Featured Artwork: Klepto Cat Book 56, “Rags to the Rescue”

May 27, 2022May 31, 2022 Bernadette

Okay, a cat, a fluffy puppy, and the beach—what’s not to love in that? This cover took a little bit of visualization because there were so many possibilities. But once this latest cover came together, this was a very fun cover to design and paint, and I really like the simplicity of it.

Patricia wrote:

Rags is really busy in this book–he does all kinds of things. One of them is to rescue a puppy from a dognapper and when they find Rags and the puppy, Rags is sitting with the puppy and he has the puppy’s leash in his mouth–you know, like he’s bringing the puppy to his people. CUTE?

They’re at the beach, so sand, ocean, maybe a colorful beach umbrella in the background…

I started with Rags in a position to hold a leash in his mouth, and used as a base Rags from the cover of Book 29, which is based on a photo of Namir in my back yard, but used a different face from one of the photos of the actual model for Rags, Patricia’s mother’s cat Smokey.

Patricia had also mentioned a fluffy white puppy, though since the beach sand is light colored we could use a different color dog to stand out. I really envisioned a white puppy, probably because I knew I had plenty of photos of little bichons from the pencil portraits I’d done of Belle and Pearle.

“Belle”, pencil on illustration board, 22″ x 28″, 2001 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Pearle”, pencil on illustration board, 22″ x 28″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

So, lots to work with.

And then…the beach. I have so many photos from when I visited my niece in Savannah back in 2016. I chose one with some waves and some gulls, and enough sky about the water to fit the title, pretty much as you see in the illustration.

beach at hilton head — Beach for the book cover.

Then the blanket. Red was what I pictured, so red was what I used. We use red or a reddish color on almost every cover, and I usually make the title in that color too. That’s how it worked out this time. I had to make the red blanket bigger than I’d thought because I wanted to provide ample background for the puppy to show up, and it’s really zappy, eye-catching.

And though all the individual parts have lots of detail in them—Rags, the puppy, the beach with waves and gulls—the composition is bold enough that the details are minimized.

Here’s the synopsis:

Rags works his feline magic and demonstrates his prowess.

A fan goes berserk and Rags surprises everyone with his unusual and most timely reaction. He saves a drowning child, alerts rescuers when a cat friend is in serious trouble, identifies a man who’s up to no good, returns a treasured pup to his family, and uncovers a spirited secret in the walls of a friend’s mansion. This story is a page-turner and a heart-warmer.

You can find Rags to the Rescue on Patricia’s website and on Amazon.com.

About the materials for the cover illustration

I use a self-prepared two-ply illustration board with a very fine surface texture to hold the pastel, and also be able to use other media. It’s not entirely opaque so I can put it on my light table and trace the details in place. I start out with a sketch in watercolor and even marker to block in the colors and especially the dark areas. Then I put it on my drafting table and finish it with my pastels, first the soft pastels for coverage, then pastel pencils for details.

Depending on the detail in the illustration, I work them about twice the final size of the cover. Getting all the details just right on an illustration like these book covers can be tricky when they are small. The books are 5″ x 8″, but these illustrations are usually about 10″ x 16″, which helps me to paint in all the details.

Other illustration materials I’ve used

I don’t use paper for most of these illustrations but chose Ampersand brand Pastelbord, which is a piece of Masonite with a very fine clay and marble-dust coating that has very little texture but holds layers of pastel so I can both do my finger-painting thing with blending softer pastels and sketch with harder pastels and pastel pencils, and it stands up well to multiple changes. I began the painting with soft pastels to cover the major areas with layers of color. I finished up the details and edges with pastel pencils.

But once I began working out the covers with all this Victorian detail like PAWSitively Sinister, I needed a little assistance in keeping the details in order so it didn’t take me until next year to do the painting. Especially when working with patterns it’s important nothing is out of place or it’s immediately noticeable. I start with a complete composite that I’ve built in Photoshop using all the photos and images and art so that Patricia can see just what it will look like, and I have all the details in place. It’s far more difficult to correct an illustration than a Photoshop composite, which I can adjust infinitely. That way, when I get to my actual painting, all the decisions have been made and I just need to paint.

I use a self-prepared two-ply illustration board with a very fine surface texture to hold the pastel, and also be able to use other media. It’s not entirely opaque so I can put it on my light table and trace the details in place. I start out with a sketch in watercolor and even marker to block in the colors and especially the dark areas. Then I put it on my table and finish it with my pastels, first the soft pastels for coverage, then pastel pencils for details.

Depending on the detail in the illustration, I work them sometimes twice the final size of the cover. Getting all the details just right on an illustration like these book covers can be tricky when they are small. The books are 5″ x 8″, but this illustration was 10″ x 16″, which helped me to paint in all the leaves and details of the bark.

