The Legend of Mad Matilda Concept Cover

Over the Memorial Day Weekend I had a chance to draw up a concept for a cover for the last book in the Spinsterella Trilogy The Legend of Mad Matilda. With all the Black and white, it kind of has a Tim Burton feel to it. I think that’s a plus with the book being a Goth YA novel.

The story behind the concept is supposed to be Mad Matilda holding up the arrest placard at Central Booking before she’s photographed, but I can’t draw hands for shit. There’s supposed to be a nervous look on her tired face. With her about to be locked up, she’s scared of what’s coming in the future.

Since this is Mattie in her 1990’s Goth prime, I decided to change some things from her sophisticated Black Widow look in Spellbound and my previous concept art featuring the initial sketches of Mad Matilda, the Industrial Rave Queen. I drew inspiration for Matilda’s outfit from watching several Goths on YouTube. Her pigtails are inspired by Goth YouTuber Rose Nocturnalia, and her T-shirt is inspired by ones I saw YouTubers Ligeia Resurrected and It’s Black Friday wearing in some of their videos. I would have went with a basic T-Shirt, but I when saw many Goth YouTubers wearing modded out T-shirts I decided to go in a different direction.

To keep the image from being a straight block of black, I decided to do what I’ve seen many Goths do and use texture and shades to make the Blacks stand out. I used colored pencils to add texture to the leather on her collar, cuffs and belt, and ink pens to give her hair some depth. Then I brought out the black marker to give her clothes a cotton feel. And for a pop of color to draw readers to her face, I decided her barrettes and pendant would have a pop of red.

I’ve made a lot of progress on The Legend of Mad Matilda, and the book has come a long way since I started writing the first draft of it in February. At this stage I’ve done the page layouts and I’m in the middle of editing the second draft. Like Spellbound, it’s reading like a movie, and I’m doing my best to keep this last book consistent with events in Spellbound and Spinsterella.

I’d love to get Legend of Mad Matilda to readers with this concept as the cover designed by a professional artist. But with me still out of work, the only way that’s going to happen is with donations from readers. So if you’ve enjoyed the first two parts of The Spinsterella Trilogy, and you want to see this AWESOME cover concept on the third done by a professional artist, donate to my Paypal or to my Patreon!