Cover art?

[Bravo6]

potter-75.jpgDragoon - 75.jpgI'm not a cartographer but some of my work has been published (years ago) as interior and cover art for Infantry and Armor Magazines during my time in the Army. I have long toyed with the idea of illustrating for novels. While the examples I'm providing are not appropriate for book covers I would appreciate feedback and suggestions concerning how to get the eye of an author or publisher. Also the general is in progress with a visual effects experiment to make the image more interesting. The right arm and upper right background has had a coating of linseed oil with minor tinting and left to form a textured surface. I appreciate your thoughts.gen-75.jpgJohathan Buffalo -75.jpg

[Korash]

Well, as someone who has already purchased books based on the cover art (and was both pleased and disappointed by what was within) I think that I would buy something with a style like your fourth piece. The background is nice and makes the focal point (I like the Indian a lot BTW) stand out without detracting from it. I find that the General is very "pixelated" for what I assume is paint. Nicely done none the less.

[Gamerprinter]

Contact various publishers with links to your portfolio - that's the easiest way to do it. Consider, though, that many small publishers (for example) might not want to pay a very high price for a cover design, depending on the publication. Still, by taking on commissions (of lower payment), you can build your portfolio and gradually prove your worth and get better paying commissions. I know for example Rite Publishing, who is Steven D. Russell, often takes on no name artists and commissions them for cover art, interior art, character art. One artist who has done extensive illustration work for Steve is Jason Rainville, including the cover art for one of my published adventures for Kaidan the setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG). Jason has recently created all the cover, and extensive character illustrations for Paizo Publishing's NPC Codex. Paizo Publishing, the creator of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, is arguably one of the largest RPG publishers in the industry. So Jason started out doing lower paying gigs with Rite and other small publishers, and in 2 short years has graduated to much higher paid commissions working for the largest publishers in the industry.

Steve is currently relocating to Washington DC (from Texas), so will be difficult to contact immediately. If you wait a couple weeks, send an email, introducing yourself, with a link to your portfolio, I'm sure he'll respond quickly, and give you an idea on what to expect. You can even tell them that I sent you his way - I'm Michael Tumey.

Send me a PM, and I'll give you Steve's Email address.

GP