Step X Step: Yesterday's Hero

Towards the end of last year I was asked if I would like to illustrate the cover for the sequel to "No Hero" by Jonathan Wood.  Some of you may remember that I did the cover to that novel as well.  I enjoyed the first one tremendously, so of course I jumped at the chance.

For the art brief I basically got an outline of the book along with a list of new characters, which was extensive.  Included was a willingness from the A.D. and the author to continue the movie poster theme from the first cover.  Whereas with the first cover I went in with the idea of doing a sort of spoof on 80's action movie posters, on this one I wanted to try and do more of a straight take, and pay homage to Drew Struzan.  These are the thumbnail sketches I came up with, which are basically a montage of all the coolest stuff from the book, including many faces both new and familiar.

The client decided they liked the composition on the bottom left best, so I moved on to a tighter sketch

I got an enthusiastic thumbs up from the A.D. and moved onto the final

Approval went quickly and I find myself hoping Jonathan gets the chance to right a third chapter in the adventures of Arthur Wallace and the rest of MI37.

The Nyarlathotep Event

Here is another commission I recently finished for Jonathan Wood, author of No Hero from Nightshade Books. Awhile back I was hired to illustrate the cover to No Hero and since then Jonathan and I have gotten to know each other over the internet. So when he agreed to do a serialized short story for the GEEKDAD blog on Wired.com he asked if I could do an illustration for it. The story revolves around the further adventures of the characters from No Hero, go check it out.

The original pencil sketch

and a bit of digital polish

Step X Step: Necropolis

Hey all,

Here is a little step x step of the cover I recently completed for the novel Necropolis by Michael Dempsey, published by Nightshade Books

Sketch Redux (No Hero)

Here is a piece I just finished for Nightshade Books called "No Hero"

Description:

Action flick meets cosmic horror/alien invasion. Cover should mimic an ensemble cast action movie poster.

British suburban street. Oxford. Shops, apartments. A few cars. A "WWKRD?" (What would Kurt Russell Do?) bumpersticker on the closest of them (undercover Ford Escort). Something exploding (double decker bus?). Tentacles (maggoty, pale) creep in from the distance, wrapped around buildings/cars.

first pass at thumbnails

The A.D. had this to say

Hey Erik, LOVE the action movie feel on these, I can totally picture Jack Burton in there :)

I'd go with the middle comp on the left side, but if we could add in the exploding of the bottom left corner? Tie that level of drama and action into the middle left composition. Let me know, thanks!

thumbnail revision

Awesome, looks great!

Final Sketch

Hey Erik,

yeah, just had to get notes from the editor. Sketch looks awesome! I have
a few notes to keep in mind for the final:

Tabatha (with laptop) is Pakistani, dark-complected with white ink
tattoos: angels, devils, & heavy metal icons, and Kayla (the
swordswoman) wears her bangs so they cover her eyes

Also, There's concern over the car looking "British" enough. NBD on this
one, but maybe just to keep in mind.

But yeah man, looking fantastic! Thanks!

Final Illustration

Hey Erik,

So I do have one note on the piece from (the editor in chief).
Basically he just wants to see some details fleshed out a little further. I
know we were pushing you on this one with a short deadline and I think the
piece looks fantastic overall, but his concern is the tentacles. Basically
just love em up a bit more, particularly those in front of the explosion. I
love the finish on the main figure and the buildings, and his concerns are
mainly just the disparity from those areas to the tentacles (what with them
being a compositional tool and story delivering focal area). Thanks Erik!

This was actually music to my ears, because I wanted to give the whole thing one more pass. Especially the things mentioned and the explosion.

Final Illustration Revision

so awesome, we are fully approved!