Debra Lill Wants You To Judge A Book By Her Cover Art
If you read contemporary fiction —and pay attention to book covers— it’s likely you’ve seen the work of Debra Lill. From her studio in Northwest Connecticut, she is a book cover artist, as well as a landscape painter, jewelry maker, and mixed media maven. Lill credits her endlessly creative mother with instilling a passion for an array of aesthetic endeavors. Rightly so, because today Debra Lill is a renaissance woman whose artistic interests are uniquely her own.
Lill's studio and her Curio Shop are located at Whiting Mills, the former Winsted Hosiery Mill. Located on the Still River and the National Register of Historic Places, the brick building complex functions now as a community arts center and commercial space. Truly, this is the perfect backdrop to Lill's creative expression.
Originally from Greenwich, she's spent the last 16 years in Litchfield County. In the middle of her senior project at Rhode Island School of Design, she had an epiphany when a woman came into her photography class and gave a demonstration of alternative photo processes from the 1800s. Lill knew immediately this was what she wanted to do. As she explains it, the demo involved putting light-sensitive emulsion on watercolor paper and then exposing it to sunlight. Images embedded into the watercolor paper this way. Lill would later colorize the images with her watercolor paintbrush. She saw the whole process as a winning combination of traditional photography with illustration. While her professor told her she was crazy to switch her senior project so late in the year, she did it anyway. She also knew book covers needed images.
Not long afterward, Lill's uncle told her she really needed to explore computer art. Although her response was, "artists are never going to work on computers. It's just never going to happen," her uncle insisted on taking her to all the computer shows. He even set her up with her first computer system. This embrace of new technology eventually opened her up to the world of book cover art.
Lill's role in creating that cover art has changed dramatically, thanks to the computer. She used to receive a book manuscript, read it, and then generate ideas. Publishers would choose one, which she would pursue, revise, and fine tune. Then came stock photography, a genuine game changer. Today, the publisher, designers, and artistic directors download an image and create a composite. Lill's job now is to enhance these images and entice discerning book lovers. You’ll find her covers on bestsellers by John Grisham, James Patterson, Sandra Brown, Danielle Steele, Elin Hildebrand, Debbie Macomber, and so many others.
But you won’t recognize a signature style, because she approaches the assignments in a variety of ways. Recreating something similar to what’s handed to her by publishers is one option. Another involves tinting or retouching the composite image. Or she might combine an historic image and stock photo with one of her original photographs. The challenge is to attract readers' interest while leaving something to their own imagination.
For quite a long time she considered her book cover art as "work" and her landscape paintings as "standalone fine art." The former paid the bills, while the latter was more of a hobby. However, now her most popular book covers are for sale as frameable giclee prints at her studio and online.
In addition to this, Lill creates what she calls "living photos," a project she conceived years ago. Living photos are essentially photographs that contain a a touch of movement. These images use motion in natural scenery: think greenery, sunlight, and raindrops. Years ago, she made several prototypes and held a gallery show in New York City that proved very popular. She had to shelve the entire project, however, until the digital frame company Meural came along. More recently, Meural was bought out by Netgear, and Lill's enthusiasm for what she describes as "like iTunes for art; a playlist for your digital frame" still resonates.
These days, book cover artist Lill enjoys the collegiality of her fellow artists at Whiting Mills. There are woodworkers, fine art painters, special effects makeup artists, and a metalsmith all under the same roof.
At her studio and shop, Lill does vintage portraits for people who want to travel back in time and try on vintage clothing she's collected. But if dressing up isn't your cup of tea, there are plenty of other options to spark your creative interest here, many that reflect Lill’s passion for Steampunk and Victorian collectibles: old typewriters, vintage post cards, papier mache globes, mid-century cigar boxes, embossed apothecary bottles, out-of-print books, and antique candlestick holders. And if you're really looking for adventure, there is a penny-farthing replica that will turn heads no matter where you place it.
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