Book Cover Illustrations

Some very amazing book cover artwork owes a lot of its magic to the very subtle glow from metal or other flat surfaces. And more than one UFO or ghost has become a bit more frightening due to the glimmer emanating from its surface. Translating this magic to book or magazine artwork can be tricky […]

Here’s the new book cover illustration I just completed for C.A. Dawson’s Frozen in Time. The final version also has a distant spaceship (missing from this version) and a few other modifications here and there. ===================== Duncan Long is a freelance book cover illustrator for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, Fort Ross, and […]

I just completed the book cover illustration for Dora Machado’s Stonewiser III, available from Mermaid Press later this year (or possibly early 2011). Machado’s first two book (which I also had the pleasure of creating book cover illustrations for) have garnered a number of awards, and everyone’s hopeful for this third book in the trilogy. […]

From time to time folks ask for advice about getting into the illustration business. I might not be the best person to ask since I sort of came in through the back door, starting as a writer/illustrator who could “package” his own technical books so the publisher didn’t need to hire a photographer or illustrator […]

Second opinions can be good. They can also be disastrous. When it comes to second opinions, sometimes an illustrator’s clients can be the client’s own worse enemies. That’s the reason I always shudder when I hear a client start a statement with, “I asked my [son, secretary, neighbor] what they thought about the book illustration […]

Sneak preview of the cover I completed this week for R. Thomas Roe’s Palm Beach Gold. ===================== Duncan Long is a freelance book cover illustrator and layout artist for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, Fort Ross, and many other publishers and self-publishing authors. See his cover illustrations at: http://DuncanLong.com/art.html =====================

Book cover illustration and cover design/layout for Dr. David Gelber’s soon-to-be-released Joshua and Aaron (Book Two in the series). In creating this cover, our first thrust was to offer a view of a human card player and only death’s hand and cards showing. Logically this made the most sense since readers tend to identify with […]

It’s usually easy to visualize what a book cover illustration should look like. And going into a project it’s always good to have an idea of what the outcome should be. Otherwise, like someone lost in the wilderness, you go in circles without positive results. However when followed too closely, a concept for an illustration […]

From time to time I am contacted by people who have been touched by my artwork, often seeing things in my illustrations that I aimed to share — or hadn’t intended, at least on a conscious level. They share stories of joy and hope, and sometimes of sorrows and hurt. It’s amazing how many of […]

A recent illustration (as of yet, without a home) created as a pseudo myth: The Great Father Paints the Sky and Stars. I painted the silhouette of a Native American medicine man as the Great Father and then created a starry sky (somewhat as what might be seen in deep space). I think this conjunction […]