Book Cover Illustrations

Several yeasr ago I Ben Bova’s book about writing. As a professional and very successful sci-fi writer, Bova had some surprising advice: Never join a small writing group (unless it was being taught by a professional writer). Second, don’t allow your friends or family members give you advice unless they were really skilled writers themselves.

His reason was that most writing groups composed of amateurs are apt to give bad advice and/or be jealous and thereby tear down anyone with talent. In the end a would-be writer in such a group was apt to get discouraged and quit, or adopt poor advice that would actually hamstring his efforts. Instead, Bova suggested just ignoring critics whose advice you didn’t value, study the writing of good writers, and follow your own inclinations without bothering to see what your “peers” think about what you’re doing.

I have found this applies to artwork as well. While it is rare, I have had the misfortune to work on book cover projects where an author started asking friends, neighbors, and the family cat what they thought needed to be changed with a cover illustration. Fortunately this is rare. But when it happens, it is tragic to watch a good cover go downhill. Death by committee.

A lot of input from well-meaning folks can be anything but artistically valid. Most has negative merit

I suppose bad decisions due to majority rule is one of the terrors of a democratic society. The mistake in thinking is that if the right to vote applies to political decisions, it should be equally good at determining artistic direction.

But it seldom is. Basically it means that the direction of the creation is in the hands of the lowest common denomination within the group making “democratic” decisions.

I realize that art is always in danger of becoming a badge of elitism, as modern classical music did during the 20th Century with more and more music being produced for fewer and fewer listeners (while garage bands sold millions of records with music played to often by out-of-tune guitars).

But good art direction demands dictatorship and a willingness to go the course alone.

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Duncan Long is a freelance book cover illustrator 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
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Here’s another illustration “The Last Leaf of Autumn.” Done for my personal enjoyment, it’s currently book cover artwork looking for a home.

I always find it interesting wondering when these “for fun” pieces will be purchased and what sort of story they’ll illustrate.

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Duncan Long is a freelance book illustrator whose artwork has been used by HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, Fort Ross, Ilex, and many other publishers and self-publishing authors. See his cover illustrations at: http://DuncanLong.com/art.html
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I got a fantastic interview by Bob Heske at Investcomics.com.

The interview pretty much covers my publishing career to date, including the books I’ve written (and often illustrated) as well as the illustration work I’m currently doing. Included is some new information about the new graphic novel The Werewolves of New Idria that I’m illustrating.

I’m not normally a big celebrator of Halloween (funny face notwithstanding), but in keeping with the holiday season, I decided to create a picture of the Tooth Fairy.

No, not that kindly gentle lady who leaves a quarter under the pillow.

This is her evil twin sister.

It’s interesting how some of the things of childhood lend themselves to being twisted from good to evil. evil clowns and monstrous Santas are pretty common. The Tooth Fairy has been maligned some. The Easter Bunny might be next.

In the meantime, I’m hoping some horror writing will gain an interest in buying the book rights to this picture — which just happen to be available.

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Duncan Long is a freelance book cover illustrator 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
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The brain tends to simplify memory storage needs by employing “icons” of images we see. This is what causes confusion when one is confronted with an actual object that hasn’t been seen for many years. The icon and the actual thing can be subtly different. The lamp we are sure is brass with a green shade may be stored in our brain as such — only the real thing may be stainless steel with a blue shade.

The confusion results due to the iconic storage; the icon is a simplified version, with our mind filling in the details as an overlay on top of that icon when we recall it. The catch is that sometimes these details aren’t accurate even when the iconic portions of the memory are. (I suspect this may be how paintings work as well. The broad strokes are similar to the iconic elements in our memories, and our brain is used to “filling in the details” so that paintings often become “more real” than photos to us.)

Normally the iconic storage works well for us, allowing quick recall of memories. Under ideal conditions, it causes little confusion and everything runs smoothly. But the system is subject to glitches and what seems perfectly stored may in truth be less than correct. Thus the confusion that results with eye witnesses in the courtroom. One man’s overlay on an icon may be different from that of the next witness.

Since these glitches must appear with great regularity, it seems likely that at least on the subconscious level, we must tend to overlook the “mistakes” and glitches in iconic overlays. Thus we may very well be blind to our own mental blind spots.

