Hi HALE ADDICTS!
I'm so thrilled to be sharing the OFFICIAL COVER to my first ever published book Hale: The Rise of the Griffins!
It was one hell of a ride trying to get published to begin with, and while waiting and building my platform, I took the time to work on my art, and even dare to create a few covers on my own. I originally wanted a cover where Hale and Bayo would have the three mythical orbs between them signifying the issue of power coming between them. The first cover I made was very dark, hard to make out. I was new to digital art at the time but wanted to see my vision through. You might be familiar with it as I've used it to promote my work up until recently.
At the time, the novel was called Hale, with no subtitle. This threw many agents off without my knowledge because it was too vague.
The book underwent several changes since for example extensive editing proceeding a wonderful Kirkus Review that I cannot wait to redo for an attempt at a Kirkus Star!
Finally, when I decided to make some serious edits to the novel, thus enhancing the story, I landed an amazing publisher, Morgan James. The team asked me to send them some pictures I liked for a cover and more than one option for a book title.
I came up with some alternative titles, one of which was "Hale: The Realm of the Griffins", which was agreed upon but we've decided to change it to "Hale: The Rise of the Griffins". With the opportunity of sending them some covers, including my artwork, I came up with some alternative covers for their review. Here they are:
Keeping my original plan, I created a new cover with Hale and Bayo between the orbs. Adding an animalistic-looking font, and a golden frame. The sky showcases the illusion of six moons that occurs once a year in the world of the Extraordinary. The anomaly is called the Welcoming Moon where every Griffin that is of age gets one of six powers.
For some reason, it was very important for me to show Hale and Bayo as their relationship fuels the story. But thanks to my manager, Mama Noble, I was reminded of an old piece I did a few years ago. My first Griffin digital artwork I wasn't necessarily very proud of. She suggested I make the third cover with that Griffin for the team at Morgan James to review.
The team all agreed on this last cover because it showed what the book is all about. Griffins. I was a bit disappointed at first considering Hale and Bayo wouldn't have all the attention. But after some time processing, I agreed with their decision entirely.
After a few weeks, the graphic designer at Morgan James came back with four wonderful covers he created using my Griffin and moons. We picked the very last one he/ she made and tweaked the font a bit until it popped. I am so excited and proud to share this wonderful piece with you! Thank you so much to the team at Morgan James for bringing my book to life and making this cover just SO AMAZING!
What do you think of the final product? Leave me a comment below!
JK Noble | Author | Artist | Philanthropist
Published author of the new YA Fantasy Series, HALE.
Creator of the LMB franchise and the Encourage Literacy Foundation.