-- INTRO--

Ruby Red is a young adult novel about time travel. While not my favorite book ever, it's a super cool concept that could lend itself to some cool designs :D. It is the first book of a trilogy.

Basically, there's this secret society of time travelers, all represented by a gemstone. There are twelve total, and the last of them (the Ruby, by the name of Gwendolyn Shepherd) holds the power to close the Circle of Twelve once and for all. What happens after the circle is closed is a mystery, yet the Guardians keep pushing Gwen to fulfill her missions. She starts to doubt the entire thing and finds out more about why two previous time travelers have run away and tucked themselves into a time era, away from the Guardians and the mission to close the circle. And of course, it's not a young adult novel without some love. She starts falling in love with another time traveler (the Diamond). The two go back and forth with some serious trust issues as a huge conspiracy unravels. That's the gist of the first book. 

Themes/keywords:

1) Time Travel
2) the Ruby
3) Power of the Raven, ability to see and communicate with ghosts with unfinished business on Earth
4) Gwen's Aunt Maddy, who has really vague visions about the whole conspiracy
5) during first time travels (elapses), Gwen finds and takes back a random key that will come back into the story later

Initial Sketches (edited with numbers)

DIRECTION 1: Clocks and rubies

DIRECTION 2: Raven (main character is considered the 'Raven' and her aunt has many ominous visions about a raven falling/dying.

My biggest struggle here is how do I make a bird in some kind of circle shape NOT look like Hunger Games :)

****************************************************************************************

-- DEC 3 UPDATE ---

Thanks for the feedback! I decided to go with sketches 8, 13, and 15 per everyone's comments. Here are the next round of sketches and moodboards.

Concept 1 - clock
This one I got a bit ahead of myself and took it digital already. I think it's a fine, simple option but would love to push it to have more detail. I'm thinking constellation drawing-esque designes around the face of the clock, maybe bring some metallic colors in.

Concept 2 - Faceted Raven
Still can't quite figure out the science of making facets on the letterform. Hopefully the G is still pretty legible. For this one, thinking about implementing a crystal/reflective look to represent the Ruby within.

Concept 3 - Raven/feather
I love this one for the potential texture I could have on it. I love the reflective greenish-purple black feathers look you see in the moodboard images. It would need extreme attention to detail but I believe in it! The bottom image shows a different direction with maybe the feathers scattering out in a black and white composition.

Let me know what you think!

****************************************************************************************

-- DEC 4 UPDATE ---

Crunch time! After a lot of exploring, I decided to go with the faceted raven concept. But I need help in the details, can you help me pick which version to pursue as I'm digitizing the project? Thanks!

-- DEC 5 UPDATE ---

Still working on details and color but what do you think?