More KidAbra Journal Trivia

 In my last article I mentioned that I've been doing the covers for the KidAbra Journal for a few years now. It's kind of a funny story how that all came about. I had already been writing my column for the Journal and I had mentioned (on more than one occasion) to the editors that the covers could really use a boost.

Cover design, just like any kind of graphic design, needs the eye of an artist. Sometimes, just by cropping a photo a certain way you can take a so-so cover and turn it into a winner. Also, if you're not familiar with certain programs like Photoshop then you will be limited as to what you can do with the covers. I think this was the problem overall. The person working on the covers was doing an ok job, but their abilities seemed to be limited. So I went and did something kinda crazy. I took two of the old covers and redid them and sent them over to Mark & Tami, the editors of the magazine. They were pretty surprised at the difference. I guess maybe they were more than surprised because before I knew it they asked if I would take over the cover design. Here are the two images that I reworked.

Now, it looking back, I actually could do an even BETTER job on those covers, but I just wanted to give them an idea of how, with just a few little tweaks and twists, these covers could go from ordinary to really really cool looking. I think I actually went back and redid Doug Scheer's cover and sent it to him. I think it's obvious the difference in the covers, but I'll point out the changes anyway. In the Shabum cover, I blurred the upper edges of Emanuel's body to give the impression of motion. I also added that weird looking trail behind him to also add the feeling of motion. I changed the background to yellow with subtle hints of clouds. And then I also changed the way his name appears. I put the Shabum name in bold with a burst of color behind it. Then I also put his name in the upper left of the picture with the added words TV STAR because Emanuel is a TV Celebrity in his country.

With the Doug Scheer cover, the photo he provided was enough for an interesting cover as can be seen in the original. But I thought it could be better, so I enlarged it slightly and moved him upwards, closer to the Kidabra logo. I added a background and an odd little sunburst image, which I'm not sure I would include today. And I redid his name in a fancier font.

ORIGINAL LOGO
NOW, a bit if trivia. Do you know who created the original logo for KIDabra? It was Ralph Metzler, known back then as Ralph the Great. Ralph and I shared an office and studio for many years and I was with him when he created the first logo. It was an excellent logo and truly showed off one of Ralph's many talents.

A few years ago, I changed the logo. But NOT very much. I really only changed the font. I would have preferred to alter it more, but Mark Daniel wanted to continue with the spirit of the original, and I don't blame him. So the image at the top of the page is the newer version, and the older version can be seen on those issues of the Journal with Shabum and Doug Scheer.

WHY COVERS ARE HARD
The main reasons that covers are hard is because performers send unworkable photos a lot of the times. Sometimes they are slightly blurry, sometimes lo-res, a LOT of times they are not a good size. You would think given the fact that they are all entertainers, that they'd have great press photos. But that is not the case a lot of the time. This is NOT a dig on anyone who has been on the cover of the magazine. I understand, you're so busy with creating, selling and performing the shows, that getting photos is one thing too many on the list of things to do. I get it, I've been there. BUT, really, you should do it anyway. Get GOOD photos and professional ones at that. Also, keep in mind the format of a magazine cover when you're selecting images for a possible cover. Magazines are done in portrait. I can't tell you how many people have sent landscape photos (photos where the content is very wide on the page rather than tall on the page). If you send a landscape photo, it's either going to get severely cropped, or rejected. Now, having said that, the right cropping can really turn an ok image into a great one.

I can think of two particular landscape images that we received for cover shots. They were great

images, but they weren't going to work for covers. And I had no other options, those were the only photos so I had to make them work. One of them was Gary Shelton's cover. His original photograph was wonderful. It had Gary with a fantastic smile along with his rabbit. But it wasn't going to fit on the cover without being really small and looking really odd. I cropped it tigher, but then in order to keep the rabbit in the shot, most of Gary was OUT of the shot. So the poor bunny got cut. But then, the next problem arose, without the interesting rabbit, the photo lost some of it's appeal....no offense to Gary. He still had a great facial expression, but it was the white background that was not helping matters. I'm not sure where the idea came from, but I put in a tree behind Gary and kept a little of the white. Then I tilted him backwards a bit. If you look at the photo to the right he is leaning towards the rabbit. But if you remove the rabbit, it looks like he is hunched over. So by tilting the image the opposite direction, it made his already great smile look even more jovial. The end result was one of my favorite covers.

Another photo, which to be honest, isn't really landscape but more square, was the one sent by Trevor Lewis.  Ok, it is a tad bit wider than it is longer. Anyway, it's a great photo and like Gary's above, IS actually a professional photograph. But due to the width of the shot, it was going to get cropped. So I cropped and cropped.

