Making the cover of ‘Gold Rush Girl’, by Avi

I had two concerns before starting this cover:

This was one of those books where I so enjoyed reading the manuscript I was worried about getting too close to it all, and not being able to do it justice.

Second, it had to have ships on the cover. SHIPS. Accurately-drawn, historical ships (a ketch and a brig, to be precise).

I can barely get your average domesticated animal right (unless they need to be deliberately wonky) so this was a bother. However, with the constant feedback of art director Matt at Candlewick Press, the process, although a challenge and a learning curve, was nowhere near as as much of a struggle as I thought it might be.

But this is the kind of stuff I had to study, printed out on many sheets of A3 paper!