Greetings Travelers,
Reporting to you live from the 2017 Florida Heritage Book Festival in slightly sunny St. Augustine! That's right, I've traveled back down south from Savannah to participate in my favorite book event! This marks the third time the event planners have asked me to present, and it is an extreme honor. Today I gave a presentation/workshop on the history and production of comics, but tomorrow I'll be presenting at Flagler College, conducting the first ever presentation focused on A Land Remembered: The Graphic Novel. This event, will mark the first public unveiling of the illustrated pages, allowing festival goers to get a sneak peak at the actual pages that will make up the upcoming graphic novel adaptation of Patrick Smith's novel.
Speaking of that. I do apologize for not keeping you as up-to-date on the production pipeline. Things have been hectic this Summer. Between traveling to Chicago to participate in the American Library Association Annual Conference, and dodging several major hurricanes, I've been slow to update the blog page. But, despite my idling social media updates, I have been fast at work on completing the graphic novel, and can report that we are less than 3 months away from completing the illustrations.
In addition to the interior illustrations, I have been working on cover designs for the book. Below you'll see my initial concept for the cover, as well as the completed design. The team at Pineapple Press has been an immense help on the development of the cover, offering creative feedback and suggestions to make sure that the cover captures the essence of the story.
The first cover design was more focused on the three generations of the MacIvey men, set against a rustic, sepia color scheme. The concept was meant to align more with the feel of the cover of the official book, giving it a more "old timey" yet minimalistic design. However, after review, it was decided that since the story focuses on an ensemble of diverse characters, they should be included to help promote the book. More color was also added as to express the vibrance of the story. I'll admit, the feedback and critique I got DRASTICALLY improved the promotional integrity of the cover, and I can't thank the Pineapple Press team enough for their participation in this process.
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| The Initial Cover |
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| The Current Cover |
However, for anyone who likes the initial concept design, I've printed 11x17 posters, and will be making them available for purchase at all festivals, conventions and events that I attend. You can also reach out to me at arfstudios@gmail.com, if you're interested in purchasing your own signed copy. For those of you who live close to the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area, stop by at tomorrow's Book Festival and pick up you copy! The event is from 9-4pm at the Flagler College Ringhaver Student Center.
As always, thanks for following!
-Andre Frattino
