I do not exist

The Bonnie & Clyde book cover was started in the summer of 2007. It was finished almost exactly five years later.

Four times, I was told the cover was finished. For anyone else except John, I would have had them sign off the project at that point and pay me. Any further changes would have been an entirely new commission. Granted, I don't really have any other clients, but whatever.

The first time the cover was changed, it was because another book about Bonnie and Clyde came out that had a cover that was enough like the one I had designed (Which John had been using to promote his book on Amazon, even though it wasn't finished) that it simply could not be used.

The second time the cover was changed, it was because a few months after okaying the cover, John decided he wanted to change it. The third time, he simply decided he wasn't happy with some of the colors and fonts. And then the publisher got involved. And then my blood pressure went up.

Here are all the versions I could find, spanning five years. The changes between versions range from small to radical.

Be warned: there are 60 of them.

The life of a designer! Is it too late to change my major?

(For some reason, livejournal imported these pictures into the gallery in reverse order. So, we're going back in time, from end to start.)




The above is the fourth and final finished cover. I don't like it.

( Read more... )

The final segment. I take my shirt of, and self-mutilation is discussed.

WARNING: This segment contains open wounds and scars, and open talk about them.
( Read more... )

Part 5 is significantly shorter than part 4, which I really should have broken up.

We talk about John's former roommate, James Dean.