California Sister
I was hired by my friend the writer Gloria Mattioni to design and illustrate the cover for her newest "California Sister". I like to share some comments from Gloria that also explain what the book is about : "Maria’s deep intuition and unique style adds a light touch to a book that aims to find beauty even in tragedy and loss. It perfectly depicts the inner journey of the narrator, a mystery writer who rushes from Los Angeles to Italy after her sister’s devastating stroke."
Also from Gloria: "The title, California Sister, refers to a butterfly very common in California: here's the definition of Wikipedia.
"Adelpha californica, the California sister, is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. They are common in California, but can also be found in western Nevada and Oregon, as well as in northern Baja California. The upper surfaces of their wings are dark brown to black with wide cream white bands dissecting both wings and two orange patches near the tips of the forewings. The underside is variously colored with browns, blue, orange, and white. A. californica is unpalatable to predators and is part of a large mimicry complex."
After we selected the final layout I had to do some adjustments to the hair of Ondina, darker, shorter and curly.
I did several color explorations, and at some point I considered not having eyes on the faces.
For the title I chose Hoefler Text, set up in white for contrast.
