Sleepytime Me, new art-the back cover that never was.

Final cover for Sleepytime Me by Edith Hope Fine

The cover for my most recent book, Sleepytime Me by Edith Hope Fine, came together very quickly. Those of you who are in the business picture books know this is a rare occurrence. We all loved the image of the house and wanted to stay with that theme. I could have done a wrap but was enjoying painting the images so much that I wanted to produce another piece of art. I was so excited when I had the idea of painting the same scene after the kid went to bed and the moonlight and stars had shifted that I went ahead and painted it. I loved painting the moonlight on the leaves and having it dapple over the house. Sadly, the art was never used but the incredible designer I worked with, Jan Gerardi, came up with a wonderfully elegant solution. Her design was beautiful but even with that we almost had the cover changed on us at the eleventh hour. Fortunately, we were able to compromise and meet the needs of the marketing department by zooming in on the house and character. For fans of the book, here is a look at never before seen art! Which one do you like?

Original cover art ©2014 Christopher Denise. I remember stargazing from the bedroom.

Original back cover art ©2014 Christopher Denise. ".ooo..what a little moonlight can do..."

How it might have looked...

My proposal

Jan Gerardi's design. I loved working with Jan! Love her type on this version.