The next problem was the background. Whenever I tried to put a subtle background in, it seemed to clash with the flowers. So I changed the color of the flowers and put a complimentary background image in. The result was a really cool cover with Trevor.

I bet you don't know what the hardest cover of them all was. Which one do you think? It was the Bruce Bray cover. The reason; no one had a good photo of Bruce. You see, Bruce had passed away tragically, and though there were hundreds of photos of Bruce in casual settings, there were no photos that would work for a cover. OH, and apparently, Bruce had professional photographs taken, on more than one occasion. But they were locked into his computer and no one could access them. So the

cover was on hold until someone could turn up a good photo of Bruce. As fate would have it, I was the one who found the image. It turned up online actually on the website of one of Bruce's clients. They had taken a hi-res photo of him and posted it on their website and I came across it. I asked them for permission to use it which they gave me. You have no idea the sense of relief and jubilation from all the KidAbra people that a good photo of Bruce was discovered. I knew Bruce, but not near as well as everyone else did. However, I totally understood the excitement of finding this photo. Bruce was a close friend to many and a first class children's entertainer.

I pulled the background from the photo and used just the image of Bruce for the cover. I can't say it's my favorite cover because I wish I had cropped it a bit more. At the time, I was so happy just to have a picture of Bruce that would work that I didn't really think about much more. Also, I guess my skill set has improved since that cover. I certainly do learn something after each cover.

I can't say that every cover is a home-run. I know one critic out there who doesn't like most of them, lol. Actually, there are a couple I don't like, I preferred a different version over the one the editors chose. But that isn't to say they are bad, it's just that I liked a slightly different version. All in all, I think they hold up well. The real goal is to make the magician look their best and to have a cover that makes people want to open up and read about that performer. If I've done your cover, I hope you are pleased with the results.

Let me add one thing. IF you are a KIDabra member and are a budding Graphic Artist and would like a shot at doing covers, please contact Mark Daniel. This can be a great opportunity to develop your skills and create a portfolio for yourself. I would gladly step aside if there was someone else who had the desire to do it. I've certainly learned a lot in the time I've been doing covers. My graphic design skills have improved as well as my abilities with Photoshop and other programs. So by all means, if you think it's something you'd like to do, contact Mark. His information can be found in the inside of the KidAbra Journal or you could go to Kidabra.org

Now, look below to see all the covers I've done. Hope you enjoyed this little peak behind the curtain. By the way, one of those images is actually a 'backcover'.

My Column Coming To An End 2015

I just submitted the final 4 columns for my All Things Magical column that I write for the KidAbra Journal. The Journal is the official magazine for members of Kidabra International. It's basically an association of Kidshow performers. Seven years ago, the editor Mark Daniel, asked if I would consider writing a column for his magazine. He had heard through the grapevine that I was very creative. I decided to give it a shot, thinking at the time I might write for a year, maybe two. By the time my column finishes it will have run for 8 years total.

I created a number of really interesting tricks for the column. I also gave the readers some of the effects from my own working repetiore. A couple times I veered from trick writing to book reviews and the occasional essay on magic.  It was 'ALL' Things Magical afterall, I figured I could write whatever I wanted. Only one time in the history of my column did something NOT get published and that was an article I wrote about a dear friend of mine. The main reason it wasn't published is because Mark felt there was more to add and frankly, so did I. That one, never saw the light of day, but will likely make it into print down the road.

I think my column was the only one in the magazine that was sent in completely finished and formated. That was a fairly recent change however, like within the last few years. Prior to that I just mailed in the photos and text and let them do it.

By the way, in 2010, I took over as the Cover Designer for the magazine. NOT an easy task either when you see some of the photos I have to work with!!!!! But I think the covers have looked really good for the most part. There were one or two that I wasn't thrilled with, but the editors preferred those versions over my favorite versions. I guess that's what I get for sending in a couple different versions to choose from.

I want to add, Mark and Tami Daniel have been so great to work with over the years. They put out a first class magazine. Even though it's supposed to be for kid show performers, the magazine is filled with columns on marketing, sales, promotion, showmanship and so much more. It really is a magazine for Professional performers.

Eventually, I will gather up all the columns and put them into a book, but not right now. I've got too much on my plate for that. Before any sort of book comes out, I'll actually be manufacturing and releasing one of the effects from my column.

I'm guessing my columns will run out some time by mid year 2015. So if you get the magazine, you'll still get to enjoy my column a few more times before it's gone.