Book Cover Illustrations

Believe it or not, occasionally I turn down work (no small thing perhaps for a guy with a bit of Scottish blood in his veins). The reason is that sometimes I’ll decide my style will not fit what the client needs, or that the client might be better served with a stock photo or the […]

Recently a few publishers have started adding black and white illustrations to their novels and short story collections. In the past when type was still being set for printing, the use of such illustrations was generally saved for key points within a book, such as the title page. Otherwise, fictional books were pretty much free […]

OK. I just did these for fun. But I’m hoping sometime each of these illustrations will find its way onto a book cover. Until then, hopefully they’ll bring a little amusement to readers of this blog as well as those who visit my online galleries. Above is “Summer Storm” and below is “Lisajen’s Top Hat.” […]

Sci-Fi Art Now is now available for sale, even though it won’t officially be released until October (2010). Here’s the blurb from Ilex Press’ site: “This perennially popular genre always attracts the most visionary artists, and this book showcases the crème de la crème of contemporary science fiction painters, illustrators and creators. All aspects of […]

Only known video of Andrew Wyeth as he paints. Captured on a home video and a bit over cropped in this version. Nevertheless, a fascinating insight into how this artist worked. ===================== Duncan Long is a freelance illustrator who has done work for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, Fort Ross, and many other […]

The first half of 2010 has been busy, with many self-publishing authors and small presses realizing that in order to compete with big presses, a quality cover illustration can be key in attracting buyers. On the “established press” side of things, I’ve also been busy, currently finishing up a collection of illustrations for a graphic […]

Rough sketches can be useful for discovering what works best for the layout of a book or magazine illustration. They can be whipped off in minutes, and quickly show whether or not a layout is likely to look good. Generally artists try to avoid showing uninitiated clients these drawings as they can easily be mistaken […]

Another group of illustrations (or parts of illustrations) I’m doing for John Chadwell’s graphic novel Werewolves of New Idria which will be published by Moonstone Books. ===================== Duncan Long is a freelance book illustrator whose artwork has appeared in publications from HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, Fort Ross, and many other publishers and […]

Just got word of a nice interview appearing at the Sci-Fi Art Now blog for an upcoming ILEX book (published in the UK with US distribution) which I have some science fiction illustrations in. Nice way to start the week. The whole interview is here… And here are my previous posts about the upcoming Sci-Fi […]

Another round of graphic excerpts from John Chadwell’s graphic novel Werewolves of New Idria (Moonstone Books). Each of these is actually just a part of the page from the books (as I don’t want to ruin the complete picture for readers). As can be seen, these are a part of the progression through WWII and […]