Book Cover: Felan's Fables

Last year, I designed a book, inside and out, for Jamie Yourdon, author of Froelich's Ladder. The book, Swanya, was a limited edition novel (only 100 copies made) based on the story of Snow White. I wrote about the process here.

This year, Jamie's got a new project, and I'm in love with it. It's called Felan's Fables and is a collection of 60 short, charming, weird, fascinating fables that take place in a world of Jamie's creation. They don't all revolve around the eponymous Felan, but Felan is there, and important, and as you read, the world grows up around you in a wonderful way.

I was excited to get to design this book inside and out as with Swanya—and as with Swanya, Jamie gifted me with some gorgeous artwork to work with.

Look at this!

This is Felan. Commissioned from artist Graham Francoise whose art you can check out here. I love his style and I absolutely love the image of Felan that he created. It was such a joy to work on this cover because throughout the process, there was Felan for me to feast my eyes on.

Look at that nose and freckles!

Along with the Felan image, Graham created a patchwork quilt of tiny images each representing a fable. That was to be the background, and also the main imagery for the back cover. (I also used each little square to head its fable on the inside.) Graham gave this to me in layers, and Jamie said I could position Felan any way I wished.

I chose, of course, to put Felan front and center, and then I looked for fonts that felt right for the subject. The challenge for this cover was to get the balance between Felan and text right, and also to ensure that the elements didn't get overwhelmed by the detail of the patchwork background. To make sure the title stood out, I added a subtle wash of color across the top half of the cover. For text color, I stuck mostly with reds and greens to integrate the words into the artwork, adding in some cream and black as well, as I experimented. Sometimes the text wants to stand off of a cover. For Felan's Fables, I wanted it to nestle inside.

At first, I tried also adding a little bit of extra ornamentation because we had included some in the Swanya cover and it had worked well.

But it felt extraneous to both Jamie and me. One element too many. Sometimes the best design is something subtle, that allows the artwork to be the star completely.

I did some experimenting....

And of course sent samples to Jamie to choose from. One thing that happened in the process of this book is that we found out late in the game that the printer couldn't accommodate Jamie's chosen trim size. That meant that after all of my experimenting, we needed to reformat the cover to a shape that was a little taller and thinner. I think, in the end, that served Felan well.

Felan's Fables will be out March 10, 2026. Jamie will be launching a Kickstarter campaign in January. You can have a sneak peek here. For more information on Jamie and all his books, go here. To feast your eyes on more of Graham's work, go here. And here's a taste of one of Jamie's fabulous fables:

Once there was a boy whose bones were made of wicker. His father was a scarecrow and his mother was not.

The boy’s limbs were sturdy as a wicker chair. His ribs were like a picnic basket, with all his organs neatly tucked away. His heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys were all normal. It was only his bones that made him different.

“You must never tell anyone,” his mother had cautioned him, “or people will cut you open to see your insides.”

So the wicker boy had kept his secret safe.

One day the wicker boy chanced upon two brothers by a lake. The brothers had been arguing, but they fell silent when they saw him approaching. Though one brother was clearly older, both were larger than the wicker boy and both had a menacing disposition.

Their faces turned from scowls to smiles.