Showing posts with label Cover. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cover. Show all posts

Friday, January 5, 2018

Cover Art Design - Helen's Daimones with Daniel Landerman -3


1) CONCEPT (LINK) : Goal & required elements
2) COVER ARTIST (LINK)  : Finding a designer
3) COVER DESIGN(YOU ARE HERE): Evolution of compositions to arrive at the final cover


This wraps up a series of posts discussing the design of the Helen's Daimones cover. Part One covered the design concepts, Part Two  revealed details about connecting with Daniel Landerman, and this last post will be the meatiest of all since it will show the progression from sketch to final illustration. All sketches are copyright Landerman 2016.


First, Daniel took several storyboards and design concepts (akin to those shred in the first post) and provided several compositions. I chose "D" since showed Helen's face while keeping her vulnerable...and having the sword away from Lysis made it easier to visualize.

Deciding on poses
Then Landerman continued his magic ability to show details without cluttering the image.  From curious in Helen's hair, insect traits in the armor, and decorations in the clown-dolls, he loaded up the image with subtle elements.
Composition D selected, Details Added
What followed was a series of monochrome compositions that explored how light could be sourced from the magical sword, the eyes of the undead dolls, and moon.
Planning the Lighting 


Lastly, Landerman colorized the work. He was inspired by iridescent beetle carcasses for the armor.
To match the magic in the book, the dolls and wasp needed to be blue-ish, and Lysis needed to be variegated (and distinguished from the blue aura).
Basic Colors

Final with added dolls, wasp, and proper eye colors

The details are amazing!


So the journey was complete.  The covers represent Lysis's and Helen's progression accurately and reinforce the characterization in Dyscrasia Fiction.  Book four is in the works...and the principles discussed here will continue to drive the design.


Character Progression & Story Arcs in Illustration

Book Covers of Dyscrasia Fiction

Cover Art Design - Helen's Daimones with Daniel Landerman -2

1) CONCEPT (LINK) : Goal & required elements
2) COVER ARTIST (YOU ARE HERE): Finding a designer
3) COVER DESIGN (LINK): Evolution of compositions to arrive at the final cover

ImagineFX magazine is a fantastic resource for graphic artists using digital media. As mentioned in Part #1, I was inspired by Daniel Landerman's sketches in a 2011 ImagineFX article. I decided to learn more about him, eventually contacting him to explore commission options.

Daniel Landerman has freelanced in the entertainment industry since 2003 doing concept design and production art for film, TV, and video games. He has been working predominantly as a sketch artist in advertising since 2008 for folks like
BLT, Ignition, The Ayzenberg Group, Blizzard and Riot Games.Specialties: Sketching, illustration, story development, blue ocean thinking, character/concept design, storyboarding, storytelling.





Browsing Daniel Landerman's Instagram page to see if he drew the undead too, I stumbled across his Titan (Lysis is not a giant, but his head would look similar being a skull with twisted horns).
Totally psyched that I may have found an artist who seemed to already know what I needed, I reached out to him. Thankfully Landerman did do some freelancing and we struck a rapport. Below I share some links to his videos and stills on Instagram, but the real meat of our collaboration is shared in the final post:

Part 3: COVER DESIGN Final Cover




Cover Art Design - Helen's Daimones with Daniel Landerman -1

Just as we dissected the making of the cover to Spawn of Dyscrasia (with Ken Kelly), let's break down the process for making the cover to Helen's Daimones.

This is a three-post blog series:
1) CONCEPT (YOU ARE HERE): Goals & required elements
2) COVER ARTIST (LINK): Finding a designer
3) COVER DESIGN (LINK): Evolution of compositions to arrive at the final cover


(1) Concept Design:

The Dyscrasia Fiction covers have portraiture designs (as detailed on other guest posts):

Each book has a portrait-like cover reflecting the story arc of the primary characters within: i.e., Lords of Dyscrasia is focused on Lord Lysis's transition from human to demi-god, and Spawn of Dyscrasia has Helen and Lysis emerging as partners. Helen's Daimones is designed as entry way into this weird world, and serves as a coming-of-age story for Helen (and Lysis too as he becomes acquainted with his powers). Since Helen's Daimones is in between the other two books chronologically, it begged to have the below elements:
  1. Helen as vulnerable girl ~10yr old, with a cat pelt
  2. Skeletal Lysis as a protector, with horns for air & distinctive sword (Ferrus Eviscamir)
  3. Optional lighting from glowing wasps, sword, wasp-ridden dolls

Young Helen - Inspirational Art

Two illustrations inspired the "look" of Helen as I wrote Helen's Daimones: (1) spooky fairy-native sketches from Daniel Landerman (published in ImagineFX and discussed more in the second post of this series) and (2) the 1902 Mother's Crushed Oats print ad of a boy with a feline pelt, a framed version hung in my parent's house. I found that Landerman had a series of "natives" and many of them were eerily similar to the haunting girl who mingles with creepy dolls. Whomever would illustrate Helen would have to come up with a similar young girl who could evolve into the white-haired witch beside Lysis in the Spawn of Dyscrasia cover. 


