Book Cover Illustrations

Mary's Hope - Cover Illustration for Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine

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 work, in reality it’s digital. There are no framed paintings to buy and no paper drawings available. I appreciate the inquiries as to which canvas and drawings I have for sale, but the truth is there are none. All I can offer those needing something to hang on the wall is a pocketful of electrons. (I may create posters or prints one day, but right now those are on the back burner.)

When creating illustrations for publishers, there are many pluses to painting digitally, from reduced cost of supplies, to easier experimentation with layouts, to ease of getting the finished illustration to press — so many that it puts painting with traditional paint and brush in the same category as writing a book manuscript with pencil and paper. Yes, it can be done, but the ease of doing it via a computer makes the choice a no-brainer, at least for me.

Of course regardless of the medium, the training of the artist shows through. My art background is that of a self-taught pen-and-ink illustrator, basically creating illustrations for the technical books (mostly about firearms) that I wrote way back when. As computers started to get fast enough to produce viable artwork for print, I made the switch to that mode of drawing/painting and have never looked back since. My drawing tools were boxed up and never used again (though I may get them out to hang on the wall one day soon as they do have some emotional connection to me even today after all those hours spent hunched over a draftsman table).

My pen-and-ink background of drawing realistic depictions of hardware and such translates into a similar effort to create very realistic paintings with my digital artwork. There’s more detail in my illustrations than one might otherwise see, and sometimes to the point that my artwork is confused with photos.

Today, many digital artists still start their artwork with pencil sketches that they then scan into the computer and from there work with the picture digitally. That process just isn’t for me; I work digitally from start to finish these days. It’s just faster, cleaner, and (for me) more natural.

My software of choice is Corel Photo-Paint. Most of my work is done on the old Window 95 version 8 of Photo-Paint with the newer version (X5) employed for some processing of illustrations.

I find Photo-Paint has all the brushes and tools I need, and after using it for years, I can work very rapidly with it without the mechanics of running the program getting in the way of my flow of ideas. Photo-Paint also allows for shortcut key modifications (so all commands can be issued from my left hand while my right is working with the graphics tablet) and fast toggling between two tools.

I occasionally create 3D renders which then go to Photo-Paint for extensive reworking. However I do this less and less as it’s often faster for me to just paint what I want to see. Most 3D software seems amazingly obtuse in its layout and commands, and very counter intuitive in how it is operated. There are rays of hope (like Sculptris) but these seem few and far between.

On those rare occasions that I do create a render for background or such, I generally employ an elderly copy of Vue or (very rarely) Poser — the latter to work out lighting and perspectives for the most part. (I find Poser creates very “plastic” looking figures so it’s a mistake to drop the renders directly into a picture as a shortcut to actually painting a figure; the results are very poor unless I’m trying to create a store manikin or android.)

So for many of my illustrations, all the work is done in Photo-Paint 8 these days.

Currently my hardware consists of a HP workstation running Windows XP Pro with most of my drawing/painting done via a Wacom tablet.

As for the flying monkeys at Duncan Long Studio… Well, that’s another story.

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Often found slaving over a hot digital tablet while shooing invisible flying monkeys, artist Duncan Long creates illustrations for novels and magazines including HarperCollins, Pocket Books, Mermaid Press, Moonstone Books, and the books of many self-publishing authors. More of Duncan’s book illustrations and graphic artwork can be explored at Duncan Long’s Portfolio
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Dragonfly on Ancient Paper - a book cover illustration by Duncan Long

Folks often ask if I use paints (or ink) to produce my book and magazine illustrations.

Short answer: No.

But I started as an actual painter and later as a pen-and-ink illustrator. But digital is so much cleaner and faster (plus there’s that undo key), that there’s just no contest between it and real paint.

And the results are also much, much easier to get to a publisher. No insurance, FedEx forms, or worry about damage to the work; just fire it into the ether and wait for it to arrive at the publisher’s computer a few seconds later.

That said, I do try to maintain a “painterly” look to my digital illustrations, and hence a little confusion with clients and viewers from time to time who mistake the artwork for something created with real paint and brush or pen and ink.

I work on a PC workstation with a Wacom digital tablet. Software varies greatly, but the lion’s share of the work is done on an old (Windows 95!!!!) copy of Corel PhotoPaint which has the paint brushes, smear tools, and plugins that I’ve become accustomed to using. I’ve worked on the PC for a long while now, in part because some of the key art software I use in creating my pictures is only available for the PC.

