Cover art for Book Two

My editor asked me for ideas, nixie, without promising that they would use one of them. As it happened, they did. But the artist had some issues with the way the art director described the scene, and called me up to get a better idea. This was a sufficiently unusual state of affairs (for a New York publisher anyway) that I was as suprised as I was pleased.

But as for a different cover for the UK, that would imply a UK publisher, which I don't have. So it will definitely be the same cover if/when they export it.



kyektulu, I always appreciate the support of the members here!
 
Incredible! I'd probably buy the book just from seeing that cover (I'm like that :D ). And I've always thought that the Manticore is a fascinating creature - something I was intending to use in some of my own work at some point.

Might seem like a stupid qestion Kelpie, but does this mean that one will feature in the book? (Though I've bought the Hidden Stars I haven't read it yet, so I don't know if you've already introduced these into your world).
 
You're 8 hours ahead of me in the British Isles; it's still early evening here.

Paradox, yes, it's an actual scene from the new book, manticore and all. One thing that happened during the course of The Hidden Stars was that boundaries and bindings were beginning to fray, and creatures not seen for hundreds of years were starting to turn up.

That manticores had existed at one time in that world was, I believe, mentioned in passing, but this will be the first time any of the characters meet a live one.

But I'm glad that you all like the artwork so well. I'm quite pleased with it myself.
 
Wow! You have no need to be jealous of Imperial Assassin, Kelpie. That's a fantastic cover. For some reason I had overlooked this thread until now. I've not seen many covers on US editions of fantasy books that I've actually liked, but that picture is stunning. You must be very pleased with this one.
 
dwndrgn said:
However, now you've just teased us. Any idea when the book will be published?

Well, they keep moving it around. I have hopes it will stay put this time at Jan-Feb 07.

Mark, I'm not jealous of your Imperial Spy cover art vs. the wonderful work Stephen Youll is doing for me now. It was a more general sort of envy.
 
I tend to like Stephen Youll's covers when something seems to be happening and when he sticks to one or no characters.
His faces and drawings are very detailed and when there are too many people on the cover or when nothing seems to be moving. It gives me the impression that it is too much of a stand alone painting rather than a caption from a story.

But hey I like this one; the manticore scorpion tail is really really nice.
 
It warms my heart to hear you say that, scalem. That scorpion tail is the very reason he phoned me. The art department had described the manticore as having a dragon's tail. He did some research on manticores and realized that wasn't right, so he called me up to clarify. I was very glad that he did because I have no idea who came up with the notion that it should be a dragon's tail -- certainly not me.
 
Heck, he could have called any of us...

Of course, I'd have probably talked him into a whole dragon, not just the tail :D

He did a great job though.

This brings up a question though. I know that in the past, cover artists used to create an actual painting for the cover art. In this digital age, do they still do that? If so, what do they do with it afterward? I read a book a long time ago in which the protagonist was a cover artist who painted an entire canvas and it has always made me wonder...anyone know?
 
I know that in Magic the gathering art, (art for the trading card game)
most of the artists sell their paintings of the art on cards.
Not all of them, there are some pure computer people. I think the both still exist besides each other. This art here seems like from an original painting/sketch (colored on pc).
 

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