Today's interview: Cover artist, James Griffin

I'm excited to post the following interview with Mr. Griffin. It isn't every day we readers and writers get a peek inside a creative mind behind the covers that we love so much. To read James' bio, do check out the post that follows this one.

So let's get started! Q = is obviously my question (I tried to ask the smart ones, but you know, some silly ones slipped in, too) JG = is James Griffin's answer.

Q: You've done the artwork for my Luna covers. Do you only work on the Luna
line for Harlequin Silhouette? What other H/S lines have you worked on?

JG: I have done covers for just about all the Harlequin lines at one time or other. Most of those have been Romance, about half and half Historical / Contemporary, but also books for the Luna and Intrique lines.

Q:What other publishers have you worked for?

JG: Many of the publishers I have done work for have either merged or don't exist anymore. Here are some of them: Avon Books, Ace, Ballantine, Dell, Harcourt, Harper, Holt, New American Library, Penguin, Randon House, Scholastic, Viking,
Vougue Italy, Zondervan. I'm sure I've forgotten a few. I also do projects for the Bradford Exchange,
such as Titanic, Queen of the Ocean, Princess Diane, a Woman of Style, Casablanca, WWII, A Remembrance, and
numerous US Marine Corps plates.

Q: Are you freelance? Do you work out of your home of office, or do you work at the publisher?

JG: I'm one of those freelancers who can and frequently does, work in my bathrobe. Mostly I'm in flipflops and shorts all year, not too far from the coffeepot.

Q: How long have you been doing book cover art? Do you also do other kinds of artwork not related to covers?

JG: I've been painting since I was very young, but the official date of the beginning of my Illustration career is 1976. This is my 30th year!

Q: Do publishers contact you with a specific cover project? At any given time, how many covers could you possibly be working on? And do you always know the name of the author for your current project?

JG: Publishers contact me through my agents, Hankins and Tegenborg in New York, http://www.ht-ltd.com/. The publishing business seems to go in predictable fluctuations. Slower in the Summer, almost peaceful in August, then the art directors start coming back to discover work has piled up, editors are screaming, catalogs are looming! From September to
January it's Bedlam. I can have as many as 10 projects all due "yesterday ", compared to a leisurely four per month in Summer. I most often learn the author's name in the synopsis they give me. Often, if everyone is happy with the job I did, I'll get the next one from that Author. That's nice and helps the book create look for the author's books or series.

Q: How long does the average cover take to complete? Do you have to hire the models, or does the publisher take care of that for you? What about settings and backgrounds?

JG: Sometime I get a month, sometimes a week or even less, if the editor is really screaming! That's pretty stressful.
As you can tell from my Blog, I find the interaction with my models is
very important . It feels like they are creating the art along with me. I am always trying new models, but when I find one who can act, I stick with them. The backgrounds, settings environments are all part of my job. Take Michele's book, Seraphim, for example.

The horse, changed to a black percheron after the art director rejected the white horse, came
from a photo, the horse's armor half made up, half from a picture of 14th century armor in a German museum. The castle is in part a wall from a French castle, part made up, wings from an owl, I think, stretched and doubled, rocks from various places, including the coast of Ireland, the banner was made up, except for the beautiful motif on it, which was created by the author, and I repeated in a 3d version on her armor. [To see the original version of the Seraphim cover, go here, and compare the difference to the published version.]
The more time I have, the more I can play with all the elements.

Q: How much information do you have about the book before you start on the artwork? I know H/S does an art factsheet. Does that contain hero/heroine description and scenes? Have you ever had the entire book? Have you ever wanted to read the book after doing the artwork?

JG: Way back when I first started illustration, they used to give me whole manuscripts or a book to read and believe me, I have read more than my share of Romance novels! They basically handed me the book and said "show me some sketches". No type layout, or guidance at all! Then they began having marketing people involved in the covers and editors started
having more say. These days I often get a completely realized concept, carefully thought out, ( or worried into existence ) by a team of people, accompanied by a fact sheet with descriptions of the characters on the cover. I often get directions like, "Hero: a young Brad Pit. Heroine: Kate Hudson, with longer hair", etc. Sometimes, and this is a sign of desperation, they send me a cover from some previous book, maybe published by a different company and say, " We want it just like this, - only different!" I'm an avid reader and am often curious about the stories I'm illustrating. Currently, I'm looking to read the three
Changeling books, and find out what these gals are up to!

Q: How much of the actual cover is 'left up to your interpretation'?

