Martyn Stanley's Blog - Posts Tagged "cover-art"
Amazon Reviews and More!
The bad news first, 'The Temple of the Mad God' is off to a slow start. I blame being buried in academic work.
The good news, is I've commissioned a talented fantasy artist to create am all new work for the cover of 'The Last Dragon Slayer'
I honestly believe the new cover is going to be awesome! To see some early rough drafts of the work please see the facebook page:-
https://www.facebook.com/DeathswornArc
Also, I know some of you have picked up 'The Last Dragon Slayer' and really enjoyed it, and some of you have picked up 'The Verkreath Horror' and really enjoyed that. If you did enjoy them, please, please consider taking the time to call on over to Amazon and leaving me a nice constructive review.
A sincere thanks to everyone who takes the time to leave some feedback.
Martyn
The good news, is I've commissioned a talented fantasy artist to create am all new work for the cover of 'The Last Dragon Slayer'
I honestly believe the new cover is going to be awesome! To see some early rough drafts of the work please see the facebook page:-
https://www.facebook.com/DeathswornArc
Also, I know some of you have picked up 'The Last Dragon Slayer' and really enjoyed it, and some of you have picked up 'The Verkreath Horror' and really enjoyed that. If you did enjoy them, please, please consider taking the time to call on over to Amazon and leaving me a nice constructive review.
A sincere thanks to everyone who takes the time to leave some feedback.
Martyn
New Cover Illustrations!
To maintain continuity through the series, I've sadly decided to change cover illustrator. The artist responsible for the excellent, dark fantasy scene which most recently became the cover for book 1 was essentially too busy to commit to producing the covers within the right time period. I can see why he's in demand, I am very, very fond of the current cover
I have two contenders for the series, two artist's both of whose work I very much admire. One is Daniel Johnson of Squared Motion. His fantasy creatures are incredibly detailed and have real character. His proposal for a new cover I think is excellent (See Photo's section of The Last Dragon Slayer
The other artist in contention is my good friend, the Brazilian Artist, Isis Sousa Her characters are beautifully painted with emotive expression and a life-like quality. To me they really jump off the page, she gave me a sneak preview of a WIP recently and it was stunning.
So I'm really, really torn. It's definitely one or the other, both are incredible, both could bring a new vibrancy to the coming re-launch of books 1 and 2 and the fast approaching book 3. Time-scales will be a factor I think, I'm planning on having a big promotional push as soon as my new covers for 1 and 2 are created.
The question is, who to get to do them!?
I'm very, very torn on this.
You can see more of Daniel's work on his website and facebook page here:-
http://squaredmotion.com/
and here:-
https://www.facebook.com/SquaredMotion
You can see more of Isis Sousa's work on her webpage here:-
http://www.isissousadesigner.com/
And facebook page here:-
https://www.facebook.com/isissousa.2d
Any comments on would be the best artist for the job, along with 'why' would be appreciated. I love both of their work and an genuinely really torn.
Martyn
I have two contenders for the series, two artist's both of whose work I very much admire. One is Daniel Johnson of Squared Motion. His fantasy creatures are incredibly detailed and have real character. His proposal for a new cover I think is excellent (See Photo's section of The Last Dragon Slayer
The other artist in contention is my good friend, the Brazilian Artist, Isis Sousa Her characters are beautifully painted with emotive expression and a life-like quality. To me they really jump off the page, she gave me a sneak preview of a WIP recently and it was stunning.
So I'm really, really torn. It's definitely one or the other, both are incredible, both could bring a new vibrancy to the coming re-launch of books 1 and 2 and the fast approaching book 3. Time-scales will be a factor I think, I'm planning on having a big promotional push as soon as my new covers for 1 and 2 are created.
The question is, who to get to do them!?
I'm very, very torn on this.
You can see more of Daniel's work on his website and facebook page here:-
http://squaredmotion.com/
and here:-
https://www.facebook.com/SquaredMotion
You can see more of Isis Sousa's work on her webpage here:-
http://www.isissousadesigner.com/
And facebook page here:-
https://www.facebook.com/isissousa.2d
Any comments on would be the best artist for the job, along with 'why' would be appreciated. I love both of their work and an genuinely really torn.
Martyn
The Blood Queen.
It's drawing closer!
I have an incredible cover, it looks great. Theoretically it just needs lettering - but something seems somehow off with it? I don't know what though! There just seems something isn't quite how it should be?
I love it and in many ways it seems perfect - but there's something I can't put my finger on...
I still need to finish editing and polishing it of course. I need to start thinking about my blurb too. I've never been too happy with my book 1 and 2 blurbs, I don't think they're very enticing - but I don't really know how I could improve them, without spoiling some of the big plot twists.
Book 3 also has the companions facing confrontations with the Isharian Church. I think the atheist aspect of the books is important - yet people don't seem to pick up on it... Part of me thinks I should shout about the atheism, because it's subtle and part of me thinks I should leave it in - but not mention and let people discover for themselves. I am trying to be balanced. The Isharian Church has it's problems, and is responsible for evil in Torea, but I want to portray it as also responsible for good!
I wish I could get it out sooner - I'm really waiting for time to sit down with my editor at the moment, and I need to work out what needs changing about the cover. It's really special though, so I don't want to share it until it's ready.
I will get there! Sorry for the long delay, I just want it to be as good as possible before I release it this time.
Martyn
I have an incredible cover, it looks great. Theoretically it just needs lettering - but something seems somehow off with it? I don't know what though! There just seems something isn't quite how it should be?
I love it and in many ways it seems perfect - but there's something I can't put my finger on...
I still need to finish editing and polishing it of course. I need to start thinking about my blurb too. I've never been too happy with my book 1 and 2 blurbs, I don't think they're very enticing - but I don't really know how I could improve them, without spoiling some of the big plot twists.
Book 3 also has the companions facing confrontations with the Isharian Church. I think the atheist aspect of the books is important - yet people don't seem to pick up on it... Part of me thinks I should shout about the atheism, because it's subtle and part of me thinks I should leave it in - but not mention and let people discover for themselves. I am trying to be balanced. The Isharian Church has it's problems, and is responsible for evil in Torea, but I want to portray it as also responsible for good!
I wish I could get it out sooner - I'm really waiting for time to sit down with my editor at the moment, and I need to work out what needs changing about the cover. It's really special though, so I don't want to share it until it's ready.
I will get there! Sorry for the long delay, I just want it to be as good as possible before I release it this time.
Martyn
