Friday, September 30, 2016

Book cover art: Chameleon Moon!


Chameleon Moon Second Edition - Regan and Evelyn
11x17 acrylic ink on smooth bristol paper

This is officially the largest inked drawing I've ever made within a relatively short amount of time (read: "working all day, not leaving the apartment, burning the midnight oil" kind of time). :D

Regan - anxious lizard man - and Evelyn - punk rock goddess - hail from Chameleon Moon, a novel written by my good friend, RoAnna. October 11th is going to be a special day: the Second Edition of Chameleon Moon will be available to purchase on Amazon!

Jumping into this right after finishing Tiana's House of Lazarus book cover was masochistic on my part - but I'm happy with the outcome, and knowing that I can push myself to create is a reminder that I can do this. I can DO this, guys!

Early pose idea for Evelyn.
Alternate workplace setup, similar to what I did for the Oaxacan Barn Owl Dragon.

Sketchbook studies!


I used a photo I'd taken of Gary Numan as reference for Evelyn's final pose.
(That show was one of the best experiences of my life, by the way.)


Rough study on 11x15 watercolor paper.


 Fixed Regan and Evelyn's poses; cleaned up pencils!





I made a stand-in microphone out of a hand exercise ball and a small spray bottle.




You know, when I pay $9.50 for a damn nib holder, I DON'T expect this to happen.
I bought two, so there's that.


Details of Evelyn's skirt; using a blow dryer helps speed up the pen and ink process.








HELLOOOO, AFTERNOON COFFEE






 I mis-inked Regan's arm; corrected it with an X-Acto knife.


Regan doesn't smoke like he did in the first edition, so RoAnna asked if I could remove it. Easy fix with a white gel pen. THEN I SMUDGED IT. Thankfully, it cleanup up nicely in Photoshop.


The color-blocked draft above was an attempt to fix placement before I began penciling on bristol board. I made the draft on the right using photos I'd taken of downtown Portland, skewing them to try to match the vanishing point. Though not a final cover image, it's a decent visualization for something RoAnna could use as a future cover.

I'm SO happy I finally made proper fanart for RoAnna's characters, and I can't wait to read the second edition of Chameleon Moon!

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