That said, it is possible to trick a person into thinking their iconic overlay memory must be in error and thus cause them to accept something quite different from their memory of it — especially if you’ve got another task (like reading a map) distracting them. Here’s a good demonstration of how even the substitution of a completely different person can go undetected by manipulating this feature of the human memory: Person Swapping Video
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When not pondering his iconic memory overlays, Duncan Long is a freelance book cover illustrator 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
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I’ve been getting emails warning of a coming “Government Censorship of the Internet” and threats of “Government Blacklisting.” Strong words there.

After reading about the proposed US bill “Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act,” I’m afraid I’m about 90 percent for the measure.

Here’s why.

The bill basically blocks US access to sites that are illegally posting books, artwork, and other copyrighted material for free download. In other words, the bill would allow blocking access to material that is illegally posted and breaking US copyright law. It’s the cyber equivalent of closing a store that sells only stolen merchandise.

Of course those running sites that allow the downloading of pirated materials will cry foul. Criminals always whine when they are prevented from making money illegally.

Yes, I do have a dog in this fight.

Piracy has really cut into my income over the last few years. Dingbats scan my books and put post the copies on the net for free download, often claiming they’re doing me a big favor.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the twisted logic, the pro-piracy crowd claims that free downloads of stolen software, books, movies, and so forth helps make an author or other creative person more popular. The theory is that they’ll sell more books, movies, or whatever due to increased exposure.

There’s an occasional story where this seems to have happened. But I’m here to tell you those success stories — if anything more than urban legends — are about as common as hen’s teeth.

With some of my own titles that have been pirated, I have watched firsthand the way it really works. It’s a real simple thing; from the time pirated copies of a book are posted, sales fall. Eventually Pakistan or some other third-world bootlegger prints knock-offs from the pirated copy posted on the Internet, and these print books are sold at slightly lower prices than legit print copies command (these cheaper prices are easy to achieve since editors and writers are out of the pay loop and the poor are exploited to work in the shops).

So those pirated copies that are supposed to help me become more popular and make lots more money actually leave me making very little once a title is pirated.

Does my new-found “popularity” from the pirated book help me?

Given that it takes so long to write a book and that most publishers judge whether or not to hire an author by past sales of previous titles, I’m less apt to get more books in print. The falling sales caused by the piracy, far from helping me, make me less apt to put more into print. My new-found popularity from the pirated books — if it was ever there at all – only hurts my chances of having more books published.

So piracy hurts the sales of the stolen title and also torpedoes any chance of being hired to write more books. And, insult to injury, the publishers who were kind enough to hire me for the book that’s been pirated get kicked in the teeth as well because their sales fall.

Much the same thing is currently starting to happen with my artwork. Some clown captures copies the posted picture and soon artists in a third world nation are being hired for pennies to make knock-off oil paintings of it for sale who knows where.

I hope you remember all this when some kid who likes to post pirated material online claims he’s helping the person who did all the work to create the book, movie, art, or music.

And I hope perhaps you can understand my lack of empathy for those poor companies who claim they might undergo hardships should the bill become law.

Frankly, the protests of the companies making these claims are mostly whine and little truth. All these sites that allow posting pirated books and such need to do is check to see whether the author or publisher are OK with the post. Most of the time that’s pretty obvious: If the poster isn’t connected to the publisher or author, you can be pretty sure it is an illegal post; if it’s someone posting books from three different publishers and pictures of their pet gerbil, you could place a bet it’s a pirated book.

It would take all of thirty seconds to check the email address and see the post is likely a pirated book, wouldn’t it?

It seems that these companies prefer to post stolen work and then claim, like Captain Renault in Casablanca “I’m shocked, shocked to find” people posted pirated material. Sort of like the pawn shop owner who day after day buys TV sets from some teenager only to claim to the police that it never occurred to him that the TV sets might be stolen.

The companies making these rip-offs so easy do little or nothing to police uploads or links to uploads. They make lots of money by offering stolen goods. To my mind, this makes them criminal operations.

So when such companies cry that they won’t be able to operate if the law goes into place, my response is that if that were true, it would serve them right. Why should I feel sorry if a business might be hurt by this new law when that business has all but destroyed the livelihood of creative people and publishers worldwide?