I dread the day I have to change to some other software. At that point I may be forced to change my name and pursue a life of crime.

Until that day, the world remains safe from me and the flying monkeys that work here in my studio.

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When not planning for his life of crime, Duncan Long works as a magazine and book cover illustrator. You can see more of his illustrations at Duncan Long’s Magazine and Book Cover Portfolio
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Book cover illustration: Death Wore a Mini-Shroud by Duncan Long

Questions: How on earth do you get the intricacy of detail in your artwork? I understand how you could manage it with a fine brush or in pen-and-ink but how do you manipulate lines and curves? How do you get the gradations of color? I’m astonished, impressed, and intrigued simultaneously.

Answers: All my illustrations are done on a computer workstation (current an HP), inputting my “painting” by working with a Wacom digital tablet. My software is mostly Corel Photo Paint, using the oil and watercolor modes. I’ve found I can work much, much faster by cutting out the actual physical drawing or painting and going directly to pushing pixels on my PC. This also makes sending sketches as well as the final book cover illustrations to clients much easier (generally as email attachments).

Some of the gradations of color in my artwork are simple gradients where the computer does most of the work after I’ve chosen the color extremes for it to work from (I often to into the picture afterward and add some fog-like swirls to keep things interesting). But most of my color blending is done by hand, painting with virtual brushes that add just a little color with each stroke. I then use a blending “brush” to average out, shade, and adjust elements in the painting.

(I should note that these are virtual brushes within Photo-Paint; the digital tablet stylus is basically like an ink pen; the software transfers the actions to something similar to a spray can or paint brush depending on what I select. I use an old version of the Photo-Paint (version 8 — current version is 15); it doesn’t have a lot of brushes, but it has a handful that work well and those serve all my needs for the most part as I create my book illustrations.

The computer can create very straight lines — but generally I avoid those for more natural-looking hand drawn lines. Often I have to go in and roughen lines to keep them looking like a part of a painting.

Some of the detail in my illustrations (in grass, trees, stars, or other repeated patterns needing a more or less random effect) is achieved by creating the basic picture of blades of grass or trees and then converting them into a series of “spray” images that can be randomized to make for a more natural appearance as they are laid down over the painting.

With hair, I often employ a wide-bristle “brush” as well as a wide bristle blend “brush.” These take a lot of adjusting to get right, and I have come to think the ideal portrait would be of a bald subject.

Finally there is a whole lot of grunt work in painting my artwork (ha). But the computer makes all of it a lot faster and more precise than would be the case with actual paints.

Oh… Almost forgot. My most important tool. It often proves to be the undo key (control-z).

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Duncan Long creates book cover illustrations from electrons — though many people mistake them for oil paintings or the like. You can view more of his artwork at Duncan Long’s Illustration Portfolio
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Although I used to work in oil paints and pen and ink, today my illustrations (like the one above for George Blackburne’s The Reverse Multiplier Effect) are all digital, painted by pushing electrons across the screen with a Wacom digital tablet and pen.

The sizes of the paintings I create for book covers are generally not much larger than the final book cover will be – perhaps larger by a few inches to make getting the finer details into the picture a tad easier. But they’re not the huge oil paintings that book illustrators of the past made.

Of course on a computer screen they seem large and detailed. That’s because most monitors show picture at 72 to 96 dpi (dots per inch) while print is generally created at 300 dpi. So basically there’s three times as much detail as in the picture above with the “paintings” I create digitally. But they still aren’t as large as one would expect. And, yes, I do miss the smell of oil paints; can’t reproduce that by pushing electrons.

By way of software, about 99 percent of my work is on an ancient version of Corel PhotoPaint. I’ve customized the keyboard commands and also have pen gestures to pull up often-used plugins, so do most of my work without having to fiddle with sliders or icons to change brush size, change from one tool to the other, and so forth — much, much faster.

The other plus of PhotoPaint is that I’ve worked with the same version of the program (Version 8 — the newest is 14, I think) for about 10 years now, so I know the thing by heart (including some of the glitches that Corel never fixed) — I can almost think it and the picture is done.

Well — just about (ha).

But no fussing with the commands or program. Just free to think and explore as I work.

