No. 12: The Cover That Never Happened
A dream job that took some twists and turns, and a few other announcements
Enough time has passed that I can share this story. (Gloria’s team said it was OK.)
Back in 2019 I was just coming down from a high after presenting my illustrated diaries alongside David Sedaris and Helen Fielding at the British Library in London (this is its own story that I may share at another time) when I got an email from one of the creative directors at Random House. The email was brief. He asked if I would be interested in illustrating Gloria Steinem’s new book. I was in shock and assumed there must be another Samantha Baker whom they had mistaken me for. My husband read the email and confirmed I was not imagining what I had read and advised me to take a deep breath and write back first thing in the morning. Of course, I could barely sleep that night.
Fast forward a week or so, I am back in NYC and scheduled to meet Gloria at her apartment on the Upper East Side. She was as lovely and welcoming as you would imagine her to be. We spoke about my career and her favorite illustrators, and she told me she had never worked with an artist before on a personal book project. Why did she choose me? I kept thinking. But she and a colleague of hers who was also there at our first meeting explained that they liked that I use my handwriting and playful lettering in my work. The book was a collection of Gloria’s quotes and short essays. I continued to breathe deeply, pushed the wild thoughts of impostor syndrome and fear aside, and began working on the job immediately.
There was an issue with time, as the book had to be completed in just a few months. Not only was I to create all of the interior illustrations, but I was also asked to illustrate the cover. The catch was that while the inside illustrations were completely up to me, as Gloria wanted me to have complete creative freedom, the cover was to be worked on with the creative director at Random House and his team. Covers are always hard to work on because of the various approvals from design to marketing to sales, etc., but this one was epically hard. While I worked steadily on the inside drawings, the cover drafts took up much more of my time. There must have been over one hundred variations. I would send something in and the design team would tweak it and change the color. Every time we thought we liked something, the editor or marketing team would nix it. And when the design team directed me to create something we thought was a success, Gloria and her team didn’t like it. It went back and forth like this for about a month. Everyone was exhausted.
One afternoon I went rogue and talked to Team Gloria independently. There had been a disconnect and I wanted to get to the bottom of what Gloria wanted. After we spoke, I created a cover we thought would be the one, but the editor didn’t agree. Another round went through the design team, recycling bits and pieces of my drawings and lettering from previous drafts, and they thought they nailed it, but this time Gloria didn’t like it.
I took a really long, deep breath and after a restless night of sleep I went into the studio and worked on a brand-new idea based on an old image of Gloria painting the words “…But First It Will Piss You Off” on a wall. With this new design, I headed to the Random House offices pretty confident that we could finally move on and everyone was going to be happy. I sat around a table with Gloria, a few people from her team, the creative director, and Gloria’s editor. “This is the cover,” I said. “It checks off all the boxes that we have been trying to check since the start.” Finally, everyone agreed! When I left the meeting, the CD said casually that there was one more team that needed to approve it, so we weren’t completely out of the woods yet, but it should be OK.
A week or so passes and I am working away at finalizing the inside drawings when I get a call telling me they had to cancel the cover we finally chose and they ended up going with something very basic without any illustration at all. Too much time had passed, and they’d had to move on and just use something simple and eye-catching. They needed a design that would stand out online, and that was neutral and safe. It’s a strong cover with a nostalgic feel that harkens back to Gloria’s Ms. magazine days.
I spent about a year mourning the cover that never happened. There is so much more I could write and share about my feelings around this incredible job, and it was incredible. Gloria was wonderful to work with and I was able to have my own personal moments with her. That alone was worth every minute of angst over the cover. Now I look back on it as a cherished life experience. It was clearly out of my hands, but I was able to work with Gloria Steinem, a kick-ass team at Random House, and I had my win. My cover was chosen until it wasn’t.
An Amazing Retreat in Sicily
My recent workshop in Sicily, at Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School, was a huge success, and I am so thrilled by the enthusiasm and creativity of the group we had this year. I shared a few reels with lots of images and all of my drawings over on my Instagram if you would like to see. And if you would like to be on the waiting list for 2024, please fill out the form at the bottom of the page linked above.
Here is a testimonial from one of the workshop attendees that made me so happy to read:
“Samantha is a wonderful teacher who meets people where they are artistically, teaching for all skill levels and supporting and celebrating that artist inside of all of us. I loved spending a week in Sicily with Samantha as my creative guide! I have a renewed interest in journaling and sketching to capture the beauty of my every day as well as a renewed confidence in my own style.”
Ambassador and Affiliate codes
If you’ve been following my work for a while, you know I am a loyal fan of Blackwing pencils. I have one or two (or even three) in my bag at all times. I am really honored that they have just added me as an official ambassador for the brand. If you’d like to try out the pencils for yourself, and also help support my work, please shop using my unique link, blackwing602.com/sdionbaker. When you purchase using my link, there’s no additional cost to you and I earn a small commission. I appreciate your support!
Additionally, all Canvas lights and accessories are 10% off with my discount code: SDB10. They just introduced a mini light, so there are even more options to choose from!
The next Draw Your World meet-up is on May 19th. These casual talks and drawing sessions, that I host via Zoom, are a part of the paid subscriber portion of this publication. If you upgrade today you will be sent meet-up invitations and have access to all posts that have been sent to paid subscribers.
I was very much with you on the journey for this one! PS. I like your cover better!
And, by the way, your covers were so much better!