Book cover: The House of Lazarus, Part 2: DONE!

   

House of Lazarus cover
11x17 acrylic ink and gouache on smooth bristol paper

Final 6x9-proportioned file!

Three digital mockups I made to explore figure placement and texture.

6x9-proportioned study on cold-pressed watercolor paper.

Inked with a 3/4" wash brush. I should make more work like this for INKtober!

Black acrylic ink finished off with white acrylic paint.

Drafted with a Palomino Blackwing pencil. Kneaded eraser helps to knock pencil back for inks!

Inking begun with a Hunt 513EF nib - my favorite!

I made a smudge cover out of a scrap of matboard. Brush inking begun on hair.

I can use the margins as I work to clear excess ink from my nibs and brushes.

All done! I inked to the borders to allow for some wiggle room on the final file.

Tiana, thank you again SO MUCH for commissioning me for another book cover! This was an absolute treat to work on, and it helps me feel that my skills are improving, slowly but surely. Plus, who doesn't love zombies? :D

Book cover: The House of Lazarus, Part 1

Book cover: The House of Lazarus, Part 1

I am lucky enough to be working on a second book cover for my good friend, author T.L. Bodine! You may remember the cover I did for her short story anthology, The Beast in the Bedchamber, back in 2013.

Her upcoming novel allowed me to work with a new subject: zombies! The sketchbook pages here are an exploration of figure and textures. I'm going to make some digital mockups to show Tiana before I begin the final illustration.

I have a second book cover in the works for another good friend, author and artist Robert A. Sloan. I am illustrating the cover for his novel Elder's Pride, a Raptor Red homage following a family of Smilodon fatalis as they navigate the Californian Pleistocene in search of home territory. Although I took the cover on two years ago, Robert and I have both had setbacks in getting it ready. But I have several study pages to share, and you'll see them soon!

The Beast in the Bedchamber: book cover progress!

It's time for me to share a project I've been hard at work on for the past few weeks: a book cover for my good friend Tiana's short story anthology, The Beast in the Bedchamber. I met her on deviantART ten years ago--sharing with her a passion for animals, writing, and classic films--and I was thrilled when she asked me to create the cover for her book. She is a fantastic writer (I had the pleasure of reading each story as she finished it) and a joy to work with. The anthology will be self-published through Amazon, released on April 15! This post will include a direct link to the book once it's out. Keep your eyes peeled.

EDIT, April 15, 2013: Get your copy of The Beast in the Bedchamber here on Amazon!

Thumbnails drawn from imagination and stock photos.

^ Digital drafts sketched in Photoshop.

^ Real media drafts: at left, Tombow Dual Brush Pen and white gouache;

at right, black acrylic paint. Both are on sketchbook paper.

Washing the wall with my hake brush.

The Beast in the Bedchamber for T. L. Bodine.

Acrylic paint and acrylic ink on cold-press watercolor paper.

A sepia-toned version on the left (contrast fixed in PS without color correction) and a more true-to-life version on the right. Tiana opted for the sepia version, and the type looks great with it! Check it out on her blog post here: http://tlbodine.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-beast-in-bedchamber-cover-reveal.html