Color illustrations on the inner pages of books can be expensive. Consequently, many inner illustrations for books are black and white (actually “gray scale” the two terms are interchangeable for most users today). Black and white pictures can be tricky because there are no longer colors to separate objects in the picture from the background and so forth.

While working on Richard Thieme’s new book Mind Games, I tried a process that I’d pioneered in one of my previous books (Lightning Wars).

Basically each entails creating a digitally painted illustration and then processing it to look somewhat like a pencil sketch or (in some cases) a cross between a pencil sketch and an inked drawing (perhaps what would result if the artist first penciled in his design and then inked over it — something I did for illustrations not that long ago). And then — this part is the work — touching up and reworking the whole picture so it looks right.

Anyway… Both the author and I were very happy with the results, and I thought I’d give a few sneak previews here of what’s in store with Thieme’s new book.

============
Duncan Long is a freelance magazine and book cover illustrator for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, American Media, Fort Ross, Asimov’s Science Fiction, and many other publishers. See more of Duncan’s book cover illustrations at: DuncanLong.com