Cover Design Showcase With Aidana WillowRaven

Today's book cover design showcase takes a look at the work of Aidana Willowraven, a tradigital artist. Take a look ...

These first two book covers are part of a series, so should be displayed together. They were initially created in a 3D program called Daz, then the renders were pulled into Photoshop for overpainting and enhancements. 

For The Orb, the figure was first created as a nude, then a clothed version was layered on top of it. The rips and tears were cut out of the clothes to show the skin beneath. Painted enhancements furthered the illusion. Cuts and blood splatter came next, and finally, softening and glow effects. 

A similar process was used for The Lure; first nude, then 'stone' body, etc. Now for design/ typography. Finding it important that art and typography worked together as a complete visual, a font that was both circular/curvy (to compliment her curves and rounded elements in the environment, like the boulder or lilypads) and blade-like at the same time (to compliment the sword, banners, and grasses) was chosen. It's called Roman Uncial Modern regular. 

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The next cover, Blood and Steel, was an exceptional challenge. With only one element in the scene, there was absolutely no room for error; nothing to distract the eye from flaws. Also, working with a flat black ground can also go wrong real fast if not careful. The metal rose, blood pool, and reflection were created in Daz; using a single spotlight. Then the render was pulled into Photoshop to paint in the 'bleeding' aspects and enhance the visual with contrast and glow effects. Since half of the cover was text, and the title is an art element, itself, The chosen font (Lombardic for Blood and most of Steel) strategically layered and styled to represent what the words were describing; blood and steel. The 't' in steel was omitted to allow room for a cross that's been molded to be a vampire stake, as well. It, too, was created in Daz, then textured in Photoshop and placed in its space. A sequel is in the works.

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For the Sword Masters Of Mars cover, a more traditional sci-fi look was wanted even though the figures and environment were also created in Daz. The book is a spin-off series of the John Carter of Mars books by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

To get more of a drawn and painted effect, the render was literally drawn and painted over in Photoshop. The colors were brightened and enhanced, then an overall softening and some glow for more of an old-school cover feel. As inspiration and guidance of the desired look, research of all of the previous covers and art by art greats, Roy G. Krenkel, Frank Frazetta, and Michael Whelan. Of course, it still had to look like a WillowRaven cover, too.

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Short Artist's Bio: Aidana WillowRaven, tradigital artist (hybrid artist who combines traditional training and techniques with digital tools and applications) and mother of three, trained in Fine Art, Studio Design, and Animation at NSU and ODU. WillowRaven works with traditional publishers, as well as, independent authors from her home in Memphis, Tennesse. More of her work can be seen at, WillowRaven.weebly.com. She can be reached via live chat on her website, her contact page, or on Twitter (@WillowRaven).

Cover Design Showcase With Duncan Long

Today's book cover design showcase takes a look at the work of Duncan Long, who has been a professional cover designer for many years and is happy to work with indie authors along with the more established ones. Take a look at his amazing work below:

MING

The author is working on a series of books that will have star fields for each cover. This is the first in the series, and something that was realistic, yet also symbolic was required. So I created a "butterfly" star field, but added star/gas details that would be impossible to actually have in a real display of stars and nebula. The trick (of course) was making this seem real rather than impossible. It was basically painted digitally. I used a Trajan font for the lettering of this cover to give it a classical look.

The Stalker Cyborg

This is created around a 3D model I've been working on. I rendered it and then imported it into my paint program where I refined and adjusted things, painting in portions and the glowing reflection areas on her metallic surfaces.

The Treehouse Clan

The is actually a small detail from a larger picture I created of an off-world planet with giant trees that the people lived in. I used a photo reference for the gal, greatly altering her appearance in this final version, painting tattoos on her and giving her some exotic flowers and glowing orbs. I originally had a small monkey-ish creature to the right of the picture, but he proved a distraction so he's painted out in this version of the picture.

FOAM III

I had the privilege of doing all three covers for Richard Thieme's FOAM series, and the third book sort of links the real world to the interstellar / spiritual. So again there was a need for both an impossible scene that still looks real. The building and character (with his yellow plaid shirt and WWI-style aviator's hat) were 3D model renders that were painted over; the spiral galaxy a digital painting I did for this illustration, and then the city which in this case is part digital painting and part aerial photo.

Check out Duncan's website to view more of his work and get in touch with him:

Website: http://www.duncanlong.com/art.html

Cover Design Showcase With Ashley Ruggirello

Welcome to the very first in, what I hope, to be many cover design showcase's. Here to show us that a good book cover can make all the difference between your book being noticed or left to gather dust in the shadows is cover design artist Ashley Ruggirello. 

The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant. (Paranormal/Satire)

How do you capture a satirical story about an accountant-turned-vampire? I took on the challenge with Drew’s series, and wanted to approach his books in a very unpredictable way (after all, a vampire who continues they’re accounting services is pretty unpredictable, is it not?) The theme across the series is accounting/taxes papers, and the only hint of “paranormal” or “vampire” are the stray droplets of blood.

Split the Party by Drew Hayes

Drew approached me to design the sequel to his bestselling NPCs with a handdrawn, basic map as the concept for his cover. I had a blast playing around with textures and burnt edges, breathing life into his map and world. 

Link by Summer Wier (Science Fiction and Fantasy)

A true combination of sci-fi and fantasy, Summer’s story had to encompass a lot. The elements—a lake, a carnival and the starlight—all play integral parts to the story, things the reader will recognize while reading. The fun part of this cover is how you notice something new each time you look at it.

 

Golden by Melinda Michaels (Fairytale/Urban Fantasy)

Fairytale retellings are always fun because they already have a base for you to work off of. Melinda’s story, for example, is a new, modern retelling of the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story. Incorporating that into tone subtle, or not-so-subtle image, challeneged me to step outside of what’s expected. Sure, there’s a bowl of poridge at the bottom, but the steam coming off of it in the same of a wolf are unique to her story, and fit together in one, cohesive image.

If you're loving Ashley's work as much as I am then you probably want to get in touch with her. Luckily you can use the selection of links below to find out more about this great cover artist:

Website: www.CardboardMonet.com

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/CardboardMonet

Twitter: www.Twitter.com/amruggs