A book cover I did for Tor a little while ago. It's coming out next week and the cover has been out on the net for awhile now. I figured I can show some process shots of how it went as well. The over all look that they wanted was a Band of Brothers type line up with a fantasy twist. Mix in a little Russian art for added flavor. I handled the characters on their own in the beginning to nail down attitude and a bit of character. Also have the finished product with type.

And a big thank you for helping out with the contest. We'll see if she can win tomorrow when the contest ends.

As always thank you for looking.

23 comments:

Shane Rebenschied says:
at: February 11, 2010 at 7:12 PM said...

Damn you. That's crazy awesome. I'm envious of your mad skills. *bow*

Zachary says:
at: February 11, 2010 at 10:55 PM said...

That turned out so siiiiick!

Sascha Thau says:
at: February 12, 2010 at 12:54 AM said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sascha Thau says:
at: February 12, 2010 at 12:55 AM said...

Hooooooly *peep*. You outdid yourself on this one!

Luca says:
at: February 12, 2010 at 2:20 AM said...

Why do I love your work so much? - its a passion that I have for it! Thanks (ALOT) for sharing the process. I learn alot from it. So much respect for you brother.

Keep rocking :)

your no.1 fan.

Søren Bendt says:
at: February 12, 2010 at 4:15 AM said...

great! Thanks for sharing the process. Great to see how those blobs turn into super crusader badasses.

Lu Vazquez says:
at: February 12, 2010 at 6:09 AM said...

The initial block in of the 'brothers' looks very paint strokey...almost like you did it in black acrylic or something.

Beautiful image.

LuisNCT says:
at: February 12, 2010 at 7:24 AM said...

Christina voted!
And great cover

A. Riabovitchev says:
at: February 12, 2010 at 9:10 AM said...

Beautiful picture!

OlegAndr says:
at: February 13, 2010 at 3:11 AM said...

Nice picture, bu i suppose you did not read the book. Or customers were not interested in relevance?

Craig Phillips says:
at: February 14, 2010 at 3:22 PM said...

Geez! Very good!

Shane Rebenschied says:
at: February 16, 2010 at 7:50 PM said...

@ Helgin, unfortunately story and relevance often take a back seat to what will make the book sell. Additionally, cover artists are not always given free reign to choose what is on the cover. Usually the subject matter has already been chosen by the time it is assigned to an illustrator.

flaptraps says:
at: February 18, 2010 at 11:35 AM said...

this is rad.

Tom Scholes says:
at: February 18, 2010 at 11:38 AM said...

raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Love love the line-up sketch.
Horia agrees.

Andy Park says:
at: February 18, 2010 at 10:22 PM said...

You're too good dude!!! Stop it!

Sean says:
at: February 20, 2010 at 10:50 AM said...

Some times you can judge a book by its cover. That said i think i will be checking this book out.

Anonymous
at: February 20, 2010 at 6:11 PM said...

Still can't get over how you manage to keep the feel/energy level of the sketch in the final. Can't wait to see what other covers you end up workin on!

Hao Wu says:
at: February 24, 2010 at 8:55 AM said...

awesome! Just AWESOME! *thumbs up both hands with a bow* Big fan of your work. =]

Best,
Hao

Jaime says:
at: February 24, 2010 at 6:35 PM said...

turned out great :)

Manoj a menon says:
at: March 1, 2010 at 7:52 AM said...

marvelous as usual..
a request..pls post a video of your wip in youtube or over here..

really would like to see how you do it..
and one more question..
how do you get the murky feel to the sky?
is it a brush effect?
pls ..have got nobody around to help with such doubts..

pls kek...

manu

Benjamin von Eckartsberg says:
at: March 14, 2010 at 5:12 AM said...

The mood of the whole piece is great, but I like especially how you gave every character his attitude! Very cool work!

Anonymous
at: March 19, 2010 at 10:08 PM said...

I've been away for a bit but what a buzz to come back and look at your blog.

Vj Arumugam says:
at: June 8, 2010 at 7:25 AM said...

This is just brilliant! i know its not only the hand and the brain, but sure is special diet involved. Just tell me what have you been eating? just kidding...this is awesome!