Book Cover Illustrations

This is the polished book cover illustration for R. Thomas Roe’s action-adventure novel Searching for America. We’re rounding up the text for the back cover and its pretty much laid out (being proofed as I type this). Will post the front/spine/back cover when it is finalized…

Readers can find more of my cover illustrations for books and magazines at: Duncan’s Book Cover Portfolio
=====================

The growing number of self-published authors and small presses has been fretted over by many in the publishing industry. Their fear/argument has been that in the past big publishers acted as gatekeepers to preserve the quality of books. They rejected poorly written work and maintained the quality of books being produced — so the argument went.

And without that gatekeeper in place, the fear was that anything could and would go into print and this anything-goes marketplace would make it impossible for buyers to determine which book was a quality read, and which would be a waste of their money.

But readers aren’t dumb.

Consumers learn quickly how best to spend their cash.

So book buyers quickly found a new gatekeeper. And this system works pretty well most of the time.

The new gatekeeper is the cover on the book. Yes, people really are judging books by their covers these days.

The quality of any given book cover tips off readers as to what the quality of the text is likely to be. A good cover almost always means a quality book is inside; a cheesy cover says there’s the high likelihood of marginal writing ahead.

This system works. Those who have the money to edit a book and who are willing to bet it will be a success also shell out the cash for a quality cover.

Publishers who slap dash their title together, who don’t want to invest time and money in creating a polished interior, will also generally cut corners on the cover work.

Buyers know this instinctively and thus seldom bother with examining a book beyond its cover (unless they recognize the author’s name or the title is super-attractive to them).

That said, a self-publisher is better served with just a nice typeface on a solid background rather than a marginal illustration or photo-stock that has little to do with the subject matter of the book. Type on a dark color can be classy and will at least make the potential buyer examine the book a little more closely to see whether or not it might be a good read.

And shelling out a little cash for a quality illustration, especially with works of fiction, can serve you even better.

Think carefully about the cover you’ll have on your book, because it’s how your book will be judged by potential buyers.

=====================
Need a quality cover illustration? I’d like to help you. Check out my book cover portfolio of my illustrations and book cover layout work to see if my style fits your needs. I love creating book cover illustrations and hope you’ll give me a chance to help you with your book project.

=====================

One of this week’s projects: a sketch (not quite polished) for R. Thomas Roe’s novel Searching for America. Set in the near future, this action-adventure story promises to be a good read.

See more of my book cover illustrations at: Duncan’s Book Cover Illustrations Portfolio
=====================

This is a very early digital illustration I created, and one that demonstrated to me the potential of digital artwork. As such it became one of those roadway signs that sent me down a highway that might otherwise have remained undiscovered.

It’s odd how the picture of barbed wire and a defiant fist present a compelling illustration that appeals universally to something within the human psyche. People want to be free, and the horrors of human beings in prison camps stir the emotions.

The illustration has been used in a variety of ways, including as a cover on a Jewish book dealing with the Holocaust (and sadly I’ve lost track of the title — possibly The Sheol Project — and author of this book…feedback would be greatly appreciated). The illustration also appeared at several US POW web sites.

The title: “Never Again.”

=====================
Duncan Long is a book artist and illustrator who has created book cover artwork for Pocket Books, HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Moonstone Books, ILEX, and many self-published authors. See more of his book cover artwork and illustrations at: Duncan’s Book Cover Illustrations and Graphic Artwork
=====================

John Chadwell got an interesting interview and write up about our upcoming graphic novel The Werewolves of New Idria in the Hollister Freelance newspaper.

The twist here is that the paper is close to New Idria where the final climatic scene is set. Hopefully the locals don’t get too spooked by the story :o)

=====================
Duncan Long is the graphic novel illustrator for The Werewolves of New Idria. He has also illustrated book covers for PS Publishing, Pocket Books, HarperCollins, and many self-published authors. See more of Duncan’s book cover artwork and graphic novel illustrations at: Duncan’s Book Cover Illustrations and Graphic Novel Artwork
=====================

Received this photo of a jolly John Chadwell standing in front of the book cover and graphic novel cover I created for him.

And, yes, that’s his Facebook page showing there on the monitor at the lower right.

John has a lot to smile about. His scripts for both stories are now making the rounds in Hollywood.

We’re all crossing our fingers that Hunt of the Seawolves and The Werewolves of New Idria will soon be coming to a theater near you.

(You may also wish to see some of the artwork that went into the graphic novel version of The Werewolves of New Idria.)

=====================
Duncan Long is a novel cover artist and graphic novel illustrator with book cover artwork appearing with PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Moonstone Books, HarperCollins, and many self-published authors. See more of Duncan’s book cover artwork and graphic novel illustrations at: Duncan’s Book Cover Illustrations and Graphic Novel Artwork
=====================

One of this week’s projects, the cover illustration and design for Linda Franklin’s Rainbow in the Flames, a true story of tragedy turned into triumph through the love and perseverance.

