Metaphorosis Books

What the contest holder asked for

Company or website name

Metaphorosis Books

Links to the website

Stamp of Approval

Describe your company and organization and target audience

This is a book cover. The book is a humorous young adult fantasy story about a young apprentice clerk. The audience is readers of light-hearted fantasy (think Terry Pratchett), teenaged and older.

The design should have the following

Style This is a humorous fantasy for ages young adult (mid-teen) and up. The tone is lighthearted. The cover should be appropriate to teens and adults. In other words, not dark or gory, but not childish. The title of the book is: Stamp of Approval <br><br> Dimensions Overall image: 286mm wide x 210mm high (Including 3mm bleed allowance) Front and back: 136.5mm wide each (including bleed) Spine: 13mm wide <br><br> Specifications Back: relatively calm/not busy. Leave space in center back for blurb Spine: Title (Stamp of Approval) can use space from 5% down to 70% down. I.e., leave top 5% for logo, bottom 30% for author name. Front: Leave bottom 10% for author name. I.e., no crucial details of art in this area. Color: Full color Overall: Front cover must be attractive in grayscale and legible at small scale (e.g. Amazon listing) <br><br> Format Layered paint.net (.pdn) format preferred. Failing that, any format openable by paint.net, including png or jpg. If in a non-layered format, the base illustration and titles/text must be included as separate files. <br><br> Content A file attached to the design brief includes many key scenes from the book, and you're welcome to draw from them. This is a medieval fantasy, and content should be appropriate. Key elements and actors include: Terence - young male clerk, chubby and awkward Ine - young female quarter-giantess. Two heads taller than Terence, slim, redhead, flat-chested Trolls (2) - tall, rough-skinned, spiky Ogres (3) - large, coarse, blocky Forest - deep, dark, green forest - more coniferous than deciduous Scroll - scroll with two wax seals <br><br> Descriptions Ine: Beauty was slim as a willow, and nearly as tall. Scarlet hair wrapped her throat like a sunset scarf of mist around an oak, or maybe that sort of furry green-leafed tree you see out by the Forest of Deepness. She (Ine, not the tree) had the face of a goddess, and the body of a goddess who was still waiting to fill out a little bit. Her mother had been a half-giant, but you couldn’t tell, except in terms of size. <br><br> Giants: Sure enough, on the shelf against the back wall were a series of carvings of badly deformed people. One, a dark mahogany figure clearly intended as a giantess, had every attribute magnified, and I stared at it with fascination. There was hope for Ine yet! It seemed like it might be hard to walk with such wide hips and such a heavy chest, but perhaps that was why the legs were bowed. And the club on her shoulder was an effective counterbalance. Trolls: Next to her was an equally tall figure, rough-skinned and spiky, all angles and joints of weathered bone. From what little I’d heard, I thought this must be a troll. For one thing, it carried their trademark war scythe. They claimed it was just a farming tool, but I figured putting “war” in the name was a dead giveaway. <br><br> Ogres: Next to the troll, carved from granite, was a slightly shorter figure. Human in outline, it seemed unfinished, the crude planes of its broad shoulders tapering straight into a blocky head with few distinguishing features, aside from a large mouth with unnaturally sharp teeth. <br><br> Plot summary A comic fantasy about the perils of castle bureaucracy – Terence, a young castle clerk, competes with equally feckless rival Frederick for the attentions of Ine, a quarter-giantess. He survives a series of dangerous adventures, including an eating duel with Frederick, a verbal tussle with the drunken castle seneschal, and a battle with laundry. All the while, the shadowy Morathians are plotting to steal the power of the kingdom’s Forest of Deepness, and share it with their allies, the trolls. Terence foils the plot, but the trolls are still loose. They kidnap Terence and use him to blackmail the spirit of the Forest. At the last moment, Ine and Frederick arrive to rescue him, but are themselves captured. Strengthened by the Forest, Terence defeats an ogre in single combat, and Ine captures the trolls. Terence and Ine marry and live happily ever after.

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Young adult fantasy book cover