Book Cover Illustrations

Here’s the cover illustration I created for James Diffin’s new science fiction/fantasy/action-adventure novel The Silent Call. The author wanted to picture a pivotal scene in the novel where the hero (John Ryder, a young American chess grand master) discovers there may be a modern-day Merlin in his life, with the magician taking the hero to […]

Sometimes I discover a variety of tidbits that aren’t quite enough for a blog entry, but which I suspect will be of interest to those connected to the publishing industry. So… Authors can now autograph their Kindlel ebooks for fans — via KindleGraph. Authors may sign onto the service via Twitter accounts or set up […]

The last few days have been busy for the flying monkeys at the Duncan Long Studio, with six (count ’em, six) new illustrations looking for a book or magazine story to illustrate. Three in the fantasy category, two horror, and one that is… well, just pretty. Fans from way back may recognize that “Artifacts” and […]

I was recently contacted by Spanish author Richard Falken about creating a pair of covers for his upcoming adventure series. The writer had a limited budget for his covers and was wondering if I’d consider creating a single illustration and then letting him use it for the first two books in the series, perhaps with […]

I’m often asked how I create my book cover artwork and magazine illustrations. So I decided to write a little about that in this post (and also to create a reference page for folks asking this question in the future). First off, while I try to achieve a traditional, painterly look with much of my […]

Here’s a novel written for those wanting to know what it’s like to have a sociopath in your love life. Yes, I did the cover illustration. Perhaps the book’s author knew about my sociopathic tendencies. A Life Lived Ridiculously can be purchased from the author’s website www.ridiculouslife.net, or through Amazon or through Barnes & Noble. […]

As noted in a previous post, the average book printed by a large publisher averages about 40 percent returns from book stores and other sellers in the USA. In other words, for every 100 books printed by a big press, on an average only 60 are sold. What happens to the other 40 percent? Oddly […]

Some time back book author and screen writer John Chadwell sent me a photo (above) that I thought I’d share. As you can see, he’s standing in front of the book and graphic novel covers I created for his action-adventure novel and graphic novel. And, yes, that’s his Facebook page showing there on the monitor […]

Jenna Elizabeth Johnson regularly interviews book illustrators (and authors) at her blog. Here’s her interview of me. Thanks, Jenna! ==================== Duncan Long creates book covers artwork and cover illustrations for self-publishing authors and indie publishers as well as larger established presses like HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Moonstone Books, Pocket Books, and Enslow Publishers. You can see […]

I recently had a request from a friend to post one of my illustrations that I did for a children’s book Witches and Fish: A Parable of Dreams. The book was basically written for the child in me, with no real plans to ever market it in a serious way, in large part because while […]