Here it is, the cover for Book One of King Rolen's Kin. (No text yet).
The artwork is by Clint Langley, a UK based artist who has worked on comics like Judge Dredd, Dark Blade and Sinister Dexter. He's also worked in the gaming world for Games Workshop, White Wolf, Hidden City Games and others. Plus he's done covers for Black Library, Warhammer and Battletech amongst others. We were lucky he had time to work on King Rolen's Kin.
I love the cover. It's moody and says fantasy in a modern way. SOLARIS is pleased with it.
Covers are so important and writers rarely get a chance to give much input. I was lucky, in that SOLARIS asked me for suggestions, so I researched current covers, found some I liked and prepared a Resonance Folder for the artist with the look of the world and the people, as well as descriptions etc.
Not every author is consulted when publishers prepare covers. Here Jane Lindskold does a post 'Look what what they've wrapped around my baby!
And here Peter Terzian does an interesting post about cover designs in 'Kill your Darlings'. He says:-
'We asked eight designers to show us their favorite runners-up, and to explain how and why these covers were nixed. In most cases, the designers were surprisingly sanguine. “It’s actually a good exercise to have to redesign something,”says free¬lance designer Gabriele Wilson. “Quite often, the designs end up being stronger than when they started.”'
I used to work as an illustrator, so I found this article really interesting.
I'm hoping, looking at the illustration above, readers would tempted to pick up a copy of my new book. It is a new series by an author they've never heard of.
I bought Brent Weeks trilogy based solely on the covers. The books are sitting on my 'to be read' pile. Have you come across some cover art recently that made you pick up a book by someone you didn't know?
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