I was really up for the challenge on this one - turning the standard genre tropes on their head, or hats in this case. In the first round of cover sketches, I really try and show a range of what could be possible. Some of the options might be more expected, but I always try and include one from left field . How far can you push up against the boundaries of the genre while still staying true to the book? I loved the idea of showing a cowboy hat with a twist. In the end we circled back to the 2 hats but went for a subtler approach by having the witch hat be the shadow of the cowboy hat.
I am showing the preliminary sketches roughly in the order they were presented.
