For the cover image of The Secret of Ventriloquism, I began with designs that featured a ventriloquist's dummy, and played with expressions of fear and hate- should the dummy be a witness or a construct of evil?
Author Jon Padgett, a ventriloquist himself, worked closely with me on the cover and shared images of his own vent doll, Reggie, though he steered me away from Reggie's likeness, suggesting the following excerpt from his story "The Infusorium" as inspiration:
"The remains of the thing’s yellowed,
shriveled skin cracked across its face like desiccated sand. Its mouth hung
open to reveal a single line of small, dark teeth. The hair was black and
slick, almost as if painted high on its head, giving the illusion of
premature balding. Below the neck the child-thing seemed more insect than
human. Too many arms, or were they legs? Whatever the case, they were far too
long and jointed. Anyway, I had no idea how Guidry could bring himself to touch
the thing, let alone cuddle up to it. But worst of all, the thing’s eyes—its
great, round googly eyes. I’ve never seen eyes like that on a human being. The
eyes of a doll, of a shark—still intact in its head."
The dummy's countenance went through an eerie transformation that hints at the unsettling stories in Padgett's first collection.
Once the image was etched to scratchboard and scanned, graphic designer Anna Trueman added the title banner to the front cover and spine, making it the classiest-looking thing I've worked on to date. The final product, as seen in Padgett's hand below, was a collaborative effort between Jon, Anna, and myself, one I feel privileged to have been party.
The Secret of Ventriloquism by Jon Padgett is available in hardcover, paperback, and eBook from Dunhams Manor Press and can be ordered online here.
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