Yes, I hate the thought of the government controlling the net, but when lawless people operate with no regard to the rights of others, basically destroying the worth of intellectual property that people have worked long and hard to produce — for the enjoyment and education of others, no less — then government intervention is the only solution.

And if the bill gets passed, don’t blame the politicians or the publishers who are supporting the legislation. Put the blame where it belongs: With the crooks and thieves who’ve been copying and illegally posting pirated materials, and the businesses that look the other way to allow these postings.

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Duncan Long is an author and illustrator. See his illustrations at: http://DuncanLong.com/art.html
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I recently watched a video in which the speaker suggested that creative people could minimize some of the emotional upsets that seem to go hand-in-hand with the creative process by externalizing the source of their creativity. In other words, adopt the ancient notion that creativity came from the whisperings of a muse, not from the artist himself.

Of course this has always been a popular notion. And certainly when an idea rises from the murky depths of the subconscious through a chance combination of events, a dream, or similar surprise, there’s this feeling that the idea came from somewhere other than ourselves. Thus it isn’t surprising that the idea of the muse might seem logical to those whose world is populated with demons, spirits, and ghosts.

But I would argue that if an artist or writer externalizes the inspiration of their creativity, they give up some of their control of it. Instead of their subconscious mind working for them, they are waiting for inspiration.

Waiting for inspiration can be disastrous when it comes to creating. A firsthand example: In graduate school — I majored in music composition — we had an assignment to create a bit of music. Most of us retired to our pianos or other instrument of choice, and started plunking away, slowly organizing lose thoughts into thematic material. But one poor student went off to the woods to wait inspiration. And he waited, and waited. As far as I know, he might still be waiting.

A professional creative person quickly learns to “turn on” his creativity – or he goes into another line of work. There are tricks, endless tricks. One or another is plucked like a tool from a workbench and if all goes well, the creative process begins and eventually leads to something serviceable for the job — and occasionally may be an amazing bit to add to one’s portfolio.

But the creative work gets done.

If, on the other hand, I can blame my muse for not contributing something meaningful, then I am off the hook for being unproductive. Letting oneself off the hook basically makes it impossible to fix writer’s block or similar times when creativity is absent.

How can you control the actions of a nebulous muse? And how convenient for those who wish to be lazy.

A better solution would be to say, “Today I’m not creative – why is that?” and then devise ways to enhance creativity.

In the video the speaker told an amusing story about a guy who was struck by inspiration while driving in heavy traffic where he was unable to jot down his idea or even entertain it in any meaningful way. He looked up toward the sky to ask, “Why now? Can’t you see I’m driving?” Amusing, yes. But such an attitude removes the creative person from the solution to his predicament.

Instead the question to be asked: “Why am I creative when doing a task like this? How might I duplicate this in a more peaceful setting where I could jot down my ideas? Or how might I record the ideas while I’m driving so I could use them later?”

To harness creativity, it’s necessary to learn how to unleash the subconscious mind so ideas can bubble into place. Rather than wait for the muse, we need to learn how to promote the creativity between our ears.

For these reasons I think the notion of externalizing with a “muse” while a fun notion that might be played with, if serious adopted will cause a loss of control, and might even leave one out in the woods, waiting for the whisper of the muse.

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When not ranting about his muse, Duncan Long works as a freelance book cover illustrator 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
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Time is money — and you can also live a lot more life if you don’t waste large chunks of it.

And a lot of time can be wasted on a computer. No, I don’t mean surfing and such (though if the shoe fits…), but rather squandered time lost through extra keystrokes and needless mouse gestures that may be just a few seconds lost here and there, but which over a week’s time, can amount to hours. Hours without anything to show for it, other than tired fingers and cramped wrists.

Now I don’t have all the answers to this problem — and part of it is poor design work from software and hardware engineers who seem more interested in making things pretty and spacey rather than convenient to use.

But part of the loss of time occurs because we don’t stop to ask “is there an easier way?”

I’ve been asking myself that the last few years, and I’ve discovered several quick ways to enjoy greater productivity, and also while experiencing a lot less frustration while working. (My apologies to Apple users — many of the methods outlined below will apply only to Windows users, though some will also apply to Apple machines.)