Lysis's Sword, Armor, & Horns

Lysis would have to bridge the look of the Lords and Spawn covers. His magical sword Ferrus Eviscamir would have to be present, and ideally his armor would appear to be made from (a) giant insect hulls and (b) human leather. His hair would have to approximate horns.



Instead of reinventing the wheel, I reached out to directly to Daniel Landerman to explore commission options. Working with him is discussed in the next two posts, beginning with :

Part 2) COVER ARTIST (LINK): Finding a designer


Saturday, February 1, 2014

Ken Kelly Cover Art - Spawn of Dyscrasia (3 of 3)

Spawn of Dyscrasia Cover
Spawn of Dyscrasia is due out this year (2014), and this is the last of three posts detailing the evolution of its cover:
  1. Cover Concept (link): The first post covers the goal & concept art
  2. Cover Art (link): The second post chronicles the interactions with master fantasy artist Ken Kelly (from rough sketches to final painting) to yield the key illustration
  3. Cover Design (you are here): This covers the actual design (title placing, masking of the illustration, and overlaid fire).  We have to take the illustration (left) and dress it up for the book (lead design below, on right).

Ken Kelly's portrait reflects a scene from the book and features many important elements that make implicit promises to readers (i.e. expect magic, undead characters); key accessories from the flag to Lysis's sword are accurately presented too.  With that firm foundation in place, we turn to making a cover out of it.  My wife Heidi Lindberg (a trained Interior Designer with a critical eye for all things, and a knack for brutally honest feedback) stepped in to advise on Font & Word placement.  Thanks to her and the folks over in the Sword & Sorcery Group on Goodreads who provided input on some initial compositions (Comp A & B).  Most liked the title being on the bottom (Comp B), and the idea of  the characters standing on a hill of debris resonated with the piece.


Applying some masking layers in Photoshop made (a) the spirit cat easier to see, (b) the edges of the flame more clear, and (c) the rebalancing of the composition (the green flames of the cat tail stretch down into the title to compensate for its "top-heavy" head).  Helen's red-tattoo and the red-blood on Lysis's sword are amplified to match the red in the title and fire.   This is not the final cover design for Spawn of Dyscrasia, but it is fairly close since it covers the below success criteria:
  • Sword & Sorcery:  It promises to deliver "swords/action" and "magic" while revealing a scene from the book
  • Character Focus: The portraiture promises to develop a sorceress and skeletal warrior
  • Internet Appeal: It is easy to recognize as a small icon (as shown via Goodreads or Amazon)
  • Dyscrasia Fiction Look: It continues the look of the first novel, Lords of Dyscrasia (see below side-by-side).  This is important to build the brand of Dyscrasia Fiction.

Small version discernable

Lords and Spawn of Dyscrasia Covers
Consistent with Colors/Composition for Dyscrasia Fiction
Lead Cover Design for Spawn of Dyscrasia (due out in 2014)



Ken Kelly Cover Art - Spawn of Dyscrasia (2 of 3)

Spawn of Dyscrasia Cover
Spawn of Dyscrasia is due out this year, and this is the second in the mini-series describing the cover art, illustrated by master fantasy artist Ken Kelly:
  1. Cover Concept (link)The first post covers the goal & concept art
  2. Cover Art (you are here): This second post chronicles the interactions with master fantasy artist Ken Kelly (from rough sketches to final painting) to yield the key illustration
  3. Cover Design (link) : the last covers the actual design (title placing, masking of the illustration, and overlaid fire)
Ken Kelly - Rogues and Spawn of Dyscrasia

Feedback to First Rough:

The goal was to reapply the composition of Ken Kelly's "Rogues" (that graced the cover of Robert Adam's first Horseclan's novel).  The preceding post (add link) discusses the color selections and design choices.

With this information Ken Kelly set to making some Rough Sketches.  The first featured just Helen, who appeared too zombie-like and her long-nails were accentuated enough but needed to be turned over (to look like she was controlling the fire).  This opportunity allowed me to reinforce that Helen was the living character...and the warrior was the undead one.

Rough Sketches - Spawn of Dyscrasia by Ken Kelly

 Feedback to Second Rough:

I proposed a modified mock-up by placing the Roughs into Powerpoint, and indicated things to tweak (red) and items to keep (blue): 

1.Warrior is undeadà A skeleton…with crown of horns…and fiery aura (cover his biceps, perhaps, since he has no flesh?)
2.He has only 1 sword (his sheath looks like a second)
3.Warriors general stance = cool, no need to change
4.Lady’s stance= cool, no need to change
5.Shadows/lighting = awesome
6.Fire à eventually to be colored with spirits
7.Pennant à I like this shaft… can we add a flag? 

Lastly, Helen needed to be directly connected to the fire, and I wanted to ensure there was one representative Spirit presented within the flames.  Drawing from Ken Kelly's awesome gallery, I lifted one of his great cats (from Feline Warrior), and worked it into another mock-up.  He cautioned that this would throw off the balance of the composition (becoming top heavy).  I agreed, but asked him to work it in anyway; this motivated the "green wisps of ether" special effects to be added later in the Cover Design (post 3 of the series) to compensate.

