Book Cover Illustrations

Another “book cover illustration exercise” done last weekend for entertainment — and hopefully to either inspire the commission of a book cover illustration or even to serve as a book illustration should it match an author’s vision of a story in search of artwork. Or maybe some concept art or a character design. At any […]

A “just for fun” piece I did over the weekend; a good demo of concept art and/or a book cover illustration (and, yes, all rights are still available as I write this). Since the cloaked figure is supposed to be traveling (through deep space) incognito, I placed the figure on the left, causing it to […]

Occasionally I see a writer agonize over which of two proposed book cover illustrations to place on his book. His fear is that one picture might be much better than the other for their title. And since there’s no way to know (short of trying both), it is a decision that’s hard to make. Or […]

“Rich Young Ruler” is another reworked “golden older” I did some years back. I know he doesn’t look young. But the intriguing thing about the story of the Rich Young Ruler (who rejected salvation to keep his riches) is that eventually, barring accident or other early demise, he grew old. Did he die old and […]

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 […]

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 […]

Mariah Aceves, another concept illustration 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). ============ Duncan Long is a freelance magazine and book cover illustrator for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon […]

Often it’s necessary to create concept sketches for a book cover design (or game, movie, or other art project). The basic purpose of concept art is to assure that everything is on the right track before it speeds toward completion. Concept art generally lacks the refinements to be found on the final project. Quick and […]

In keeping with the holiday season, I’m offering a free download of the newly illustrated Edgar Allan Poe classic, “The Raven” (which illustrated and laid out this last week). Careful, the virtual ink’s still wet. Please note that in addition to the new illustrations, I also created a new typeface for this publication as well […]