Book Cover Illustrations

This is the concept art I did to create the background for my Tree Clan illustration. Actually, it’s two or three sketches combines… First, I got the sky figured out, then a separate layer forming the tree-like structures and bridges, another for the small figures standing on the structure (useful for giving it some “scale” […]

As can likely be seen by studying some of my previous posts, I’ve been working on creating “starscapes” of cultures that might (in a science fiction sort of way) exist far from Earth. This is my latest exercise (and another book cover illustration without a home) that I hope will eventually be employed for a […]

One of the neat things about illustrations is that they can leave a little — or a lot — for the viewer’s imagination to “fill in.” Possibly this is one reason that an illustration can be more real and moving than a very precise digital recreation or photo which may offer more realism, yet be […]

I came into the magazine and book illustration business through the back door, first working as a writer/illustrator, creating drawings of things that couldn’t be easily photographed as well as the artwork for black and white advertisements for the books I sold through my own mail order company. Eventually I was selling writing and illustrating […]

A couple more B&W digital drawings to give a “world premier.” Hopefully this type of drawing skill can soon be put to use for illustration work with magazines and books. ================== See more of my digital drawings for books and magazine illustration at: Duncan Long’s Drawings and Paintings.

The Hubble telescope has given mankind a taste of what space looks like, from exploding galaxies to beautiful dust nebulae. And graphic artists often use these pictures as references for creating the look of deep space, especially for science fiction book covers and similar illustrations and artwork. This is my latest exercise in painting a […]

Space surfing… Riding the wake of energy released from a ship dropping out of hyperspace… Doubtful physics, but fun to think about what such a surf board might look and how it would need to have its own (here invisible) bubble of gravity and atmosphere. I went ahead and gave it the ability to conform […]

I’ve recently started an illustration project that will create character portraits and other artwork for John Chadwell’s book Werewolves of New Idria (which is also becoming a screenplay that Chadwell is coauthoring with Ron Shusett, the writer/creator of the Alien franchise as well as Total Recall). The basic plot follows several characters through history, from […]

Here’s somewhat of a departure (pun intended – “All aboard!”). This has more emphasis on a mechanical figure rather than the human figure. The picture was pretty bland without the lighting and atmospheric effects; painting in the headlight and fog proved pretty fast and gives it a rather ominous feel, I think. (Horror book cover, […]

Nothing is quite as sad as watching a quality book cover illustration be slowly butchered.