Nathan Burton on Radiance
Nathan Burton is a London-based freelance designer and illustrator. He created the paperback edition of Radiance for Corsair Books. Contributor Vyki Hendy contacted him about the cover. Here is his process in his own words.
The novel is described as a “deco punk-SF, alt-history, space-operatic mystery, set in a Hollywood and solar system very different from our own”. I was given a fairly open brief for Radiance but one of the main requests was to include the main female character. I started looking at European film posters from the 1920’s for inspiration, part of the book is set in an alternative 1920’s and with the Hollywood link it seemed like a good place to start.
I loved their stylistic simplicity, creating forms from blocks of colour and negative space so using this approach I weaved in elements of space travel, film reels and art-deco patterns with the all important main character as the central element. I wanted to keep it simple so limited the palette to two colours. Its printed with pantones and spot UV to give a bit more impact on the shelves.
Editor, artworker and lifelong bibliophile.