On the downside, PhotoPaint is not industry standard and not really designed as a painting tool. So for those starting out, I recommend Photoshop or Corel Painter just to avoid compatibility problems on projects — as well as to land a job since many employers require Photoshop know-how.

But for a rebellious freelancer like me… I wouldn’t work with anything else.

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When not crowing on his blog about the work he does, Duncan Long pushes electrons to create magazine and book illustrations and artwork for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, Fort Ross, ISFiC Press, and many other presses and self-publishing authors. You can find more of his book illustrations and artwork at: http://DuncanLong.com/art.html
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While I have tended to plaster information about my painting techniques throughout my web site, every once in a while someone sill writes to ask if I actually paint my pictures with oils or acrylics or if they are digital paintings (which is fine – sifting through the website for one single answer is likely a waste of time).

So, the short answer: My work is digital from beginning to end, for the most part. No paper, scanning, or sketches were harmed during the making of my artwork. I’m just pushing electrons across the screen.

My background in illustration was mostly a pen-and-ink work before switching to digital (I started illustrating some of the books I was writing). That said, I strive for a painterly look which I feel builds upon recent historic trends, with Wyeth and Rockwell being strong influences on my thought and the direction I take.

My reason for taking this route is that I find these realistic styles the most powerful for illustration while also delivering something that many publishers want to buy.

Most importantly, however, the style is what I most want to see when I work. I enjoy what I do and that propels me to keep doing more.

I do most of my work is done with an old 1996-vintage version of Corel Photo-Paint, using the “oil” and watercolor brushes as well as blending/smear brushes and some brushes I’ve created myself. Currently I have a memory-and-hard-drive-crammed PC running on the very stable XP Pro OS. A Wacom graphics tablet completes the hardware.

Since I seem to experiment as I go along, the undo button is also a key tool (ha).

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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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From time to time beginning illustrators contact me to ask whether Photoshop or Corel Painter is the better choice for digital illustration work.

I think in fact there’s no wrong choice to make. After an artist gets used to the digital “landscape” of a program and using a tablet (I recommend Wacom tablets, by the way) that the program is not as important as one might think. Basically it is learning how to use the various brushes and effects to obtain the look you want. And that can be done with any of the modern painting programs.

Painter is aimed at more painterly effects and makes the task a bit easier, perhaps. But beautiful work, and very painterly at that, is done by Photoshop artists.

For those considering programs for illustration work, I also suggest considering Corel PhotoPaint, the poor forgotten child of the corporation’s collection of paint programs. I use PhotoPaint almost exclusively for my illustration work and find it considerably faster than either Paint or Photoshop, especially when I take advantage of PhotoPaint’s capability to add keyboard shortcuts.

If you plan on working for a corporation (as opposed to freelancing) then Photoshop is sort of the industry standard and probably worth adopting from the git-go. However it does have a higher “ticket price” than the other two, so you might want to take that into consideration as well.
(One way to save money is student discounts – if you’re a student — or purchasing an older version of the program which generally has nearly all the same capabilities for a much lower price.)

If you go with Paint or PhotoPaint, bear in mind that Corel has a tendency to release programs before thoroughly debugging them. When you buy one of these, be sure to go to the Corel site and download the “updates” and bug fixes and install them before trying to use the program for any length of time. And I would recommend against adopting a just-out-of-the-chute version of any Corel program. Let someone else play the part of beta tester.

Since there are time-limited demos of all three of these programs, perhaps the best route for deciding which is best for you is to download them and try them for yourself. Creating illustrations is a very individualistic thing. Chances are you’ll feel more at home with one or the other of these programs.

Since they all are capable of delivery the same styles of work, discovering which can make the tasks you do regularly can make your work considerably faster and easier. Over time, the speed of your work can be important in making a living.

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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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From time to time folks ask for advice about getting into the illustration business. I might not be the best person to ask since I sort of came in through the back door, starting as a writer/illustrator who could “package” his own technical books so the publisher didn’t need to hire a photographer or illustrator to finish the manuscript.

That said, right now is a tough time to be entering the illustration business. Of course historically I suppose one might argue there’s never been a good time (it has never paid too well and there’s always a lot of competition). But with the economy currently a bit shaky, the old saw about “keeping your day job” is still good advice, at least until you’ve had time to build a quality client list.

