Long-time illustrator for Rick Riordan joins us to discuss his incredible work on The Lightning Thief illustrated edition and what it means to be part of Percy Jackson’s world.

John Rocco’s first Percy Jackson cover was for The Lightning Thief back in 2005. Though he didn’t design the first edition covers for the series, he has gone on to design every cover for Rick Riordan’s books since, whether it was set in the Percy Jackson universe or not.

Now, life seems to be coming full circle as Rocco designs not only a new cover for the Lightning Thief illustrated edition, but also peppers the pages with beautiful artwork that reflect the words on the page.

Below, Rocco discusses the process from start to finish, what it was like taking on a project such as this, and why he still loves the Percy Jackson universe, even all these years later.

How long ago did you and Rick start working on the ‘Lightning Thief’ illustrated edition? In other words, how long did it take from the initial pitch to the finished product?

With this book, I believe the initial pitch was sometime in the spring of 2016. I started sketching everything out from September to December of that year, and then spent most of 2017 creating the final artwork. It takes another six months or so before you actually get to see the finished product.

How do you tackle a project this large? Was it daunting knowing you’d have to come up with so many different pieces for the book?

With a book this large you definitely have to be working with a detail oriented art director. A lot of the planning comes down to balancing the text and artwork on the pages. I started by going back through the story and identifying all the different scenes I wanted to paint. I think my list was over 300 images. From there I worked with Joann Hill, my art director, to weed through that list and make sure we were hitting all the important stuff, and creating a good balance of text and art. And yes, this was a daunting project, but at the same time it was an absolute joy because the story lent itself to some interesting images. I mean, who doesn’t want to paint a minotaur about to hurl a Camaro across the road, or revolutionary skeleton warriors in the underworld?

Were there any moments that you and Rick knew had to absolutely be in the book? Something that you knew from day one would be an integral part of the illustrated edition?

From the get-go I knew I wanted to create a map of Camp Half-Blood — that was a must. I always loved books with maps in them, whether it was House On Pooh Corner, or The Lord of the Rings, it always makes sense to me to see the world from a birds-eye view. We also wanted to have a map of Percy’s quest across America. I thought it was always so neat that Percy’s adventures took place in modern day cities that you could actually go visit in real life.

What about any surprises that happened along the way? Were there any pieces that were particularly tricky or ones that changed a lot over the course of the production?

Hmmm… That’s a tough one. Honestly, I can’t remember any of the images changing too much throughout production. I think a lot of that was because of how we approached the process. I first sketched out the whole book using very rough shapes so the art director knew how much of the page I would be using, and from that we knew where all the text would fall. Sure, there were a few times when we had to adjust things, or I had forgotten that Percy and Annabeth had changed clothes in a particular scene, or trying to remember if Grover had pants on at all in another scene. Luckily, I have a great team over at Disney, who stayed on top of details like that.

Nearly every page has something on it, even if it’s just some added texture to the background. Can you talk about creating an atmosphere for the pages where there weren’t as many drawings (or any at all)?

When Disney told me they were going to produce the entire book in full color, I wanted to put artwork EVERYWHERE. But of course, I couldn’t because we also needed room for all those wonderful words. So a nice compromise for me was to create subtle backgrounds for the pages that would not only hint at the location or mood of a scene, but would also add some drama to the page. You’ll notice that the backgrounds for the chapter in the Underworld are almost completely black with white text on top.

Are there any pieces that didn’t make it in the book? Anything we might be able to see later on?

Actually, every piece I painted made it in, which I am really thrilled about. I think that had to do with our careful planning of the book as a whole. I will definitely start posting some sketches and process pieces I did to my Instagram account (@roccoart) over the next month or so.

What was your goal, personally, in completing this project? What did you want to add to the already rich Percy Jackson universe that you’ve been a part of for so long?

When I was a kid, I discovered my dad’s collection of “Classics Illustrated” comic books from the 1950s. It was reading those that turned me on to the actual novels that they were based on. So when I discovered the illustrated editions of books like Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, Treasure Island and others illustrated by N.C. Wyeth, I was hooked. Now, to illustrate a classic like The Lightning Thief, was a dream come true.

Speaking of, this is the third cover you’ve done for ‘The Lightning Thief.’ Does it get easier or harder to keep interpreting it in new ways?

I think the second set of covers for Percy Jackson and the Olympians was the most challenging. Perhaps because I was trying to make each cover a visual tribute to the original covers, and I was also trying to blend all five covers from the series into one giant painting. The new cover for the illustrated edition was really fun because I had a lot more space being that this is a much bigger book, and I wanted Percy facing-off all of the mythical monsters he encounters in the story.

What keeps you interested in continuing to add your art to the worlds Rick Riordan creates?

These stories have captured the imaginations of millions of readers. Since their popularity hasn’t waned in over a decade, you are now seeing parents who read them as teenagers sharing them with their own children. That is just mind-blowing to me! It has been an honor to illustrate Rick’s books, and as long as he keeps on coming up with incredible stories, I would be thrilled to bring them to life visually. It really is a dream job!

You can order The Lightning Thief illustrated edition from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and IndieBound, or add it to your Goodreads list. Read our review.