Finding the right cover artist for Anne Bronte, Nightwalker was no easy task.  I’d spent weeks working with a talented, well-known designer but 400 dollars later (the deposit), I let him go because the cover just wasn’t quite right.  The mood was wrong.  The colors were off.  Inspired by the Victorian undertones of my novel, he was creating a dreamy, romantic palette despite the fact Nightwalker takes place entirely at night and is about blood, killing, and EMS.  It’s also about the Brontës and literature and I admit, this is tricky swirl of elements to capture in a single image. Then I found Patrick Knowles and he just got it.

He captured the playful darkness of the story.  He nailed the mood, the ambience, the vibe.  He incorporated images from the book into his design:  Anne’s cat Ivanhoe, a wolf, the moon, stars.  And he was an utter dream to work with.

Unlike my first designer who was very professional and fair, but limited his revisions and grew increasingly frustrated with me, Patrick was incredibly generous with his time.  I have no doubt driven him crazy with my emails and requests that have extended far beyond our finish date.  But, he’s an incredibly gracious and classy man.  Perhaps this is why he’s done the calligraphy for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton and for the Christening of their son Prince George.

I personally love typography and hand lettering, a dying art, and this is what initially drew me to Patrick’s work.  His art has a literary flare, a playful and mysterious sophistication, that I find very appealing.  His cover design won’t work for any genre, but it fit for Nightwalker, which interweaves literary elements and historical biography into a gothic, supernatural thriller.

Here’s some of his work:

Jet engine 3D modeling and hand lettering

For more on Patrick Knowles, you can visit his site at www.patrickknowlesdesign.co.uk