Introducing the Splatter Collection
- Sam Bateson
- Apr 14, 2021
- 3 min read
Ladies and gents, I've gone artistic.
I've always been very proud of my book covers; there again, I would say that, I've designed and made the vast majority of them. For my last book, Willow, I teamed up with Katrina Gill who drew the stunning image for the cover;
In any case, I've always enjoyed designing covers and putting them out there. I take an unusual approach to cover design; where the vast majority of books use the space to add more text that distracts from the main image, I always think that the image should do most of the talking. I try to make my covers unique, and to ensure each would look good on a poster, or on a wall. I've had some varied success with that test...
I've got some more books in the pipeline, and what's interesting to me is how most of them are borne out of an image in my head which I've then worked into a story - the image then becomes the cover and I've definitely pushed out of my comfort zone when it comes to using graphic design programmes to achieve the looks I want.
However, I've recently become interested in splatter variants. In order to explain what one of those is, I'm going to have to go off on a nerdy tangent about vinyl records.
A vinyl record is made by pressing a vinyl cake (hot blobs of vinyl plastic) between two stampers containing negatives of the grooves for each side. Vinyl cakes are traditionally black, but, if coloured pellets or other coloured blobs of cake are added and then pressed, the results are splatter, whirl or smoke variants, depending on what is added. Here's a selection from my collection:
My obtuse collection aside, I love these variants, especially their property-specific names. So, just for a bit of fun, I've decided to do something a bit unusual - I've taken the splatter variant idea and applied it to my current plethora of covers, from Midnight to LIFE (complete with variant names...). Here they are in an Apple-style showcase:
MEET THE SPLATTER VARIANTS
Midnight
The Midnight - White on Black 'Starburst' Splatter uses cold, clinical colours to create a ghostly, explosive splatter that captures the cold vacuum of outer space, along with the sense of creeping horror of the book.
After Dark
Featuring a more colourful palette, the After Dark - Orange & Blue 'Reactor Core' Splatter uses prominent colours from the cover and transposes them into a new context, referencing a setting used in the novel.
Woodland
Using the red and greens of the original cover, the Woodland - Blood & Green 'Leaf Litter' Splatter is a new variant in an already extended family of Woodland covers. Resembling blood splatter, the variant is a perfect representation of the abstract plot of the novel.
First Light
Using a monochrome palette of a smoky viral black and bone grey, sampled from the original cover, the First Light - Black & Grey 'Virus' Splatter represents contagion, a central theme of the book.
Willow
Using the blue of Willow's t-shirt from the front cover, combined with a new pastel red, the Willow - Blood & Fibre Splatter represents a mixture of biological and man-made forensic evidence in the splatter variant for this crime thriller.
LIFE
In stark contrast to the grey and white of the digital release cover, the LIFE - Spectrum of Life splatter is a child-like celebration of everything that can and does exist across the broad, diverse, beautiful pageant of life.
I won't lie to you, this is simply an artistic exercise, but everything I do, I do to stand out - hopefully, these variants do that. As such, these pieces have been incorporated into a new range of covers, which will be available as an option alongside the original covers. You can see the originals with the new variants below:
With these splatter variants, I'm not looking to create something collectible or anything like that; in some ways, I'm hoping to carve a niche, create something that people will associate with me - not only are the covers effective (I think...) but they're also consistent and capture a mood.
The splatter variants will start rolling out in the coming weeks; I hope to continue to explore new artistic ways to express my books and to continue to work with more great artists to bring new great covers going forward. Please check out Katrina Gill Art, the super talented artist who provided the great cover art for Willow. She's really a one-of-a-kind, and I'm forever grateful to her!
Final artwork may vary
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