[In the quiet, in the crowd] by dazedandconfused
[In the quiet, in the crowd] by dazedandconfused
There are some storytellers in the fandom that really know how to rip your heart out. Lounarsky (formally peppermintpatties) and acastle are two that come to mind for me.
When someone on Twitter recommended this fic I thought it was an interesting premise–I didn’t think I would be this affected by it. (Very mild spoiler alert) if dazedandconfused had ended this fic on the penultimate chapter like they had originally intended, I think I would have been devastatedddddddddd.
I ruminated for a while if I could ever make a book cover for this fic that could possibly convey the emotion in the story and how I would even begin to approach it.
Inspiration kind of hit me like:
And so I banged out this cover in about 6 hours.
The scene in the Paris cafe was iconic, but I remember coming across the gif above while scrolling the hellscape of Twitter and it just all came together.
The scene and their hands being framed in the centre reminded me of The Creation of Adam
The hands to signify the way Henry and Alex communicate through sign language
The crack in the stucco to symbolize the story being told in two parts
The hesitation/fidgeting that Taylor seems to convey through his hands is very apt to this story
I designed the artwork with The Creation of Adam in mind, and went for a fragile and delicate vibe via “painting style” because that’s what Alex and Henry’s relationship felt to me in this story.
Shout out to @cha-melodius for pointing out that Apple Watches would not be time accurate to this story, and that I almost included it.
Another shout out to Taylor Zakhar Perez’s hand vein that I had to include in the cover.
Also, the way my brain would cause problems when I stare at one of my artworks for too long–I couldn’t unsee hand puppets and googly eyes. Ngl, for a very split second I was gonna scrap the whole thing and start over because of it but i’ll power through.
The full poster that can be added to the .epub file for your kindle/e-book reader is at the end of the post! If you need any assistance, please don't be afraid to ask!
