Overview
Throughout 2022 & 2023 I created book covers for Douglas Michael’s first successful series, My Homemade Spaceship. At the time of writing, I designed the covers for books 1-7 with more planned for the future
Over the course of the series our goals have changed in a variety of ways. Our initial design goal was to create eye catching covers that could help the author break into the sci-fi genre. Since then, they have evolved into designing distinct but genre abiding covers that push the series forward.
The My Homemade Spaceship series, cumulatively, has 10,000+ reviews on Amazon, and has become Douglas Michael’s most successful series.
Approach
Book 1
Designing the first cover was nuanced and challenging. My Homemade Spaceship: Book 1, does not actually have a spaceship in it as the main character is creating it still. I decided to focus on the “0 to hero” story arc of the main character instead. I was able to capture his heroism with a dramatic backdrop and cool costume, and make him feel relatable on the cover with a simple trucker hat that reflected his origin. The author loved the image of a “badass in a baseball cap” and even added it into the book.
Book 2 & Beyond
Although book 1 has a strong cover, it wasn’t quite on-genre and book 1 struggled until the release of book 2. We pivoted our idea for the cover and fully committed to the genre conventions of sci-fi. In book 2 the spaceship is finished so I was able to created an action packed space battle for the cover with rendered 3D assets. This change in direction dramatically increased the attention on the series and boosted its sales. Each release since then has adopted a similar aesthetic and is designed to be clearly in the sci- fi genre. It’s been my goal to still bring fresh cover art to each new installment, and I want each cover to entice readers with new stories, adventures, and flavors.
Year
2022- 2023
Client
MSE Publishing + Douglas Michaels
Responsibilities
Graphic Art & Typography
Creative Director
Jason Faraci