JG: I really depends on the art director and how important a book the publisher thinks it is. I have worked with art directors who worry every detail of an image, with endless changes, and others that give me just a bit of feedback and trust me to produce a good cover. The worriers will get some great results, but at a huge cost to everyone concerned in shattered nerves and resentment. The others generally get great results most of the time, by picking good artists to begin with
and then trusting them. I sometimes get into trouble with the sliding scale of what they call "sensuality" in Romance covers. It seems each niche has its own level of how sexyness or chasteness for the image to interest, but not offend that niche's readers. I get feedback like, "make it sexier!" or "tone it way down!" What if Lord Chancelroy should actually touch Lady Hatswoth with an ungloved hand! At the other end of the scale, "reduce the size of the silk hanky
covering the hero's privates"...and so on. Fantasy is so much saner!

Q: Authors will sometimes get a cover and wonder what the artist was thinking. (No disrespect intended.) The characters don't look at all like the pictures the author sent in. Or the scene descriptions they provided do not appear on the cover.
Do you see pictures and scene descriptions that the authors are allowed to send in? If so, do you use them? When do you
feel it's important to stray from the original idea (provided by publisher)
and enhance with your own ideas? (Of course we all understand that what we as writers 'see' can never be fully 'seen' by an artist we have never spoken to, so we don't expect exact matches!)
I've seen readers complain that the hair color of a cover model is wrong, or other small details like eye color. For some readers this really frustrates them. I can only imagine the artist wasn't given that detail information. What's your take?

JG: Ok, I confess we artists sometimes get the hair color and other details of the characters wrong. Sometime it gets missed by the art director, editor and marketing people, too.
A lot of heroine's with" violet eyes" end up with hazel and sometimes much worse faux pas than that happen! Reasons: Distractions at home, "blonde" model shows up with black hair. Artist forgets, too many similar projects... Book (a) has black haired guy in black pants & boots, chestnut haired girl in red dress. Book (b) has black haired guy in black pants & boots, blonde girl in red dress. Book (c) has blonde guy in black pants & boots, chestnut haired girl in blue dress. Girl in
(b) cancels at last minute, we get another girl ( brunette) to fill in, etc.
(Notice how all the guys wear black pants and boots? This is a really annoying convention that drives me crazy!)
And yes, More often than not we aren't given enough information.

Q: Do you ever get feedback from publishers on your artwork? The writers?
(As a writer, I don't know how to contact the artist, sometimes I don't even know who the artist is. I pass along my thanks to the editor, hoping word will reach the artist, but can never know for sure if it does.)
Do you like to hear from writers? What's the most interesting comment you've gotten on your cover art? What's the worst?

JG: When an author wants to contact me they sometimes send a note to the publisher who then passes it on to someone, who gives it to someone else, who throws it away, because they don't know anything about it. The best way is to contact the art director, who handled the cover. I love it when an author contacts me! (especially if they like my work!) I'm
hoping that my Blog will help cut out the middle person. Some authors have been known to buy the original painting when there is one, or commission a painting when there isn't. I don't seem to get the negative comments.
Maybe those go into the trash can earlier down the line.

Q: Your artwork looks like a combination of actual photographs, and painting. Can you briefly describe the process? How easy is it to alter a finished work? (Take out a kid, or change hair color, or add a car, for example.)

JG: This is a function of what the art team asks for. A few years ago they wanted everything to look like a photo. I can do this, but prefer to create a painted look, whether it's a traditional or 'virtual' painting. But either way there's a trememdous amount of minute and careful painting that is done on these covers. When they want a photographic
look, I have to hide and smoothe all my brushstrokes, blending the various elements so it looks like a photo. It's actually harder and not as much fun as when I can be freer. I've been pushing a more painterly look for years and it seems to be catching on now. [Michele's note: for more details on James' process do check out his blog.]

Q: Do you have a favorite cover?

JG: I'd say Gossamyr is my current favorite, but I love all those gorgeous warrior-women!

[Michele's note: No, I did not pay him to mention my book. :-) Gosh gee, I loved Gossamyr as well. To see the emblem I drew for Gossamyr's crest (and how James enhanced it) go here, and you'll also find a link there to the first Gossamyr cover, which features a little something extra.]

Many thanks to James for taking the time to answer my questions about the cover-creation process! James has generously agreed to answer questions anyone wishes to ask. So if you have a burning question, post it in the comments, and check back in a few days for the answer!
M