A Romance Novel - Colored Pencil Drawing

Value and color studies for the romance novel cover
An aspiring writer asked me if I would be interested in illustrating a book cover. He said he had just finished writing a novel and was working on getting it published. My first thought was I don't have time. I'm a production artist for a printing company by day but my nights are reserved for more fine artistic pursuits. I guess you could call me a "Sunday Painter". Time is precious but I was curious. I asked him what the book was about. He enthusiastically exclaimed, "It's a Romance Novel!"

There was a division between the two sides of my brain and they were battling it out. The logical, left side said, "You can't do it! It's too difficult! Don't leave your comfort zone!"

The cool, right side responded, "Chill, bro. We got this. Dude, try something exciting and new. It'll be fun."

After the dust cleared, I guess surfer guy won because I accepted the commission and asked for more specific details. I'm going to illustrate the cover of a Romance Novel.

Now fully committed to the project, I processed the author's instructions. "...a man and a woman on the beach. The man is standing facing out towards the ocean in only a swimsuit, exposing his back, staring at an oil rig far in the distance. The woman is on her knees, just to the left of him in beach attire, hugging the man's leg implying 'please don't go!' The man facing into the distance has none of his attention directed towards her, just the oil rig, a pistol in his right hand, not aimed, just in his hand."

The analytical left flipped out, "I told you! We can't do something like that! Are you crazy? That's impossible!"

The irrational right confidently replied, "Dude, relax. Work up some studies. We got this."

To be continued...
Prepatory line drawing for "The World is Yours"

Comments

  1. What a complicated cover, looks like you've cracked it though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Sue.

      We'll see, a little bit out of my comfort zone. I like how your cover turned out so well. That will help inspire me to get this done.

      Delete
  2. Thanks, Steve.

    I will check it out.

    ReplyDelete

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