Ciarra Peters, junior, designed and illustrated the cover for Reverend Luke Davis’ new book, Litany of Secrets: A Cameron Ballack Mystery. The Roar sat down with Ciarra to discuss her creative process and her work as an illustrator. The following is the full interview with Peters featured in the the article, “Publishing 101”.

The Roar: How did you come up with the cover image?

Peters: I read Litany of Secrets to get a feel for the mood and what sort of cover would work well. That was the only way to get a good idea of how to portray the entire content of the book in one picture. I also had instructions from Rabbi’s publisher to have a seminary in the background (because that is the setting) and have Cameron Ballack (the detective) in the cover as well.

The Roar: What was your process for drawing up the cover?

Peters: I sent a few embryonic drawings to Rabbi that featured different angles of the book’s plot (weird to think of plot being in a picture… but it works). I was expecting Rabbi and his publisher to choose one of the pictures and build off of it, but they immediately latched on to the cover you now see on the front of the book. They really thought that concept caught the essence of the story and wanted the “cover to stay dark and carry the emotions of suspense, but to use the light through the archways to communicate hope in the background.” So it was nice and easy for me to go ahead and scan that picture (drawn in pencil on paper) onto the computer. From there, I followed the instruction to have a midnight-blueish hue to the cover, creating a more “mystery novel” feel. I used a simple photo-editing website and played around with the color and effects of the picture.”

The Roar: What medium do you use for your art?

Peters: So it was nice and easy for me to go ahead and scan that picture (drawn in pencil on paper) onto the computer. From there, I followed the instruction to have a midnight-blueish hue to the cover, creating a more “mystery novel” feel. I used a simple photo-editing website and played around with the color and effects of the picture.

The Roar: Will you be illustrating more in the future?

Peters: I sure hope so! I found it was really enjoyable, and it challenged me since I had to put the picture together from imagination, instead of staring at an object and drawing it like I see it. It was also a fun challenge to try and capture a whole story in just a cover.

Litany of Secrets: A Cameron Ballack Mystery is available for purchase for eBook and paperback from barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com.