Book Cover Illustrations

I’ve been in the publishing industry for several decades now, and have seen some amazing changes. When I started, anyone with reasonable talent could get into print with a big publisher. Not so anymore. Another change is the lack of promotion new books now get today. Most publishers — big and small — budget little […]

Another illustration that does not yet have a home… Needless to say, all book cover, magazine, CD, poster, and other rights are available for this illustration (on a first-come, first-served basis). Art critics and teachers often claim that good artwork should avoid being symmetrical and that off-balanced pictures are more interesting to the eye. I […]

As readers of my past posts know, I occasionally work as a graphic designer, laying out books I create illustrations for. One such book was Richard Thieme’s Mind Games which I also “published” under my Duncan Long Publications imprint. With all the work that went into this book, it is a bit nearer and dearer […]

I’m often asked how in the world I can produce so many illustrations — and one questioner recently suggested perhaps I started my career at age three. That may not be far off the mark. My parents can attest that I did start at about three, but it was more caveman sketching on my poor […]

You’ve got a great book idea. You’ve got your manuscript finished and polished (and if it isn’t near perfect, stop reading now and come back when your manuscript is as close to flawless as is humanly possible for you to make it). Now what? How do you get that manuscript into print? Right at the […]

This is the original background concept art for the final Tree Clan painting (mentioned previously in this blog). Actually, this is several concept art paintings overlaid. The back layer is the “starscape” of major stars and stellar dust, another the trees and bridges, one of the small figures, another of the distant monolithic structures, and […]

At least in the US, the “book return” policy of most large publishers is unlike anything in most other industries. The practice started in the Great Depression here in the US and made it possible for book sellers to sell books without fear of losing their money. It worked well in the 1930s, but has […]