Cover Artist James Griffin

Janet here. I’m excited to have James Griffin, a fabulous artist, as my guest in Seekerville today! James created the cover for my second book Courting the Doctor’s Daughter. I love the cover so when I noticed GRIFFIN in the left-hand bottom corner, I Goggled James and found his Web site. His beautiful covers and paintings blew me away! At the time, he and both happened to be in Sarasota, Florida. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to meet the artist and own a Giclee Print of my cover, soon to hang in my office.

In honor of James’ visit, I will give away a copy of my May 12 release of Courting the Doctor’s Daughter, Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historical. Please leave a comment along with your e-mail address if you wish to be included in the drawing. Tina will announce the winner on the weekend edition.

I’ve brought an egg and ham bake with fresh fruit and strong coffee this morning. So dig in while you learn more about how covers are created from artist James Griffin.

JD. Welcome James! How long have you been a cover artist? How did you get involved creating cover art? How have covers changed over the years?

JG. Thank you for inviting me on your blog! It was a pleasure to meet you in person a few weeks ago.
I started illustration in 1976, so it’s been over 32 years. When I graduated from Pratt Institute I wanted to paint “pure art”, untouched by crass commercialism. It’s a fantasy about art a lot of people carry around. The idea that the world will find and support you because your work is so good and so original actually ruins a lot of young artists’ careers.

But back then, it was alive in me, so I scraped by helping to restore the old brownstones that lined Brooklyn’s lovely avenues. I was doing paintings that were ever more realistic in style, a profoundly unpopular genre during the heyday of abstract art. Galleries weren’t interested at all in my work, and I began to re-think the “pure art” thing. About that time I met Charlie Gehm, an experienced illustrator who was making a good living painting book cover illustrations. He thought I would be good at it and took me on as an apprentice for a little while, but long enough to get me started in the business. It was a novel concept for me, - making a living by painting!

I used photography and models from the start, shooting in black & white. It was a one-man operation, too, with me getting the costumes, setting up lights, directing and shooting and hoping it all looked good when the film was developed!

Now, I work with a photographer, using digital cameras that show me instantly on a computer screen what I’m getting. There’s a person in charge of costumes, another assistant who books models, arranges schedules, sets up and breaks down the set and of course me, who sketches and plans it all and gets to direct the whole thing. One thing that hasn’t changed in the passing of time is that we still have only an hour to do a shoot, no matter how many scenes there are!

JD. That’s fascinating! How has the process changed? Please explain how digital paintings are done in terms we can understand.

JG. The computer has really altered the way I work. I was actually wishing for something like today’s computers, (only without the crashes, etc.). My way of designing had already incorporated the photocopier, which I used to print out enlargements and reductions that I then cut up and pasted down in order to paint over them. That was pretty primitive, but it was a method of sketching that opened up a whole lot of new design ideas for me. When I saw that I could do all of that cutting, pasting and resizing and way more in the computer, I was really excited.

But it wasn’t until the tastes of the book publishers changed almost overnight from the look of oil paintings to a sleek, almost mechanical style produced on computers that I was forced to invest in a computer and a bunch of accessories. Almost overnight the painted cover illustration became old fashioned. I took a course at Westchester Community College in New York and learned the basics of Photoshop, still a pretty young program then.

Photoshop is still my main program, though I have added others to it in my digital paint box, like Painter, Art Rage, Cararra, Sketchup and others. Some of those mentioned are 3D programs, which I use to construct 3 dimensional settings whenever I need a special or hard to find scene, like a dizzying view down a palace stairs, or a view of the deck of a sailing ship, from above, out on the water.

I never liked the slick photographic look that publishers had fallen in love with and kept pushing for a painterly appearance in my illustrations. Some times it helps to be both stubborn and patient, because eventually the publishers embraced my painted style and now of course, are urging everyone to copy it!

There is no one way to do a digital painting, but mine usually begin with a lot of research in my picture files and on the web. I usually form some kind of mental image of what the image could look like, but try not to be too stuck on that, because other ideas are often inspired by the research I do.

I try to get the Historical period across as convincingly as possible by paying attention to the costumes, architecture and scenery. I work with pencil sketches and hand-drawn computer sketches, using a pressure-sensitive stylus and tablet, to work out the composition. I figure out where the main action is going to be and how the foreground, middle ground and background are going to work together.

If it’s a cover with prominent figures, I’ll arrange a shoot at the studio I use in New York. That means, picking out the models, providing costume sketches and detailed sketches with lighting and acting notes. When we’re doing the shoot it’s a bit like a silent movie, in that there are no lines, so the actors have to show their emotions by using their bodies, face and hands. It’s terrific training for actors and models, because they have to be able to jump into a part immediately, whether it’s a mystery, a romance or a sci-fi book. And for me it’s an intense directorial workout, because I’m the one responsible for capturing the right mood and look for my illustration and to get everyone to work together smoothly. It’s hard work, but it’s also a whole lot of fun!

When I have all my material together, pictures from the shoot, images that will be used to create the background and my sketches, I start assembling them in Photoshop. At this point it’s a bit like a collage, - a tree from here, hills from there, sky from somewhere else. If I am using a scene I invented in 3D, I’ll bring the rendering into Photoshop and integrate it with photographic elements. I usually do major “surgery” on the figures, strengthening a jaw line, adding muscles, adding to bust lines and hair, etc.