Ken Kelly - Feline Warrior and Rough Sketch for Spawn

Canvas and Oil Work:

At this point, Ken Kelly began work on a real canvas with his oil paints. I received digital photos periodically:

Ken Kelly - Painting Spawn of Dyscrasia

 The cat turns green and Helen receives a "black-eye."
Ken Kelly - Painting Spawn of Dyscrasia

As the piece approached its end, I had concerns about the bubbles and requested Helen's eye-tattoo to be red, which were easily changed.  Ken Kelly originally titled this "Magic Soldier" but changed it to "Spawn of Dyscrasia" to match the forthcoming book.

Spawn of Dyscrasia - (c) Ken Kelly 2013
Overall, the process consumed a solid nine months. That was partly due to me not specifying a steadfast deadline, taking second-chair to higher priority clients who had real deadlines (i.e. KISS).  Also, given the nature of oil paints, each layer remains wet for some time; so each iteration (paint a layer/get feedback) consumes a few days at best.  Despite this being a commission, our deal was such that he maintained the original.  In addition to the high-resolution photographs created by Ken's photographer, I did order a signed Giclée print (a print on canvas). The last in this blog series captures how the Cover Design incorporated this Cover Art.


Ken Kelly Cover Art - Spawn of Dyscrasia (1 of 3)


Spawn of Dyscrasia Cover
Spawn of Dyscrasia is due out this year (2014), and this three post mini-series describes the cover design process, featuring a custom illustration by master fantasy artist Ken Kelly:
  1. Cover Concept (you are here): This first post covers the goal & concept art
  2. Cover Art (link): The second post chronicles the interactions with master fantasy artist Ken Kelly (from rough sketches to final painting) to yield the key illustration
  3. Cover Design (link) : The last covers the actual design (title placing, masking of the illustration, and overlaid fire)

1) Character Portraits

Whereas its predecessor Lords of Dyscrasia (2011) is a set of narrative tales stressing plot & action with varying points of view, Spawn of Dyscrasia (2014) follows the development of a single character, Seer Helen. The sequel's cover had to embody this new emphasis on characterization, so an appropriate portraiture composition was targeted.  It may seem strange to intentionally pose characters passively on the cover, but there are plenty of precedents. For example, Larry Elmore did this effectively with the original Dragon Lance trilogy (authored by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, including: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, and Dragons of Spring Dawning).  Also, Frank Frazetta did this effectively with his Deathdealer character:
Elmore Dragon Lance covers

Frazetta's Death Dealer

These portraits promise books with developed characters...without showing any action.  Ken Kelly has many of these, like his Death's End and Rogue's illustrations (the latter was the cover to the first Horseclan's book by Robert Adams).  In Spawn of Dyscrasia, the character Helen does not develop in isolation; rather she teams with the protagonist from the first book, the skeletal Lord Lysis (who is featured on the cover of Lords of Dyscrasia).  Hence, Ken Kelly's "Rogues" stood out as a good example of what I wanted: a female and male duo portrayed against a fiery scene. 
Ken Kelly Death's End and Rogues

I reached out to Ken Kelly via his website's commission section.  In short, pricing depends on the canvas size and amount of detail; other factors to be arranged are timing and who owns the original.  Here is a snippet from his commission page:
"Fees start at $750. for a single figure, oil painted on 10x14" illustration board with a very simple background.  Fees rise from there depending on what needs to be added and size of original." (copied 2013 from Ken Kelly's commission webpage)
After arranging the commission for two key figures (which prompted a 22"x28" canvas), I sent him the concept art of the two characters to be placed in a similar composition in his Rogues piece.  

Lord Lysis Concept Art

I had drawn Lysis many times already for the illustrated Lords of Dyscrasia, so it was easy to assemble a board to describe his undead state and unique sword, Ferrus Eviscamir.  I also scoured Ken Kelly's vast gallery of oil paintings to identify what Lysis may look like from a painting already made by Ken; Path of Fright worked well for this, since Ken painted some eerie skeletal gargoyles.

Lord Lysis concept board

Ken Kelly's Path of Fright

Helen Concept Art:

Helen had been written about well enough in the draft transcript, but I had never drawn her.  Some internet browsing followed by Photoshopping (namely color inversion) enabled a concept board. Another search of Ken Kelly's library led me to his KISS Girl #5 pencil.  Here Ken's experience painting for the band KISS worked well (he has painted their albums and guitars), since Helen required a tribal tattoo around her left eye.  Helen is not the KISS girl, but referencing her was useful.
 Helen Concept Board

Ken Kelly's KISS Girl

Lighting & Character "Color"

Lastly, a board explained that any fire would simultaneously (a) provide lighting and (b) represent the sorcery that Helen and Lord Lysis command. The magic system in Dyscrasia Fiction motivated the need to have "grayscale" characters: Helen and Lysis can see, feed upon, and cast magic via creative energy (represented by ethereal fire).  Spellcasters are mostly colorless (monochrome); they feed on color, draining it from enemies and sacrificed art, so perform sorcery.
Ether Fire Burning Elder