Covers for anthologies can be especially tough to design. Sometimes one image can do the trick (get it, "trick," as in Trickster?) but other times it requires something broader and complex. District Comics fell into the latter category. I wanted to include some but not all of the characters from the book on the cover; I didn't want it to be overburdening. I thought a few characters should represent the varied stories in the book and hopefully catch the buyer's eye. Initially, I thumbnailed two possible covers: one with characters from the book coming from behind the flag of D.C. (kind of pulling it open like a curtail horizontally), and the other of character opening the dome of the Capitol and jumping out (see below).
We were on a tight deadline, and I didn't think I could dedicate the time to do a good job on the cover. I approached a couple of contributing artists to possibly do the cover. I floated my sketches to Brooke Allen who did was Brooke does and made it magical. She included ALL the characters forming the shape of the Capitol!
Then came the colors and type. We considered using mostly red and white to represent the colors of the District, but fell a dominate blue color would be better. It was more eye-catching and its red, white and blue look gave the book a more recognizable historical look.