One is to get rid of all the menus and junk that otherwise clutter a screen and learn to use shortcuts. I am amazed to see artists and writers using browsers, paint programs, and word processors with huge toolbar “buttons” that require a mouse to be engaged to use them. Ditto for large collections of “palettes” that eat up monitor real estate. A better route is to lose these toolbars and palettes and use keyboard shortcuts whenever they’re available. These not only make for a less cluttered screen, they’re also much faster than searching for a tiny section of the screen and clicking on it with a mouse or graphics pen.

Likewise, an action like closing a program (on Windows a Alt-space key C does this) is a lot easier than using the mouse to find the tiny “X” at the top right corner of the screen — yet you see workers doing the latter all the time, day after day. I am certain that a keyboard shortcut will beat a mouse/screen button combo all day long, not to mention putting a lot less wear and tear on your wrist ligaments.

And with Windows, putting the Start bar an “auto hide” and to the top of the screen rather than at the bottom, quickly buys a chunk of screen space as well. (And the menu bar won’t be missed with the programs listed below.)

Some people need the Start bar to see what time it is. But a solution that I prefer — and which saves some more screen real estate — is to just place a cheap clock by my computer. I can even tell the time with the computer off.

In Windows and going from one open program to another? Using Alt-Tab is a whole lot faster than going to the start menu bar and clicking the program tab on a mouse.

Making the Title Bar and lettering on the menu bar smaller can buy some more screen real estate. Ditto for the size of the “X” and minimize/maximize buttons on the Title Bar as well as the scroll bars — all of which can be done away with using either a keyboard shortcuts (some in the programs listed below) or by toggling with Alt-Tab between programs rather than minimizing one to get to another.

Second, I use macro programs (currently the free AutoHotkey at [link] ) to remap my keyboard and add a variety of keyboard shortcuts. These also speed things up. I can use a single keystroke to launch common programs, adjust the volume setting, go to a news site — no mousing to the Start column etc., etc. These give very noticeable gains in productivity and are totally free.

AutoHotKey permits changing the nearly useless cap key to a delete key and changing the F1 (equally useless) Help key into a Return button. That means if I am using the mouse, I can delete and Return without letting go of the mouse or having to reach across with my left hand to search those keys out.

I pulled off what I feel are useless, and apt to cause accidents in typing, keys from my keyboard — greatly saving retyping (along with changing the Caps key to a delete key). The “Insert” key is pulled along with the Windows menu key, Scroll break, etc., keys that were never used or frequently hit by mistake.

I have also modified my keyboard for easier “touch typing” by putting large dots from a glue gun on the Escape, F5, Home, End, Delete, and Windows keys. Now they can all be found without looking and mistakes are much less frequent.

I got a “small footprint” keyboard (the “Mini Thin Keyboard” available at a variety of places including [link]) that has keys smaller than standard keyboards (which works fine even with my ham-fisted paws).

This keyboard really speeds up typing. Its size means if I need the arrow keys, they are right next to the keys my right hand is on rather than WAAAAAAAY over there like on the allegedly “improved” IBM keyboard (which is not improved compared to the original IBM PC keyboard as far as I’m concerned). This keyboard is also light so I can put it on my lap, lean back in an easy chair, and type. (I would bet an easy chair recliner would boost productivity — but bet corporate America won’t be putting those in cubicles any time soon – ha.)

And it balances on my lap, unlike the lopsided, ban to the existence of the left-handed, 101-key IBM style keyboard.

A three-button mouse with a scroll key really speeds up mouse operations (Apple users take note).

AutoHotkey is a software program that allows “remaping” some mouse actions as well. For example, if I want to quickly go through a document, I can hold down my shift key and make the mouse scroll wheel go for a page with each cog turn rather than just three lines. And pushing down the middle button the scroll key is on takes me to the top of the document; a shift key (left hand) and the middle mouse button click (on the right) takes me to the end of the document. These are especially useful in navigating web pages.

The savings over a day’s time can be tremendous with AutoHotKey. Rather than use the mouse (or Windows/arrow keys/Enter keys) to go through the “Start”, open a group, search for my program, click on it routine to launch a program routine, I can do a Windows-W to launch Word, Windows-P to launch Photo-Paint, etc., etc., etc. One key stroke can open one program (or several that I use together).

