April Martinez In the Spotlight

Today the very clever and talented cover artist April Martinez is joining us on the blog. April is well known in the romance publishing industry and her book covers are in such high demand that I’m positive she has to turn down countless assignments because there’s only so much time in the day. April has been designing book covers for 5 years and her work is always elegant and classy. There are many authors who are on the waiting list to have an “April Martinez” cover for their books because nothing sells books like a tasteful and eye catching cover.

Hi April, and thank you for agreeing to be profiled on the blog. You’re known in the romance industry as an incredible cover artist and you’ve been interviewed a number of times. Can you tell the readers something about April Martinez that’s not generally known?

Hi, and thanks! I’ve taken more classes in dance, math, music, English, French, or most any other subject than I’ve taken classes in art. Yet, I’m an artist by profession. Ironic, isn’t it?

Do you have any formal training in your field or are your creative skills learned as a result of experience in the school of hard knocks?

My skills are mostly intuitive or self-taught, but I did take a quarter-long art class in the 7th grade; I got a B for my efforts and never took another art class as a result. That was the extent of my formal training.

What medium(s) do you use in your work as an illustrator and cover artist? How has your work evolved since you first started as a cover artist?

I work primarily in the digital medium, using either Adobe Photoshop for most of my covers or Adobe Illustrator for the cartoon illustrations. When I first started as a cover artist, I worked more in 3D, so I used Poser, Bryce, and Amapi, all of which I don’t use any more. Some of my work do start as pencil illustrations, though.

Most readers know how important book covers are in terms of selling the books. I have bought numerous books simply because I loved the covers. Given your popularity as a cover artist, how do you decide whether to accept a commission from an author or publisher to design a cover? Do you have a checklist that you use before you decide?

If I had such a checklist, there would be only one item on it: Compensation. I will usually say yes to a commission if it pays enough to cover the work and the time involved. I like a challenge every now and then, and there are few projects these days that seem impossible to me, so for me the project itself isn’t much of an obstacle or even a factor. I do, however, get a lot of work, and people — be they authors or publishers — approach me all the time. If they’re offering work that seems like it will be time intensive, but the price is low, I might pass on it and choose a quickie that pays better. This is a business for me, after all, and I treat it as such. The only exception might be the occasional story illustration for a literary magazine, but that’s mostly because it allows me to do something a little different from my usual work.

I’m sure that the number of competing projects on your drawing board is scary. How do you prioritize? Is the #1 criteria the deadline for a book cover? Or are there more qualitative considerations that come into play such as the type of book (sci fi vs. straight contemporary romance)? You like the author? The book is highly anticipated and therefore the cover could play a significant part in a major book launch?

My prioritization process is constantly evolving. Only recently, I’ve implemented a database program called Bento as a work management tool, and I use it to keep track of about 100 projects at any one time. In general, though, due dates do figure into it; I usually try to take care of the most urgent thing first. Beyond that, it’s usually whatever of the top priority stuff I can get done as quickly as possible — another reason why I prefer the quickie or easy projects over the more time-intensive ones; the more I can do in the less time possible, the better. It means I can check off more items on the list and move on to the next thing.

When your services are engaged for a project, are you hired by the author or by the publisher or both? Who ultimately decides on the cover for a book? Is it April? The author? The publisher? Is it a collaborative process?

That all depends on the client. My clients are mostly publishers, and each publisher is different. At all of them, the authors do get a say, but the publishers have the final veto. At Liquid Silver Books, where I am the art director, that final veto generally lies with me, and I’m fairly open, allowing the authors and my artists to hash it out and collaborate as they wish and stepping in only as needed. Or, in cases where I do the art myself, I deal directly with the author and work on a cover only until I get the author’s approval; then, the cover is good to go. At other publishers, I generally deal only with the art manager, creating art based on the cover art request form the author filled out but also taking further direction from the art manager, who holds the publisher’s final veto. I view it all as collaborative but with different boundaries and buffers.

Since authors are in their own way artists, most of them have an artistic vision of what they want to see on their book covers. How do you deal with conflicts between your vision and theirs? How do you tell them (tactfully) that their vision sucks? *g*

I don’t tell people their ideas suck; I just tell people I don’t think I can make their ideas work. It’s the truth, too. Whether an idea sucks or not is a wholly relative or subjective matter, and for all I know another artist might be able to run with their ideas, make them work, and further, spend less time doing it. If the author and I can’t come up with a good compromise and if I can’t create a cover that we both like, I simply tell them that maybe I am not the artist for them, and I refer them to someone else.

