The Indie Book World Falls in Love With Katie W. Stewart
When Katie W. Stewart was recommended to me in January this year, I knew her as a friendly author who I occasionally rubbed elbows with in online writing forums. I had no idea that she was also an exceptionally talented artist. Now, less than twelve months later, covers and books illustrated by Katie are popping up everywhere.
It's almost impossible to view the Amazon product page for a book by a member of the Kindle Users Forum without Katie's influence on the page somewhere. In the example below, Rosie Morgan's book The Time Smugglers not only sports one of Katie's covers, but so do four of the five 'Also Recommended'.
Katie's covers making themselves heard on Amazon
Katie has designed covers for Stuart Ayris (Frugality trilogy), Lynda Wilcox (Verity Long Mysteries), Rosie Morgan (Camelot Inheritance series) and of course, her own books. She created the cover art for my Smelly Troll series, which she also illustrates.
In addition to custom cover design and illustrating, Katie sells pre-made covers through Magic Owl Design.
With Magic Owl Designs grabbing an astonishing share of the cover design market, I wanted to ask Katie exactly what is going on. How and when did the indie world fall in love with Katie W. Stewart? She's kindly given the following interview.
When did you found Magic Owl Designs? Who was your first client?
I started it in July this year after I realised how much I enjoyed making covers just for the fun of it. I belong to a group of designers on Facebook (Cover Art Collective) and they put pre-made covers up for sale there, so I thought a site would be a good idea as well. I've included my illustrating services on there, too, which is not something a lot of cover designers do. Most use photos and photo manipulation for covers, but I offer both.
My first client turned out to be a local lady who saw the cover she bought when I cross-posted it on my Facebook illustrator page. She hasn't actually published her book yet.
Katie's personal favourite from her pre-made covers selection
How do you feel when you're illustrating? Is art your passion?
I once described being asked to draw a picture as like being offered a large piece of chocolate cake. It's almost a guilty pleasure to say yes. Art is definitely my passion, closely followed by writing. I can sit down at 8.30 to do some drawing or designing and get annoyed at my kids for wanting to know what's for lunch half-an-hour later, only to realise that it is, in fact, lunchtime and I've completely lost track of the time. Or sometimes I'll be aware enough to know I'm thirsty, go and make myself a cup of coffee and then find it's cold when I finally remember to start drinking. As with writing, it's a fantastic feeling to get something out of my head onto paper so that others can see it.
Your covers and illustrations feature a wide variety of styles. Do you have a favourite medium?
I've always loved either pen and ink (I've done a lot of pictures using pointillism and/or cross-hatching, which I find quite meditative) and pastels, because of the soft colours. Recently, though, I've become a lot more au fait with Photoshop and I love doing graphic art as well.
You recently purchased a graphics tablet. How has that changed the way you work?
It has been magic! Until I got it, I found doing fine work in Photoshop really difficult. I had a tiny little 'Bamboo' tablet, but the size of it restricted what I could do, so it hardly seemed worth plugging it in most of the time. I'm developing arthritis in my hands and find using the mouse too much makes my right hand ache, so what I did was restricted, too. With the Intuos Pro I just bought, there's a nice thick pen, not too hard to hold and I've found I can do work with it that's even finer than what I can do with a felt tip pen. I recently did a black and white drawing that I would normally have done with a felt tip. I made so many mistakes that I would have been incredibly frustrated by it if I'd been using a pen, but on the tablet I could erase mistakes and tidy lines easily.
What I'd really like is a Cintiq tablet, which has the art work on the screen you draw on, instead of having to look at the computer screen and draw by feeling your way. But they're way beyond my budget at the moment. Maybe if Magic Owl really takes off.
You're also a popular author. Do you plan to produce illustrated versions of your own novels?
I definitely intend to do some illustrations for my children's book The Dragon Box. That's the only reason I haven't gone into print yet. I did the dragon for the cover and I'd love to do some more in a similar style. Unfortunately, I've got so busy with everything else, I haven't had time!
Then, of course, my books all have my own cover designs. That's how it all started - with people liking the covers on my books and wondering if I would do one for them.
The Dragon Box, written and designed by Katie W. Stewart
Many of your clients appear to have been indie authors. The Kindle editions of self-published books usually come before any print editions. How do you think the introduction of Kindles has affected illustrated books?
I don't think illustrated books work well on the Kindle. Children like to be able to study illustrations and the Kindle is too small for that, in my opinion and doesn't really showcase the pictures. On the other hand, now that you can get the Kindle app on other, larger tablets, it's much better. Illustrations on an iPad, for example, look really clear. I haven't tried formatting illustrations for self-publishing on Kindle, so I can't really comment on that, but it's one of the reasons I haven't done an illustrated e-book - just another learning curve to climb.
If you could design a cover for any author, past or present, who would it be?
Hmm, I think it would have to be Ursula Le Guin. She was the author that really drew me into fantasy with The Wizard of Earthsea and I still find that her books give me very clear visions of the worlds she invents. I love new worlds - that's why I write fantasy - but hers are the best.
I saw you post that you'd landed your dream cover job. Am I right in guessing that was Stuart Ayris's Frugality series? What attracted you to Stu's work?
Yes, it was Stu's books. I read almost all of Tollesbury Time Forever in one sitting while waiting for my husband in a hospital. I never thought that I'd wait that long (six hours) for someone and then resent them coming out before I'd finished the book, but I did! All the time I was reading it though, I had ideas for a cover running through my head. The one he had didn't inspire me at all, but I would never have dared tell him that if he hadn't one day asked on the Kindle Users Forum if anyone knew any cover designers. I thought I'd missed out, being a sleepy Aussie while all the discussion was going on, but I wrote to him anyway and was thrilled when he said yes. His books are quirky, funny, dare I say insane in parts, but in amongst it all, there's a serious message to take in.
When I understood what he wanted for the cover of The Buddhas of Borneo ("an old man dancing with a giant turtle on a starlit beach"), Stu told me that I was as mad as him. I take that as a great compliment!
What advice can you give to authors who are thinking of commissioning an illustrator?
Firstly, have some idea of what you want. Don't give them vague ideas and expect them to read your mind. On the other hand, don't have such rigid ideas that they're creating something they're not comfortable with. It's a fine balance, but the best covers I do are for the authors who know what they want but are willing to let me suggest things that might work better.
Secondly, don't expect something for nothing. Illustrators have to eat, too.
Thirdly, plan your book launch with plenty of time for the illustrations/book cover to be done. Very few illustrators/designers can promise you work in a few weeks with no notice.
Fourthly, don't forget that they're people and not robots. A please and thank you goes a long way to keeping them happy (well, it does me, anyway). If they send you an email, it needs to be answered so that they can carry on with the work. There's nothing more frustrating than a hanging project, that may or may not continue.
Now a self-serving question: which troll do you most enjoy drawing and why?
You know the answer to this already, I think. I love Marv the Magnificent, because he is magnificent! He's a hero in a string vest. What better sort of hero is there? Furthermore he's a good husband and father and he's not ugly like all those other trolls, though he is still fat and he still does some disgustingly trollish things. He has a beard, too, so he reminds me of my husband (don't tell him I said that).
Katie's favourite troll, Marv the Magnificent
The Kindle edition of Katie's fantasy adventure, Treespeaker is free today (21st to 23rd November, 2013).
