For the past 10 years book cover art has evolved to the point that it deserves to be shown in museums. Cover art, especially in the science fiction and fantasy genres, has become bold, controversial and edgy. Lesley Conner, managing editor of Apex Publications, briefly discusses the selection process for discovering artists for their book and magazine covers.
LESLEY: Finding cover art is one of my favorite parts of the job. I’ll head over to DeviantArt and search for "science fiction" “robot” and other terms. I look for different things because Apex Magazine has a certain aesthetic style that we’ve crafted over the years. Since I schedule artwork several months out, I know what Apex is going to look for in the future. I really like cool, color tones. You'll notice a lot of covers in blues, purples, and greens in past issues. For me, Apex Magazine’s cover art is more than “This artwork is amazing!”. It’s all the issues together.
LUCY: All the magazine covers are standouts. Damian Angelica Walters, the author of CRY YOUR WAY HOME, has gorgeous book cover art. Who is the artist?
LESLEY: It's MARCELA BOLIVAR and she's quickly become one of my favorite artists! Jason Sizemore (Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Apex Publications) and I are working on an anthology "DO NOT GO QUIETLY". Marcela created ALL new artwork for the anthology."
MARCELA: I was born in Brazil and lived part of my childhood there but my family is from Colombia. We went back some years later and there is where I grew up. I went to school and university in Cali where I studied Graphic Design in Instituto Departamental Bellas Artes. But now I'm in Dortmund, Germany working on my master's degree in Photographic Studies.
LUCY: What was the catalyst that started your journey as a digital art designer?
MARCELA: Since my teenage years I have been in this creative direction. I knew I wanted to study something related to applied arts. Photography was and still is the catalyst that drove me to learn digital tools. I scanned my drawings and paintings and played with them in Photoshop with its millions of [design] possibilities.
LUCY: How do you start an art piece?
MARCELA: Almost all my images start with [sketches] in my notebook [with the] elements I need and make a list of the photos and textures I want to apply to them. When all the photos are ready I paint some parts and scan the textures. My sketches resemble pretty accurately what I want to achieve now.
ART COPYRIGHT APEX PUBLICATIONS AND MARCELA BOLIVAR.
LUCY: What inspired you to create an art piece for a book cover?
MARCELA: Some clients know exactly what elements they want to show, the atmosphere and even the composition. Is a technical challenge that [pushes me] to do things I otherwise wouldn't think about. I like it! The more interesting projects are the ones in which the client trusts your vision, appreciates your style and is open to your artistic direction. In this kind of project a lot of thought and challenges emerge in the conceptualization phase, and I truly love that because is where I think I excel. I [also] read the summaries (or the book) and pick up the main concepts. [I also] make a list of powerful words related to them and they pop in my head as visual symbols that I start to interconnect in my sketches. It is very important that these symbols will illustrate a story that many will read and that they are not cliched and repetitive. A [difficult] balance to achieve.
LUCY: How did you get involved with APEX MAGAZINE's anthology "DO NOT GO QUIETLY"?
MARCELA: Lesley [Conner] and Jason [Sizemore] contacted me with the idea of illustrating the concept of Resistance, Revolution and everything associated with those words. I actually started to sketch the idea on a long train ride and made a list of words and symbols and I always do. Since the book is an anthology of different stories I couldn’t pick very specific elements to symbolize those ideas so I tried to make more of an impact through colors and corporal expression i.e. the hands. I took it at that time visually as a personal inner fight catalyzed by an external element. The image I wanted to achieve is both full of struggle but full of freedom, hence the composition, movement and the contrasting colors and textured shapes like the thorns.
ART COPYRIGHT APEX PUBLICATIONS
This is Marcela's website where you can find more beautiful art and information about her work: www.marcelabolivar.com
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