About these book covers

I’ve illustrated over 50 covers for Patricia over two series of cat mysteries. You can see the Klepto Cat covers below, but unfortunately you can’t click on the images to go to the article and read more about them. Use these links instead: Catnapped, Cat-Eye Witness, Sleight of Paw, Undercover Cat, The Colony Cat Caper, The Corral Cat Caper, Gallery Cat Caper, Mansion of Meows, Celebrity Cat Caper, Pawtners in Crime, Pawsitively Sinister, The Purrfect Lie, A Picture Purrfect Christmas, Meow for the Money, Claws for a Cause, Cabin FURvor, A MEOWvelous Witness, Cats in Cahoots, The Amazing CATventure, By Crook or By Cat, Merriment, Mayhem and Meows, A Christmas to Purr About, Cattywampus Travels, Cats in the Belfry, CATalyst for Clues., The Perilous PURRsuit, Secrets, Trickery and Meows, The ImPAWsible Mission, Meowmoirs of a Kleptocat, Revenge at its Felinest, FURever Bound, Cats Don’t Squeal, The Secret Claws, FURever Friends, Wrong Side of the Paw, A Whisker of Truth, Cats and Caboodle, A Very Meowy Christmas, A Purrfectly Perilous Plot, Meow and Forever , Cats of a Feather The Secret in the Whiskers, Whiskerful Thinking, Paws for Trouble, Love at First Purr, Meowing in the Moonlight, A Whisker of Doubt, In PURRsuit of the Unknown, A PAWsome Encounter, Calico Calamities, A Whisker Away, Rags Gets the Upper Paw, Claw and Order, and Rags Lends a Helping Paw.

book cover design with cats and quilt undercover cat patricia fry

The final cover for "PAWtners in Crime" by Patricia Fry.

The final cover for "The Purrfect Lie" by Patricia Fry.

"A Picture Purrfect Christmas" klepto cat mystery by patricia fry

The finished cover for "Meow for the Money".

"Claws for a Cause" by Patricia Fry, cover illustration and design.

Cover illustration and design for "Cabin FURvor"

"The Amazing CATventure" cover, finished.

The finished cover for "Merriment, Mayhem and Meows".

"A Christmas to Purr About" Klepto Cat Mysteries No. 22"A Christmas to Purr About" Klepto Cat Mysteries No. 22

FURever Bound cover illustration and design.

Cats Don't Squeal cover illustration and design

illustrated book cover for cozy cat mystery

cover illustration for klepto cat book cats of a feather

book cover illustration and design klepto cat mystery

Klepto Cat Book Covers

CWA 2018 Muse Medallion AND Certificate of Excellence for “Illustration: Series”

Illustration: Series, Klepto Cat Covers 27 through 32
MUSE™ Medallion and Certificate of Excellence

Patricia publishes about six books each year and I’ve entered the covers since 2015. I’ve won a Certificate of Excellence each year, and this year won a MUSE™ Medallion too.

2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019

Click the links above to see the other awards.

Bookmarks for Patricia L. Fry's books. — Bookmarks for Patricia L. Fry’s books.

All books are available in electronic format and most for print on Amazon.com as well as find the print versions on Patricia’s website. Reviews have been good, and a few reviewers have even mentioned the covers! I hope you enjoy these books, and Patricia and I are currently working on the next cover. That woman can write!

When we finished book 12 we also updated the two-sided bookmark that includes all twelve books so far which Patricia can hand out at book signings and book shows.

We’ve also printed several runs of note cards from multiple covers, including a Christmas series.

. . . . . . .

Read more about book covers I’ve designed. Also, click here to read more about the Purrs of Wisdom cover and bookmarks, and also about books I’ve designed on my blog, What’s New?

Are you interested in illustrations or a book cover, or book design? Please contact me, I’ll be happy to discuss your project.

Featured Artwork

Each week on Wednesday I feature a piece of artwork, sometimes a current or historic portrait, sometimes an illustration or an art project from years ago, usually cat-themed, but sometimes wildlife or even non-animal subjects, and even projects from my commercial art life. Read other Featured Artwork posts.

Custom Commissioned Artwork and Illustrations from Portraits of Animals

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From Animal Portraits to Book Covers to Advertisements

In addition to creating commissioned portraits beloved animal companions for the past 25 years, I’ve also been a commercial artist since the 1980s both full-time and freelance and created many illustrations, book covers, advertisements, display signs and more. Visit my Commissioned Artwork pages to read more. They are not quite complete at the moment but there is still quite a bit to look at.

Copyright

All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.