6/21/13

Fireborn

Here is the cover to FIREBORN, the sequel to DRAGONBORN. I finished this one almost exactly one year ago, and the book still won't be on the shelves until December! Book publishers sure do plan ahead.

While I provided several different sketches, the art director liked the idea of basically mirroring the Dragonborn cover thematically and compositionally. There are four books in the series, so I was a little concerned about how I would handle the next two should I be asked to do them- I can't keep flopping the characters back and forth- but this is what we went with, so I'll have to figure it out eventually. Maybe the next one will be a straight-on shot of the main character, and the last could be a group shot. I don't know, but I would like the covers to work together somehow.

You'd think with all of that lead time we'd have a plan...

My original color sketch for this one was a bit moodier with darker shadows and the like, but the publisher wanted to keep it a bit brighter and more colorful, and asked me to avoid too much black. When I look at this now, it's a bit too "Photoshoppy" for me, but I feel that way about most of my digital colors. I still haven't found the "less is more" filter.

6/13/13

Marker-made Mary Marvel

I need to wake up this sleepy blog, so here's another one of the 9"x12" marker commissions I take on occasionally. This one is from a while back, but I don't think I posted it here. At least, I hope not. Pretty sad to have a blog in reruns.
I just finished a fairly large painting which I will be posting next, along with some process stuff, so please stay tuned.

I'm also finalizing my plans for San Diego Comic Con, July 17-21, which is creeping up fast. I'll post the info soon.

I hope everyone is doing well out there.