The picture of the eye from the book’s back cover belongs to my then 9-year-old daughter. No makeup of any kind was used. A cheap point-n-shoot digital camera, some contrast and a sketchpad effect gave me this.

Now, may I introduce, Mr. Spooky. He’s been associated with the Circle of Doors project for a while now, but only made it into the book as a tiny black and white image. The artist in me thought the impact of the picture in all its emotion and colors would be quite striking. Unfortunately, he was a bit too striking for most people. When I pictured the book sitting on a counter or shelf or in someone’s hands, I could see their point. The idea was sound, the application was not.

One of the many underlying themes in Circle of Doors is facing and conquering fear. Once you look into the face of fear, you can begin to see what you’re really afraid of. What I see in this image are complex colors, textures, angles and layers. What most other people see is, ‘AHHHHHH!’ Oh well. That emotion is the one conveyed in the small image found in the back of the book though. You’ll understand when you see it.

Mr. Spooky started life as a very small, blurry black and white picture of a statue head. He’s undergone manipulation of several different effects to to reach this point, and the image in the book is still another variation. Spooky or not, I had fun creating him.

- Ranse Parker

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This is the image from the cover of the first version of the book. Only three books with this design were ever printed. There were dozens of previous design ideas but none of them seemed to convey the message I was looking for. Then one morning, this one came to me. If you read the book, you should understand its elements.

I drove down to a local retail store and purchased a box of dominos. A little wire, some tape, a dark room, a halogen light, my cheap digital and a few hours later, I had a picture. Several days of graphic work produced the rest of what you see. Although it’s interesting, and turned out close to how I imagined it, the final result on the cover of the book just didn’t have the expected visual impact under the thick laminate. You never know though, it might still get used somewhere someday.

- Ranse Parker

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