Once it’s all working I take it into Painter and play with paint textures, before bring it back into Photoshop. From then on it’s pure painting in the computer. This is when the magic really happens as the colors are brought out or pushed back, things are added and subtracted and a general whipping the thing into shape takes place.

JD. How much information do publishers impart to help create their covers? How much time do they give you? What skills have you honed over the years that enable you to achieve the author’s vision and your sense of art?

JG. In the past they used to send me whole manuscripts, which I had to read and figure out how best to portray the book in a cover illustration. Now it tends mostly to be vague one-sentence directions and I’m supposed to figure it out! Sometimes they don’t even give me the time period, or they say something like “Victorian”, which is a 60-year period with huge fashion changes from beginning to end. I get the editors to clarify, so I don’t end up having to make costume changes. Rarely do art directors give me sketches at all. They’re just too busy, so they depend on illustrators with a track record of getting it right.

Having such minimal direction isn’t as freeing, as you might think. It actually puts the marketing and positioning of the book on the illustrator’s shoulders. I handle it by looking at previous books by the author, if available, to get a feel for what market niche they’re in and how they’ve been presented before. Then I try to do something in that vein, but better. If no previous books exist I try to intuit the feeling of the book and just create something beautiful, with lots of room for type. Sometimes I’m completely off base and have to do a new round of sketches, but I’m determined to give them something that will help sell the book. When I realize how much work and care goes into writing these books and how much is riding on getting a decent cover, I feel humbled by the responsibility.

JD. In your bio, you estimate you’ve created around 3,000 covers for such clients as Avon Books, Ballantine Books, Berkley Books, Dell, Doubleday, Harcourt, Harlequin, Holt Rhinehart Winston, Little Brown, New American Library, Random House, Rounder Records, The Bradford Exchange, The Wall Street Journal, Viking Penguin, Italian Vogue, Zondervan and Zebra. An impressive list and number! For what well-known authors have you designed covers? Have any of your covers won awards?

JG. I’ve won various awards for my illustrations over the years and have had the pleasure of creating covers for many prominent authors, including Saul Below, Marilyn French, Charles Frazer, Jeff Shaara, Nora Roberts, Debbie Macomber, Victoria Alexander, LaVyrle Spencer, Martin Cruz Smith and others. In some cases I’ve been assigned the same book years later when the publisher is re-doing the look for a new edition, such as with LaVyrle Spencer’s Morning Glory and Martin Cruz Smith’s Rose.

JD. Tell us about your passion—painting. When did you know you wanted to be an artist? What factors influenced you? Does creativity run in your family?

JG. I knew I wanted to be an artist at around 10, when I began to realize it was an actual profession. Art was a way for me to get in touch with myself, sort of like meditation and also got me attention in a large family where attention was scarce. My father was very musical and my mother drew well, but neither pursued these talents professionally. They did, however encourage me to follow what I was best at and I’m very grateful.

JD. In order to survive, authors may need to reinvent themselves, changing genres and using pseudonyms. How have you adapted to the marketplace? How has your art evolved over your career? What are you working on now?

JG. I always keep an eye on the marketplace and what’s happening in illustration, but I always lose my way when I try too hard to do what everyone else is doing. It’s also not fun. I’m constantly experimenting with techniques and ways of playing with imagery. Sometimes these experiments go nowhere but often the lead to a new way of working. It’s a process that keeps my work alive and evolving.

Currently, in addition to the illustrations, I am doing oil paintings for galleries that deal with Florida, Maine and New York City, three places I frequent. A long-running series of allegorical women who embody the forces of nature is also in the works.

JD. Are you a member of a group of artists that meet either in person or on-line to give support and/or inspiration?

JG. Nothing formal, but I do discuss art with other artists and subscribe to a newsletter that addresses all aspects of art, Fine Art Views from clint@fineartviews.com. I have a blog, http://www.paintlayers.blogspot.com/ .

JD. How do you manage two careers and your family while keeping your sanity?

JG. I think that ship has sailed, as far as keeping my sanity is concerned! But I try not to be too obsessive and have fun with whatever I’m doing. Sometimes it gets very tough, when a pile of jobs is due pronto and the gallery wants something right away, too. Home life is far from idyllic at those times.

JD. What galleries exhibit your work?

JG. I am represented by the Dabbert Gallery here in Sarasota. I plan on getting one or two more galleries in different locations to handle the different kinds of work I do.

You can see if you visit my Art website, that I do several different kinds of work. It’s kind of like Winton Marsalis moving between jazz and classical genres and enjoying them both.

JD. How can we find you online?

JG. I have the blog, which I mentioned previously, http://www.paintlayers.blogspot.com/, and two websites, http://www.james.griffin.org/, which is primarily for illustration and http://www.jamesgriffin.mosaicglobe.com/, devoted to my gallery work.

JD. Thanks, James, for giving Seekerville a look at your process of producing covers for our books.

JG. Thank you, Janet and good luck with you latest book!

Fall from the Force

of Nature series