So what are my “secrets” to landing jobs in the magazine and book illustration business? Well, they’re likely the “open secrets” that most folks have already heard. But just in case:

1) Create a quality portfolio of illustrations that reflect the type of work you want to do and which you do well. Have PDF and print versions of your portfolio ready to go when someone asks for them, and be ready to tailor your portfolio toward the needs of potential clients.

2) Create a good web presence that can attract clients; a web version of your portfolio should be on your site. Avoid web sites where you’re basically competing against other illustrators or where advertising pops up along with your illustrations. You should own the site, and ideally it will have your name associated with it so anyone looking for you can quickly find you.

3) From time to time contact potential clients in the magazine and book publishing arena; be persistent — but not a pain in the posterior. When in doubt, it’s better to contract presses a little less often than to have an editor or art director groan when they see your mail or email in the “in box.” Most art directors still prefer “print mail” but more and more are coming around to email contact.

4) Be able to deliver your finalized illustrations in a digital format. If you work with traditional media, that’s fine — just be prepared to alter it and (when it’s completed) to convert it to a digital format for quick delivery to your client. (Generally presses want low-compression JPG, TIF, or — more rarely — a Photoshop file. The RGB palette is becoming more and more popular with the CMYK – never looking very good on monitors – being asked for less and less these days.)

5) “Haunt” sites like LinkedIn where you can read and have professional discussions with other pros about the ins and outs of the business. Don’t make comments at these sites unless you will appear professional in doing so. Don’t play “look at what I just did” more than perhaps once a month, or you’ll wear out your welcome.

6) Don’t waste a lot of money on software or equipment if you want to create digital artwork. I do almost all my work on an old version of Corel PhotoPaint (currently version 8); with a little effort, I could do the same thing with Photoshop, Paint, or perhaps even Paintshop Pro. Upgrading software just wastes time and money – and often leaves you slower at your work as you learn new commands and layout. New versions of today’s software by and large offer few improvements. (And I should note that use PhotoPaint because I find it faster to use and cheaper to buy, not necessarily because it is better than this or that program.) I occasionally use a really old copy of Vue (purchased for very little). You don’t need to shell out big bucks to get into digital work.

7) For digital work, the only real “essentials” in the way of hardware are a quality monitor and a digital tablet; Wacom is currently head and shoulders around its competition when it comes to tablets. Obviously the faster the computer and the more memory, the faster the work. But you don’t need a cutting edge system to do good work.

I think if an illustrator has some real talent, following this advice over several year’s time will get them to where they want their career to be.

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Duncan Long has worked as a freelance writer and book 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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Many illustrators start with pencil sketches that are scanned and then used in a digital environment to be fleshed out for the final book illustration.

Back in days of yore, I loved working with pencils. Today I find it much faster to start with the digital tablet (Wacom) rather than pad and pencil, entering the material directly into the computer so it can grow into the final illustration the client will be using. The digital format also makes it simple to send early sketches and ideas to my clients.

I do find it important to save at various points along the way so I have earlier versions to fall back on should I go down a route that isn’t working, or if a client decides to head a different direction with the project. At those times having all the work in digital format can prove invaluable.

I am not sure when the transformation from physical to digital occurred, but one day I realized I wasn’t using my drawing tools and just boxed them up, with my t-square (once a treasured friend for my technical drawings and given to me by my dad) hanging in the closet unused for at least a decade now. Pen, ink, pencil… all seem like a dream of another age.

Sadly my drawing skills can be overshadowed by digital work. On a recent vacation I took a sketch pad and pencils thinking I’d do some work that I could later scan and use. But I quickly gave up on using them since all I produced paled in comparison to what I do on the computer. I just tucked the pad back into my suitcase and took the time off to enjoy life.

I suspect that was also a better use of vacation time.

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Duncan Long is a freelance magazine and book cover illustrator who has produced illustrations used by HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, American Media, Fort Ross, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, and many other publishers and self-publishing authors. See more of Duncan’s book cover illustrations at: DuncanLong.com
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I came into the magazine and book illustration business through the back door, first working as a writer/illustrator, creating drawings of things that couldn’t be easily photographed as well as the artwork for black and white advertisements for the books I sold through my own mail order company.

Eventually I was selling writing and illustrating books for other publishers and closed down my mail order operation so I could devote my full time to creating books. But I still illustrated with pen and ink for many years.

Then one day things changed.

I tried creating a couple of book illustrations using a computer rather than pen and ink. This was followed by an “Aha” moment when an editor mistook my drawings for photos. “How in the world did you get photos of that?” he asked.

