Book Cover Illustrations

Over the last week one of my book cover projects has been creating the cover for Joan of Arc: The Mystic Legacy by Marcia Quinn Noren. This carefully documented non-fiction book takes a new look at some of the history and experiences behind Joan of Arc.

As such, it was important to take pains in getting the sword and armor as accurate as possible for the cover. The other consideration was to capture the almost magical feel that some of the historic stories about Joan contain.

In an effort to give if a bit of a supernatural feel as well as connect it to her Christian roots, I boosted the outlining in the picture just a tad and used a black outline around the lettering to give things (I hope) somewhat of a stained glass window look that can often be seen in older European church windows.

(Here’s close up of a stained glass window in the Chappel of Eyneburg, Belgium that shows the “black outline” of the leading. |Photo by Lusitana].)

I choose the typeface for the cover with an eye toward making it close to the historic period as possible while also being easily read by a modern audience. I also wanted a typeface that wasn’t too obtrusive, capable of giving a flavor but then “vanishing” as the viewer read the text. The best choice proved to be the “Centaur” typeface, modeled after Venetian typefaces from the late 1400s.

My first attempt at the book cover illustration created the face and armor that would eventually find its way to the final version. I used blue “night view” coloring plus some blur/glowing to make it appear as if her armor glistens in the moonlight.

One problem. As anyone with a little physics or astronomy under their belt can see, unless Joan is standing on her head, or is dwelling on a large satellite circling our Moon, I painted the Lunar landscape upside down. Flipping the image of the moon didn’t work, looking quite awkward.

And a full moon hinted at a vampire or werewolf story. So the moon had to go.

But the arch idea worked, so I replaced the moon with a stone archway, making it very ornate to offset the plain finish of her “White Armor.”

The archway worked. The scarf (despite the notion that a splash of red should work) did not. It would vanish from here on during the next few updates.

At this point the expression on the face needed to be modified. Fortunately a digital painting allows for a wide range of expressions so I created f few possibilities — the picture on the lower right was the final version (however we may still make some changes with the lips and hair as there’s some concern she’s looks too contemporary).

Once the facial expression was settled on, I put things together, painted in the stars, and added the metallic “moon glow” that seems to capture the spirit of the book so well. Additionally everything was shifted toward the blue end of the spectrum for a moonlight effect, even though the moon is no longer in sight.

We may still make more changes. But for now, this is the final version of the illustration:

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When he’s not fussing with historic typefaces and armor for his book covers, or posing as Joan of Arc’s horse, Duncan Long generally can be found painting book illustrations for presses and self-publishing authors. You can see more of his book cover designs and illustrations at Duncan’s Portfolio
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