I might think I can write, but I know I can’t draw, at least not unless it involves a ruler, so the idea of designing my own cover was a tad daunting. A brightly colored geometric pattern emblazoned with the title was about the best I was going to come up with, but, firstly, I wasn’t writing a mathematics text book and, secondly, all the literature on writing tells you how important the cover is - sometimes making it sound as if it’s more important than the contents in determining whether someone will buy the book! Whether that holds true for e-books I don’t know, but I knew I had to come up with something more creative.
Hiring a professional book designer was out of the question, but I hit on the idea of trying to find an art student who knew enough about computer graphics to be able to provide me with a more professional cover ready for uploading, without breaking the bank. Not a bad idea, except that it occurred to me during summer vacation, which meant that, barring miracles, I would have to wait until the fall to contact the appropriate college departments.
I was bemoaning this state of affairs to my sister Debbie in England when she mentioned that she thought her friend’s son was studying art at university and offered to get in touch with him and ask if he would be interested in the project. A few days later I received an introductory e-mail from Jonny Gillard together with some samples of his work – sketches of famous boxers so good that after they appeared on Twitter he’d been inundated with requests from other boxers to draw them too. Luckily for me he was also looking for some different assignments and we both quickly realized that although we were standing on the verge of different creative endeavors we could potentially create some publicity synergy by working together.
Within a couple of weeks Jonny came back to me with his initial suggestion, offered in three different color combinations. He said I only had to say if I didn’t like it and he’d start again, but there was no need - it was just what I wanted. All I had to do was pick the colors! I couldn’t believe my luck to have been introduced to such a charming, talented person at just the right time. Thank you, Jonny….and Debbie, I owe you one!
