Book Cover Illustrations

Yesterday I had a blast creating the various elements for the cover illustration of A. J. Vega’s A. I. Offspring novel. Shown here is the star drive engine (created by aliens in the story). The system centers around an artificial crystal “conduit” which houses an artificial intelligence consciousness. Since human technology tends to be symmetrical, […]

I’ve now finished over 80 B&W illustrations for the upcoming graphic novel Werewolves of New Idria to be released by Moonstone Books next year. Also in the mix are several cover proposals, a poster (that may become the cover), and the concept artwork leading up to the graphic novel (which was written by John Chadwell). […]

The next to last illustration in the graphic novel version of John Chadwell’s Werewolves of New Idria (Moonstone Books). The illustrations have been a bear to get finished due to the number of pictures and complexity of each one (the one shown above was also a boar to get done – but far from boring). […]

Recently a few publishers have started adding black and white illustrations to their novels and short story collections. In the past when type was still being set for printing, the use of such illustrations was generally saved for key points within a book, such as the title page. Otherwise, fictional books were pretty much free […]

OK. I just did these for fun. But I’m hoping sometime each of these illustrations will find its way onto a book cover. Until then, hopefully they’ll bring a little amusement to readers of this blog as well as those who visit my online galleries. Above is “Summer Storm” and below is “Lisajen’s Top Hat.” […]

I completed the book cover illustration and lettering/layout for R. P. Tedlie’s Isabel’s Tears a few days ago. While the initial publication will be in the Kindle format (which is grayscale), we went ahead and created a hi-resolution color version so the author would be ready for traditional printing should he decide to go that […]

From the press release: The 2010 DIY Book Festival has issued a call for entries for its ninth annual program celebrating the success of independent authors and publishers. The DIY Book Festival will consider self-published or independent publisher non-fiction, fiction, biography/autobiography, children’s books, teenage, how-to, cookbooks, science fiction, audio/spoken word, photography, art, comics, ’zines, fan […]

The first half of 2010 has been busy, with many self-publishing authors and small presses realizing that in order to compete with big presses, a quality cover illustration can be key in attracting buyers. On the “established press” side of things, I’ve also been busy, currently finishing up a collection of illustrations for a graphic […]

Rough sketches can be useful for discovering what works best for the layout of a book or magazine illustration. They can be whipped off in minutes, and quickly show whether or not a layout is likely to look good. Generally artists try to avoid showing uninitiated clients these drawings as they can easily be mistaken […]

Another group of illustrations (or parts of illustrations) I’m doing for John Chadwell’s graphic novel Werewolves of New Idria which will be published by Moonstone Books. ===================== Duncan Long is a freelance book illustrator whose artwork has appeared in publications from HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, Fort Ross, and many other publishers and […]