The tricky part of this cover proved to be arranging the rainbow so it would cross the spine, show on the front in the proper place to join the flame, but still not interfere with the lettering on the spine or back.

By holding my tongue just right while working, I managed to get it right.

Although it doesn’t show on this small reproduction of the cover, I also created a tiny logo for Rainbow Heart Publications, a rainbow over a golden heart.

=====================
Duncan Long is a book artist and illustrator who has created book cover artwork for PS Publishing, Pocket Books, HarperCollins, and many self-published authors. See more of his book cover artwork and illustrations at: Duncan’s Book Cover Illustrations and Graphic Artwork
=====================

Moonstone Books recently released the covers for the comics and graphic novels it will release this upcoming July. Among the group slated for July release are a couple of installments of Buckaroo Banzai along with That Man Flint and the Spider. And, yes, even a new series Zombies vs. Cheerleaders that seems to have something for everyone.

And also among the titles is Werewolves of New Idria the graphic novel I illustrated last year (which was written by John Chadwell). That’s right, our graphic novel is now making its way through layout, editing, and marketing.

What amazing company it is keeping.

Years ago, had someone suggested someday a project I was involved with might rub shoulders with Buckaroo Banzai or That Man Flint — will, I would have wished it might be so, perhaps would have hoped it could happen, but in the end would have dismissed it as the proverbial impossible dream.

I can remember as a kid on through my adult life pouring over comic books from time to time and enjoying the artwork they offered. And I have always enjoyed creating artwork. Yet the thought of actually producing a comic book of any sort just seemed impossible.

It still has a certain dream-like unreality to it.

But if all goes well, this July will see another impossible dream come true.

=====================
Duncan Long is a book artist and illustrator who created the illustrations for Werewolves of New Idria as well as artwork for book covers from PS Publishing, HarperCollins, Pocket Books, and many self-published authors. See more of his book cover artwork and illustrations at: Duncan’s Book Cover Artwork and Illustrations
=====================

Dr. David Gelber sent word that his book Behind the Mask: The Mystique of Surgery and the Surgeons Who Perform Them is now available at Amazon.com.

Normally operating rooms are brightly light, so things were a little tricky with this cover because the central figure tended to get lost in the background. Finally I hit upon using a black background with a bright light on the surgeon. It shouldn’t have worked, yet was one of those happy moments when everything unexpectedly worked well. The result was a picture with the whole attention focused on the surgeon, isolated and alone, in perfect keeping with the subject of the book

As for the book, well…. It’s a book about surgery by a surgeon — can’t get any closer to the subject than that. An eye-opening book for many, I suspect.
=====================
Duncan Long creates book cover illustrations for many self-publishing authors as well as HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, ISFiC Press, and many other publishers. You can view other of his book illustrations at: Duncan’s Book Cover Illustration Portfolio
=====================

Here’s the finished book cover illustration and layout for R.S. Guthrie’s novel Black Beast.

This project allowed the creation of another “contrasts” illustration involving a priest (different novels, but both central characters are Roman Catholic priests). In this case the evil is pretty apparent, and obviously provides the main contrast to the priest who’s unaware of the demon like creature watching him.

However since the character is armed with a cross/dagger in the story, I used it for another good/evil contrast by placing the dagger on the table so it is upside down to the viewer (to my mind that represents evil – perhaps not to all viewing the illustration). The placement also allows it to “point” toward the fiend rising up out of the smoke drifting off the book page.

Finally a lot of contrasts with light and shadows, traditionally often representing good/evil in Western thought.

The figure of the priest is based on an earlier illustration I did (posting it on my web site where Guthrie saw it when searching for a book cover illustrator for his upcoming book) and also served as my FaceBook profile picture for a time (since it is somewhat of a self portrait) Basically the new illustration kept the original figure pretty much the same with a black jacket being painted over the original white shirt. From there I “tailored” things so the garb resembled that of a priest. A spike dagger and the Black Beast were then created and painted into place for the final layout.

Guthrie’s book is headed for Kindle distribution, so it should be available soon; I’ll likely create another post about it when it becomes available. Below is an earlier version of the picture (with the demon on the left rather than right of the picture, created during a test build of the book to see how the cover would look on the Kindle viewer).

(The original Black Beast cover sketch is in the next blog entry below.)

=====================
Duncan Long is a book cover illustrator for ILEX, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Fort Ross, HarperCollins, and many, many self-published writers. See more of his book cover artwork and illustrations at: Book Cover Artwork and Illustrations
=====================