I explained they were drawings. He thought I was joking at first.

Now my pen-and-ink work was passable. But no one had ever mistook my drawings for photos. So from that moment, I was hooked on creating illustrations digitally, and basically never looked back, boxing up my drawing pens, ink, various templates, French curve, and T-square, never to use them again. My drafting table soon was collecting dust in the basement, a Wacom tablet taking its place.

My switch to digital drawings was one of those pivotal moments that eventually led to a variety of book illustration jobs and techniques.

Not only were the results more realistic (when needed), they were also faster. Where I was looking to do two major drawings in a day, I could now do six or more in the same time, and with less wear and tear to my body since I was no longer hunched over the drafting table.

And don’t even get me started on how handy the undo command is when creating a book illustration.
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See more of my digital drawings for magazine and book illustration work at: Duncan Long’s B&W Digital Drawings and Paintings

People regularly ask what software and hardware I use for creating book cover illustrations and other artwork for magazines, CD covers, and interior illustrations in books. So I will digress in this installment of my blog to answer those questions.

I come from a background of working with pen and ink as a technical writer/illustrator. I started using the computer for digital illustrations some time back, got a Wacom tablet, and have never looked back since, my pens, drafting table, and t-square all collecting dust and going unused since (it seems a little sad to think of those beautiful drawing instruments sitting in a box – but not so tragic when I recall ink smears and the hours of back-breaking labor).

Space Cat by Duncan Long

For some years I’ve been doing my work with Corel Photo-Paint (version 8, designed for Windows 95 but still working on XP Pro). The plus of sticking with this version of a program for nearly a decade is that I’ve created my own shortcuts and such and am really familiar with the program, its quirks, and what will cause it to glitch.

This means I can concentrate on making art, not worrying about getting the software to do what I want. And it will be a sad day when I have to retire the software and move to a new program or version. (Thus far, nothing has tempted me too much.)

Although PhotoPaint was created with an eye toward photo retouching and such, it is marvelously “deep” and quite capable of producing original artwork, with oil/ink/pencil/water color brushes, swirl brushes (great for clouds and blending), smear brushes (great for pushing pixels around), etc. It can also accommodate most Photoshop plugins. It can export/import JPG, TIF, PNG, and Photoshop formats.

Using PhotoPaint, I don’t run into many problems working with clients. When I need to do graphic design/layout work or produce a PDF for a press, then I trot out PagePlus which is about a tenth the cost of Adobe’s counterpart; PagePlus lacks some bells and whistles, but still is quite capable and can format to a variety of PDF compatibility modes including the more-or-less standard X-1 and X-1a formats.

To create a PDF around a book cover illustration, I simply drag and drop the JPG (or TIF or whatever) produced in PhotoPaint into PagePlus, resize it, and am good to go with the layout work over that.

I seldom work with vector artwork; when I do I either employ DrawPlus or (I know this is strange) FontCreator, the latter accommodating copy and paste of a bitmap picture produced in PhotoPaint into its character creator section; this creates an instant vector in FontCreator that can then be “typed” as a letter once that font is installed.

(And this TTF file also can be given to a client, so a logo or other vector artwork can be installed on the client’s computer as a TrueType Font file.)

Once in a while I’ll render a scene in 3D with Vue. But I am doing that less and less, finding it quicker to just paint what I want to see (the exception are scenes with columns, ships, or other vehicles that have complex shapes and shadows).

I generally mask the rendered picture and paint in new clouds, grass, texturing, and so forth. In the end there’s little of the original render to be seen. I have Poser but use it only rarely these days.

Of course all my software and hardware choices get no respect from my Apple/Adobe-equipped peers (and rightfully so, perhaps). I have even had one art director tell me it was impossible to do what I was doing with what I am using (go figure).

But it seems suitable to me because I can work very quickly with it, and would probably not switch to a more conventional arrangement unless perhaps some kind soul in the Mac and Adobe Universes took pity and offered me the replacements for free.

And even then I might pass.

I hate scanners, so my work is digital from the first sketches to the completion of the project. I am on my second WACOM tablet that is about indispensable for my work.

There. I have revealed all my secrets and given everyone more than they could ever possibly want to know about my work.

And yet you read it all, didn’t you.

You can see more of my book cover illustrations, CD album cover art, and magazine illustrations at my illustration gallery.