Just one stroke. This is the way a computer SHOULD be. You make it jump through the hoops instead of slaving away to get it to launch a program.

AutoHotKeys means that when I need to do a Google search, I do Windows-1 and not only launch my Browser, but see it open to the Google search page. If I need to see the news, Windows-3 launches my browser and opens my three favorite news sites. Windows-6 opens six of my favorite art web pages. On and on it goes with a variety of keyboard macros to handle tasks I do day in and day-out at the computer, from quickly opening plugins, to adding a signature at the end of a document, to “typing” passwords, etc., etc., etc.

I use StrokeIt (another freeware program — I have Scottish blood in my veins, after all — at [link] ) which permits holding down the right mouse button and going left to go to a previous web site, file, etc., etc., depending on the program it is in, draw a “C” to close a document, draw a “W” to close a window, etc., etc. And since it works on a graphics pad, it also allows streamlining operations in art programs and such.

StrokeIt permits quick navigation, especially in a browser or File Explorer. On the latter for example, a left stroke takes me to the previous menu, and up stroke takes me to the next folder (or drive) step up from where I am — a small modification, yet it allows me to zip through nestled folders and jump around much more rapidly than can be done with the search and click method Microsoft gave us.

A lot of time is wasted waiting for a computer to boot up. Shutting down your computer into “hibernate” or “standby” mode leaves it in an almost instant on state. And also saves your desktop so you don’t have to reopen programs. And when you do have to boot, placing shortcuts to programs you use all the time will have them open and waiting for you when you come back with your cup of coffee or other chore done so you don’t have to stand around waiting on the computer to boot up.

Since most of my work (both art and writing) is on “page” printouts, I got a video card that permits me to turn my monitor on its side, thereby giving a “page view” of what I’m working on. Coupled with getting rid of needless menus, this makes for a huge “page” view of what I’m working on, a nice “multiple” page overviews of a document, and so forth. I suspect that this up/down view of a page is equal to that of a 30-inch monitor — only on my much cheaper 19-inch. Sure, I don’t have room for the various palettes, toolbars, and menus that many artists and writers have open. But, of course, since I use keyboard shortcuts, I don’t often need most of those.

Bringing me to my final suggestion. If you can afford a larger monitor, it will save you time. That said, I suspect a majority of people working on a computer could see huge boosts in their productivity by employing the techniques (orthodox and unorthodox) outlined above to great advantage — and without the expense of a new monitor.

Saving time makes it possible to do more with the few precious hours you have each day. It can also make for a less hectic and more enjoyable experience when working at the computer. That makes it worthwhile to give a little thought at how you can streamline your work at a computer.
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Duncan Long is a freelance book cover illustrator 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
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Another wolf illustrations. This one isn’t for the Werewolves of New Idria (which I continue to produce illustrations for…) but was originally created for John Phillip Backus’ science fiction novel The Gathering – After The Fall (book two in his series). In the end it didn’t match the layout well, and has since been dropped from the design.

So anyone needed a young wolf — or perhaps a fox — illustration… This one’s looking for a home.

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Duncan Long is a freelance book cover illustrator 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
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It’s no secret: I prefer reading text with ebooks as opposed to reading print books. For me the ebook is easier to hold and read in all sorts of lighting conditions from sunlight to total darkness (my reader of choice is an old eBookwise “eBook Reading Device” that I picked up years ago for just $100).

But not everyone feels this way. Nor do I with books having illustrations which seem to always suffer from all the ebook formats I’ve seen.

So I’ll concede that ebooks aren’t always the best choice for reading, and I understand why many folks are becoming vocal critics of transferring books to the ebook format.

If you find yourself in this latter camp, Carol Vertz’s “10 Reasons Why a Paperback is Better Than an E-Reader” will give you some ammunition. Vertz outlines areas where the “old tech” of paper and print can trump ebooks in many situations. As such, her points are worth considering before shelling out big bucks for an ebook reader.

Perhaps one day printed books will be about as popular as parchment scrolls are today.

Perhaps.

That day isn’t here just yet.

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Duncan Long is a freelance book cover illustrator 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
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