dogteeth Cover design

I Worked with award-nominated levi cain ▼

Cain is a gay Black writer from New England whose work has been twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best New Poets. Their work explores the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality through both prose and poetry. Their first chapbook, “dogteeth.” was recently published by Ursus Americanus Press. Reach them on their website to learn more and book them.

They wanted something bright and vague to contrast the cutting and specific language in their work. We took some colorful material out on a bright day and they crushed them in their hands while I got up close for a picture. This was vital as the printing process is over a linen heavy-weight paper that can not be printed on with precision. This texture and out of focus image go hand in hand to make the look and feel of the cover.

To get to the abstracted image above we worked through a number of materials and textures. We wanted to start with something obscene and disgusting then distill it for more polite consumption. I put cotton balls in a bag with water and food coloring and they squeezed it.

Ultimately the red, and the heart shaped nature of it was to on-the-nose for this.

We moved to the orange, relying on the background and the local flora for movement, only hinting at a violence behind the colorful scene.

The open orange did the trick.