Written by / Karen Lord
Cover illustration for “Redemption in Indigo” by Karen Lord, published by Dolmen in their Freder collection.
“Paama’s husband is a fool and a glutton. Bad enough that he followed her to her parents’ home in the village of Makendha, now he’s disgraced himself by murdering livestock and stealing corn. When Paama leaves him for good, she attracts the attention of the undying ones – the djombi – who present her with a gift: the Chaos Stick, which allows her to manipulate the subtle forces of the world.“
Full summary in Dolmen’s website →
Creative process
First steps
Before starting to work, I needed to know ‘Redemption in Indigo’ in more depth. While reading reviews of the novel, I wrote a concept map with the most important aspects. Everyone agreed that it is a lively novel, with a strong and resilient protagonist. I took note of the fantastic elements, such as the Chaos Staff, the spiders, the indigo-skinned djombie… And about what a good cook Paama is, and how important cooking is in the story.
Also I read a quote from Karen that stayed with me: “Don’t get distracted by the talking animals, the deathless beings,
the Object of Power and the other staples of fantasy that I’ve added to Paama’s story. Redemption in Indigo is a novel which celebrates
ordinary people and everyday magic.”
“Redemption in Indigo” is inspired by a Senegalese folktale, “Ansige Karamba the Glutton”, and Senegalese influences are very present in the book. Every cover must do justice to the novel it represents! So, in order to approach the illustration, I had to learn a little more about Senegalese art. Geometric eyes, patterns of rectangular and circular shapes, vibrant colours… These are common aspects of many of the works I analysed. Above you can see a selection of the artists that most caught my attention, who inspired me in one way or another.
Los bocetos
Do you remember Karen’s words? When I read them, they gave me the idea to leave in the background the fantastic elements of the work, and put the focus on Paama as the heroine and protagonist. Therefore, the composition I presented put Paama as the center of the story, while all the key elements of the plot (the spiders, the Chaos Staff, the fire in the kitchen…) were arranged around her.
Her silhouette acts as a “door” that invites us to get to know the character and her story better, while allowing the title to stand out and be legible even at a distance. The main color, of course, is indigo.
In the image above, the two sketches I presented for this novel: the final one, and a more minimalist one. This one represents a Nephila senegalensis spider (very common in Senegal) decorated with geometric shapes characteristic of Senegalese art, and around it various elements of the plot.