Book artwork for the crime novel cover of Dale Allan book It Could Happen to You

Here’s the book illustration I finished this week for the cover of Dale Allan’s crime novel It Could Happen to You.

The author wanted a realistic picture of a lonely mountain road where a bit of violence takes place at the beginning of the story.

My original layout had the limo grill facing the viewer with the wrecked motorcycle in the foreground. The author wasn’t completely satisfied with this, so we worked from a sketch he supplied.

Normally putting the three vehicles in a row like this would be a design no-no (and — okay — likely still is). But the realism of the picture seemed to let us get away with the layout. I also employed some mountain peaks in the distance as well as the nearer mountain valley a bit closer to break up the horizontal lines as well as “point” toward the wrecked motorcycle. And while the grass I painted into the foreground is more or less straight across, the blades angle off which somehow seems to work in breaking up the horizontal feel (at least at higher resolutions).

Muting and darkening the blood made it less garish and steered it away from a “horror movie” look. Even though the scene happens in the day, I darkened the whole picture down to hopefully make the overall feel even more ominous. Somehow I think the smashed bike between two pristine vehicles also adds an ominous feel (for reasons I can’t put my finger on), especially since there are no human figures to be seen.

There you have it. Another book illustration ready to go.

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When not staging traffic accidents for book covers, Duncan Long works as a magazine and book illustrator, with illustrations appearing in publications from HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Ballistic Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, Fort Ross, Moonstone Books, and many other publishers and self-publishing authors. See Long’s book illustrations and artwork at: http://DuncanLong.com/art.html
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