Talking Dreamologyās Cover with Natalie Sousa
Seeing Dreamologyās cover was the first time any of this felt real. Something about the phrase āIām a highly visual personā makes me wrinkle my nose a little bit, but the more I make my way through life, the more I accept this part of myself. I make Pinterest boards for my books when I write them, and often when I have writerās block Iāll just go to bed at night and lay there picturing it all in my head. And if Iām closing my eyes or looking away while youāre speaking, itās because Iām trying to imagine what youāre saying so I can understand you better, and so I wonāt forget it later.Ā
This is one of the many reasons having a cover as amazing as Dreamology has been so special, which basically makes Natalie Sousa, who designed it, a magic fairy of sorts.Ā If Natalie and I lived in the same city, I would force her to hang out with me. Not only is she wildly talented with beautiful taste, sheās also very cool, and as I discovered when I ran into her at YALLWEST this summer, super nice. Given how people have been freaking out over this cover, I knew I had to figure out how to introduce Natalie to readers. Lucky for all of us, she agreed to answer some questions about her process, and even send a few sketches along as well, which I canāt stop staring at. And neither will you.Ā
LK: What can you tell us about the process of designing Dreamology's cover? Where did you draw inspiration? Were you given any suggestions to try and work towards?Ā
NS: The interesting thing about the process for Dreamology stems from how Alloy Entertainment works. Our team would usually create two covers: the first for the pitch/proposal that went to publishers; the second for the final book package. Dreamology was unique because the final book cover is very similar to what I originally created for the pitch. It's a wonderful feeling to know what you created works on multiple levels.Ā
(Some alternate cover ideas for the Dreamology proposal):
LK: I remember being really torn between what I calledĀ āThe Pink Treesā (above) andĀ āThe Eyelashes.ā The trees were so eye catching!! But I was obsessed with those eyelashes and how they so effortlessly conveyed the image of the dreaming girl. I recall the whole editorial team was really split though and we had to talk it through a few times.
NS: For the initial design, I read one of the earlier drafts and took inspiration from the vivid dream sequences. There were so many good visuals to play with!
Sara Shandler, the Editorial Director at Alloy Entertainment, asked that I treat the text design in a special way, encouraging me to play with hand-lettering. That ended up being a lot of fun!
LK: Any obstacles/disagreements that came up as to what the cover should look like?
NS: The only obstacle was with the interior book design. We wanted the dream journal entries to be completely hand written, but realized that it was really hard to read. So we had a little back and forth.
LK: It was very important to me that the entries had a certain easy flow to them, and I remember being torn because the handwriting felt so awesome and authentic, but I wanted people to see the language more clearly. I also remember you were very patient with me!
NS: The cover process for Dreamology was very organic. Everyone that gave input had really lovely ideas, like you. You suggested the color on the flaps which I just totally LOVE!
LK: I was so surprised! I think the flaps were initially going to either be yellow or black. I wanted something more playful that wasnāt pink, so I just said āUh, how about...peach?ā And everyone just responded āSure!ā Alloy has always been cool about hearing my feedback.
LK: What do you love about the cover?
LK: What might you change now?
NS: Hmmmmmm... I think I would have liked to play with the case and endpaper design. Imagine opening the book and there is a vivid and colorful dream scene illustrated on the endpaper. Eye-candy.
LK: Woahhh. COOL. Letās go back in time now.
LK: What would be your dream cover to work on?
NS: Something I wrote myself, maybe? Then again I'm not a writer. This is a dream, right?!?Ā
LK: I mean, this interview feels like a dream.
LK: Where do you draw inspiration in your daily life?
NS: I draw inspiration from the people around me. I love knowing what gets others excited and what makes them happy.
LK: What are some of your favorite covers you've worked on/some you haven't worked on?
NS: My favorites have been titles where I presented an idea that I "knew" wasn't going to fly with the publisher, only to find I was oh-so-totally wrong. I'm in favor of taking risks! The Replacements by Brenna Yovanoff. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. Blind Item by Kevin Dickson and Jack Ketsoyan (cover yet to be revealed)
LK: Everything, Everything is an absolute work of art.Ā
NS: Favorites that I have not created are many:
Rich Deas' design for Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (Every detail on that package looks so thoughtful and cool!)
Kristin Smith's design for The Merciless by Danielle Vega (3 words: hot pink bible)
A classic design I love is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle.Ā
The newest I've been really liking is Will Staehle's design for Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente.Ā
You can check out Natalieās website here, and follow her on twitter and Instagram.Ā
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