Inside Scoop on my Cover Art

A couple weeks ago, I answered a question on the Class of 2k7 blog about cover art. The question was: Does the art director read your entire book to get inspiration for the cover? Or does the editorial team just tell the art director what they want to see?

An interesting question, but I had absolutely no idea. So I went with my old standby -- the cutesy dodge -- and said:

I don't know, but I'm totally in love with my cover. I especially love the little creatures that are hanging out in the swirls. Best part about those little critters: they appear inside the book! At the start of each chapter, there's a silhouette of a creature. When I first saw the design pages, I called my husband at work and shrieked in his ear, "My book has bunnies!" I love it. It was designed by Jose Nieto at square zero.

But today, providing a much-needed remedy to my cluelessness, Jose replied to that post with a really cool answer. So here's the inside scoop on the inspiration for the cover art of INTO THE WILD, straight from artist:

In answer to your question... This is Jose Nieto, from square zero, the designer of Sarah's book cover. The answer is yes, I did read the book and loved it. The idea of the main character getting lost in (almost literally) a tangle of words suggested the concept. You can't tell from the image, but the swirly mass at the right edge of the cover is actually an uber-decorative letter R from an 18th century type specimen book. You can see the whole letter when you open jacket flap. Even though I developed my own concept for the cover, I did have a long discussion with the editor beforehand about overall goals -- audience, market, etc.

How cool is that? Thanks, Jose!

And just in case you missed seeing Jose's very cool design in one of the other bazillion places I've posted it, here's the final version of the cover:


Click the image to see it in glorious high resolution...