What would lead you to turn down a project other than workload? A shitty client? An inexperienced writer who doesn’t know what he or she wants and therefore s/he may take up more of your time than normal for this type of project? An author who wants to have total control?

All of those, yes, yes, and yes. I’m at the point where I can pick and choose my clients now, so I exercise that option in all of those cases. I run a business, not a public service. No shoes, no shirt, no service. No ticket, no laundry. No nonsense. There are plenty of artists willing to take on such work for the pay offered, and clients are free to approach them. I’d bear them no ill will for it.

I hate to be a mercenary but I must ask this question. Cover artists get a flat rate for their work and no royalties such as authors do (???). Do you sometime feel that your work is not sufficiently recognized in financial terms while authors reap most of the benefit of your and their labour? *g*

I do get royalties at some publishers — flat rate at others. The rates or percentages are better at some publishers, of course, and I wish the lower rates or percentages were higher, but I don’t begrudge the authors their income at all. They deserve every bit that they get.

Do you accept commissions for regular artwork e.g. commissioned portraits? If so, can we see some of your work?

I have on occasion accepted commissions for regular artwork, and sometimes I do hand-drawn artwork for my own pleasure. I post them on my blog every now and then where people can see them.

Your work has been recognized by your industry by a number of awards. Are these awards voted on by your peers? If so, What is it like to be recognized by your peers, colleagues and competitors?

I would define my peers as fellow cover artists and graphic designers. However, I’ve received some recognition from other e-publishing professionals and from readers, and it’s very, very nice. 🙂

Are romance books the only ones for which you currently design covers? If not what are the other genres?

I’ve done covers for a handful of mystery books and one for a non-fiction book on writing, and I’m about to do one for true crime.

I heard that you always wanted to work in the science fiction, fantasy, or children’s genres and that being a cover artist in the romance industry was initially chance more than anything else. Given that, now that you’re famous it would seem to make sense that your work speaks for itself and that your wish to expand your reach can be easily achieved. Have you approached any sci fi publishers about doing some work in that genre?

As busy as I’ve been, I haven’t had a chance to approach anyone. In any case, I don’t think it would be any easier to break into the science fiction and fantasy market. First, the artwork has an entirely different style, so they’ll be looking for an entirely different kind of portfolio. Second, and most important, I don’t believe that whatever recognition I’ve received extends far beyond the boundaries of erotic romance e-publishing; I doubt that the New York print publishers of romance have even heard of me. I see our little industry as being somewhat insular, so I hardly think of myself as famous. That’s a nice image to feed my ego, though. 🙂

I have my favourite April Martinez covers – a few examples are the covers for Leashed 2: More than a Bargain by Jet Mykles, Forbidden by Lila Dubois and Slave Boy by Evangeline Anderson. What are some of YOUR favourite covers from an artistic point of view?

I’d mark Forbidden as one of my favorites, too, along with its sequel, Savage. Of the covers I’ve done for Evangeline Anderson, I’d say Outcast is my favorite; and Picture Perfect, my most recent cover for her, isn’t bad either. Honestly, I’m fond of a lot of my covers, and I always have trouble naming favorites, so I think I’ll stop there for now before I end up listing three dozen or so titles.

When I posted on my blog that you were going to be profiled some of my regulars had questions for you and strangely most of them had the same question – Do you work with live models, and if so how does that work? I think they want to know if there’s a lot of touching and arranging of bodies while you photograph the models *g* So can you please satisfy their curiosity?

I hate to disappoint your audience, but most of my covers were made with various combinations of stock photography, which means I have had little to no experience dealing with live models or posing them. There are, however, a few of my covers that feature actual photos taken from my camera and even one cover where the live model was myself. That is all I’ll ever say on that subject, though. 🙂

What does April do for fun?

This week’s entertainment will involve making my first gingerbread house for the holidays. I can’t wait!

April, I could go on for days with the questions but this is supposed to be the short format profile and I have already doubled the number of questions I’m supposed to ask. I would like to thank you for agreeing to this interview and I hope you’ll come back. The romance industry would not be as vibrant without those “April Martinez” book covers.

Thank YOU! 🙂

April Martinez Contact Information

graphicfantastic@aprilgem.com
http://www.graphicfantastic.com
http://www.whimsytoons.com