Book Cover Illustrations

I got word today that Douglas E. Richards’ techno-thriller Wired has been getting “crazy-positive reviews.”

To build up even more interest, the price on the Kindle version is being temporarily lowered to 99 cents — but only for a limited time.

So if you want to pick up a real bargain and have a lot of reading for the buck, now’s the time to head on over to Amazon.com to pick up the Kindle edition of the book.

At 99 cents, it’s hard to go wrong. But buy it now because the price isn’t likely to remain this low for long.

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Illustrator Duncan Long has created over a thousand illustrations that have appeared in books and magazines — including the cover illustration for Wired. See more of his book cover artwork in Duncan’s Portfolio.
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I was asked late yesterday to do another cover illustration for Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine. This will make my third cover with the publication :o) Can’t say more about the project now but I am pushing a deadline.

Shown above is the illustration I created for the December 2009 issue of Asimov’s. And below is the illustration for the May 2010 issue.

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In addition to creating cover illustrations for Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine, Duncan Long has created artwork for a number of other presses including HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Moonstone Books, Enslow Publishers, and many other publishers as well as self-publishing authors. You can see more of his book and magazine cover illustrations at Duncan’s Illustration Portfolio
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I’ve been busy updating my book cover illustration portfolio (or perhaps “art galleries” is a better term for the maze of pictures I’ve created).

“Under the Triple Suns” is an illustration aimed at rounding out my portfolio just a bit. As such it’s also a speculative “book cover” that as yet doesn’t have a client interested in buying the illustration. It’s been my experience that such artwork eventually finds a home, and thus makes a good investment of time and effort.

Plus it is fun to create artwork just for the sake of creating it.

And it’s always also enjoyable seeing what book or magazine cover such work ends up on.

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When not painting book cover illustrations for his own amusement, Duncan Long creates artwork for a number pf presses including HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Moonstone Books, Enslow Publishers, and many other publishers as well as self-publishing authors. You can see more of his book cover illustrations at Duncan’s Book Cover Illustration Portfolio
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Knights of the Chosen -- final book cover illustration.

Lawrence P. White’s science fiction novel Knights of the Chosen series (which I did the book cover illustration for — shown above) is now available in Kindle format from Amazon.com.

The second in the Spirit of Empire series, this epic tale offers another good read. Check it out. If you like science fiction, you’ll enjoy this series.

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Duncan Long is a book cover illustrator who has done work for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, ILEX, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Moonstone Books, Enslow Publishers, and many other presses and self-publishing authors. You can see more of his book illustrations at Duncan Long’s Book Cover Illustration Portfolio
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Carol Jackson’s Angel Unawares, A Novel is now available for sale at Barnes and Noble. Carol works in a TV studio, and part of her story takes place in a studio, giving the reader some behind-the-scenes insights into the workings and politics of a station.

Yes, I created the book cover artwork and cover design.

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Duncan Long is a book cover illustrator who loves his work. You can view more of his artwork at Duncan Long’s Book Cover Portfolio
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Here’s the going-to-print version of Book I: The Adventures of Dod by Thomas R. Williams. As readers may notice, the typefaces have undergone another transformation from those shown in my previous post about this book cover. The front cover illustration has remained pretty much the same with a “cut out” of the character’s head going over the title.

Because some books are displayed in bookstores with only their spine showing, the publisher took advantage of the high page count of this book, placing a small crop taken from the front illustration on the spine.

Nice.
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Duncan Long spends most of his waking hours drawing on a digital tablet. He frequently is forced to take a short break to prune the tendrils from his posterior to avoid becoming rooted to his chair. More of his book cover illustrations can be found in his Portfolio
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I have a nice interview by Dara Girard about my book cover illustration work (as well as my writing and music); you can read it at the Novelists, Inc. Blog.

The interview was a lot of fun and the result is one of those ego-boosting bits of recognition that artists seem to need in order to thrive at what they do.

Enough gloating.

Back to work.

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When not gloating over his interviews, Duncan Long actually does a little work, creating book cover illustrations for a number pf presses including HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Moonstone Books, Enslow Publishers, and many other publishers as well as self-publishing authors. You can see more of his book cover illustrations at Duncan’s Book Cover Illustration Portfolio
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This was my weekend project — a speculative “book cover” that as yet doesn’t have a client interested in buying the illustration. But hopefully before too long it will find a buyer (and my experience has been that such artwork eventually finds a home — and I also have a whole lot of fun creating illustrations with no restraints as to subject matter, layout, and so forth).

If you’re in a betting mood, I would bet this one might appeal someone needing a horror book cover illustration. What? No one wants to bet?

My basic premise in creating this illustration was that Jack the Ripper might be one of those serial killers that, when you passed him on the street, might seem somewhat sinister, but otherwise appeared normal, was well dressed, and was very polite.

Perhaps.

And likely his victims might debate the “polite” part.

I should note that the future victim in this artwork is portrayed looking skyward for a reason. My thought was to create an “innocent” look, as if the young lady was a sacrificial victim, bound to a pole, looking toward Heaven. I added a slight glow to the top of the column, hopefully giving it a somewhat magical look as well. Perhaps my recent work on Joan of Arc has influenced me here. Regardless, hopefully this somewhat unorthodox pose adds a little interest if not a twist to the historic tale of terror created by the criminal known as Jack the Ripper.

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When not daydreaming about Jack the Ripper, Duncan Long creates book cover illustrations for a number pf presses including HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Moonstone Books, Enslow Publishers, and many other publishers as well as self-publishing authors. You can see more of his book cover illustrations at Duncan’s Book Cover Illustration Portfolio
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Just thought I’d quickly post the finalized version of Joan of Arc (for Marcia Quinn Noren’s Joan of Arc: The Mystic Legacy).

The key change from previous versions is in her hair. The razor-cut look I’d originally given her looked a bit too much like a punk (or to some goth) hairdo.

After a whole lot of wheel spinning on my part, creating new hair that just didn’t work well, I finally realized the only change that simply smoothing the halo edges of her hair was the way to go (this is called the “Oh, Duh, Factor”). That small change did the trick.

Now, Joan won’t be mistaken for the barbarian Thervingi or Greuthungi.

I hope.

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When he’s not fussing over the hairdos of historic figures on book covers, Duncan Long paints book cover 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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I just completed the artwork on book two in the The Adventures of Dod series of YA fantasy novels written by Thomas R. Williams. Like the first book, one of the key features in this illustration was the glowing sword; this time the weapon is held in the hands of a mysterious, hooded figure.

The process of creating this book cover illustration started with something akin to beating our plowshares into swords; I used my painting of a monk holding a crucifix as the jumping off point for this new picture, giving the character in this new picture a smooth-shaven chin (which is barely visible) and exchanging the cross for a sword which had some extra glistening and glow added to it once it was in place.

The sword in the story is made of a crimson metal, so it was necessary to add some reddish glow to the blade; this turned out to be a little tricky since too much red appeared to be poorly painted blood on the blade — not the look the publisher was wanting. So we ended adding more glow and less red to the picture to give it a suitable appearance.

The publisher again needed a wrap-around cover, so I painted a second similar archway for the back (shown on the left, below). A potted plant was in the scenery within the story, so that got added to fill the space in the archway. Finally, new stonework was painted into the center to provide a more neutral background for the spine lettering. And like much of the other stonework throughout this piece, was created with an eye toward an uneven, hand-built look for the masonry.

And with minor adjustments here and there, the cover was pretty much completed.

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Duncan Long is a freelance book cover illustrator. You can see more of his book cover illustrations at Duncan’s Portfolio.
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