone happy, even if it was a financial loss to me.

NNP: If you are a photographer, do you use only certain models or do you try and match the models to the characters in the book?

VT: I’m not a professional photographer, but I have taken pictures of scenery that I’ve been fortunate enough to use in a couple of covers.

Thank you Valerie for being here today. It has been lovely learning about your craft and giving our readers a chance to understand what goes on behind the scenes so to speak in preparing the covers of books that jump out at us, screaming “Buy Me”.

To view more of Valerie’s work go to http://tibbsdesign.com

 

Posted by Ms. Penny Peterssen

Personal Executive Assistant, Director of Marketing and Research

Naughty Nights Press (NNP) Team

http://naughtynightspress.com

http://vampiriquedezire.blogspot.com

http://vampiriquedezireauthor.blogspot.com