“Never judge a book by its cover,” is a wise old saying that is often truer than fiction and yet it is the cover that invites a look inside the book.  Steve Prescott  was commissioned to develop a book cover for a collector friend, author Coleman Archer who has written a collection of short stories about western life in the Texas panhandle in the early 1900’s. 

The book is entitled LEGENDS, LORE AND LIES  and will be published in early 2013.  Steve was asked to draw a sketch of the idea which was approved by the author with a request to do a pen and ink drawing.  Steve suggested a three dimensional carving of the scene which was then photographed to be the book cover.  In the end, the author liked the photograph of the carved scene better than a pen and ink drawing.  In his own words, Steve says: Legends, Lore and Lies – A Different Type of Carving.  Not all caricature carvings have to be humans or animals.  They can be inanimate subjects as well.

Recently, one of my woodcarving collectors asked me if I could draw.   Not knowing where this was going I hesitated but my wife blurted out that, “Yes, he can draw.”  He then asked me to do a drawing for the cover of a new western book he was just completing.  I told him that it was not my “forte” but would give it a shot.

I completed the rough sketches and the author was very pleased and gave me the go ahead for the full pin and ink cover drawing.  I asked him if I could try doing a three dimensional carving that could be photographed for the cover.  He seemed a little reluctant but agreed to let me try it if I would not obligate him to it instead of the drawing.  These photos are what I came up with.

 The book is to be a collection of humorous western short stories with the title, Legends, Lore and Lies.  It should be released after the first of the year 2013.  He was very happy with the three dimension carving and actually paid me nearly twice what I had asked for.  (And, I didn’t have to do the pen and ink drawing that I wasn’t very confident in doing.)

Thank you Steve for suggesting another way wood carving can serve another purpose beyond aesthetic appearance and caricature amusement.  Wood carvings have been used as props for theatrical presentations on the stage and in film as well as animation cartooning.  Now wood carving can be used for book covers as a novel idea.