Book Cover Illustrations

I completed the book cover illustration and lettering/layout for R. P. Tedlie’s Isabel’s Tears a few days ago. While the initial publication will be in the Kindle format (which is grayscale), we went ahead and created a hi-resolution color version so the author would be ready for traditional printing should he decide to go that […]

The picture above was created for the cover of Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel’s book, The Spiritual Journey of Psalm 23. This is the second cover I’ve done for Samuel. Recently he found one of my illustrations at my web site that he liked, and we built on that concept using his choice of colors and […]

During my career I’ve worked with and for all sorts of publishers, from the giants like HarperCollins to mid-sized operations like Paladin Press to small presses and self publishers. I even have my own “press” that puts out a title now and then. I’ve enjoyed all the work and worked with a lot of enjoyable […]

The first half of 2010 has been busy, with many self-publishing authors and small presses realizing that in order to compete with big presses, a quality cover illustration can be key in attracting buyers. On the “established press” side of things, I’ve also been busy, currently finishing up a collection of illustrations for a graphic […]

A few months back, I had the honor of creating a book cover for Douglas E. Richards‘ The Devil’s Sword. (For those unfamiliar with Richards, suffice to say he’s the proverbial “up and coming author.” He was recently selected to co-panel a discussion group at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International. To give you some […]

I thought perhaps I’d been a little hard on Corel in a previous post. So, having heard nice things about Draw X5 (I’m currently using version 8), I decided to take the newer version for a spin. OK… You can probably guess where this story is headed. But just in case… I plunked down my […]

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. […]

It is one thing to self-publish. Quite another to make money at it. Many beginners assume that if they right the book about the better mouse trap, the world will beat a path to their door. Sadly, that seldom happens. There are three things a title needs to succeed in today’s marketplace: Promotion, promotion, promotion. […]

Over the years I’ve found that sometimes, at least with artistic conundrums, the best solution is to run away. Let me explain. Sometimes in writing, illustration, or composing music, the artist manages to paint himself into a corner. The sentence that was going so well suddenly comes to a phrase that doesn’t have a good […]

From time to time beginning illustrators contact me to ask whether Photoshop or Corel Painter is the better choice for digital illustration work. I think in fact there’s no wrong choice to make. After an artist gets used to the digital “landscape” of a program and using a tablet (I recommend Wacom tablets, by the […]