Page Created: 11/13/22. Last Updated: 03/23/23.
CHRISTINE FOLTZER
ONLINE
Website: http://www.christinefoltzer.com/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/christine.foltzer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cfltzr/
Meeting Date: March 11, 2023.
Meeting Site: Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Attendance: 22 + 16.
Meeting Program: Talk, Q & A with Art Director, Tor.com
Notes:
The Ice Nine discussion had 12 attendees. The group discussed video games, SHIN ULTRAMAN, Diana Rigg on DOCTOR WHO, bootlegger relatives, BROTH OF A BOY, Cirque de Soleil, SNOW WHITE, and Ikea.
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2023 Philip J De Parto:
Meeting Notes:
Attended Pratt
Interned at St Martin's Press.
Moved to Oxford Press. Work there included Romance. Bodice rippers are out these days.
Tor.com
Tor.com started out as a blog
Then started e-publishing short stories.
Then started publishing longer lengths and print books as well.
Irene Gallo is the new Tor.com Publisher,
Cover process
Usually gets the manuscript, but sometimes only gets a summery. Editor sends a cover concept
There are three publishing seasons. Each season releases 12 books.
Artists submit 3 or more sketches for her to approve. She selects the best three and sends them back to editorial, both with and without the typeface.
Covers reflect the current trends of the particular sub-genre.
Technology, society, & other factors can drive changes in cover styles.
She meets new artists through postcards of their work, email queries, and certain conventions like IlloCon.
Uses Art Station, not DeviantArt.
Sales is conservative about approving images.
Likes artist Greg Ruth.
The artist for The Children of the Beautiful presented 7 different cover sketches.
Standard process time for a cover is 4 - 6 weeks.
Gideon the Ninth uses a custom font.
Tor.com only buys the book cover rights. All other rights belong to the artist.
Showed comp (comparison) covers for The Green Man,
Every publisher has their own house style. Tor.com goes for a literary fiction look.
AI Art: Any tool changes how you work,
Can usually tell the difference between digitally and traditionally created art just by looking at it.
Grew up loving fantasy and myth artwork
Played D & D 3.5 when young
The most important job of a book cover is to convey the feeling of the book.
Knew from a young age she wanted to be involved with art.
Teacher gave a talk about being an illustrator.
Outdoorsy Jersey girl who moved back to Jersey after living in New York.
Attended Pratt. As soon as she walked onto the campus she knew this was the school for her.
Pratt: You get a degree in Communications Design. Illustration is a sub-major.
Pratt: Studies include the business side of things like freelancing.
First job was in general fiction, but she knew she wanted to be in fantasy.
Tor has recently started Bramble, a romance line. She handled some romance before working to Tor.com but will not be involved in Bramble.
Tor.com shifted to work from home because of covid. She rarely goes into the office.
Book companies did not suffer much from covid because people read more.
One reason for the paper shortage is that companies are switching from plastic to paper to be more Green.
The paper shortage has made print deadlines much firmer than they used to be because paper and print ones need to be scheduled more crisply.
White covers tend to fade into the background on Amazon, so they are out of favor.
Books are a 50/50 split between paper and ebook.
Likes: artist Sam Grey - https://samgray.rocks/
Likes: artist Jabari Weathers - http://goblinprincete.com/