The Cover Art Process: The Caein Legacy

I originally shared some of this with my newsletter a few months ago, but I’ve decided to share it here too. I think it’s especially important to share this now, given some of the artwork issues that have been cropping up in the publishing industry.

I hired a very talented illustrator to work on the artwork for all of my book covers (with the exception of The Ballad of Alchemy and Steel, which I designed myself.) Jamie Noble has been amazing to work with, and it’s always a thrill to meet with him over Skype to discuss a new project. He often starts sketching while we’re talking, and it’s incredible to watch the rough outlines take shape right there.

(I can draw a bit if I set my mind to it, but I am nowhere near skilled enough to pull off a fantasy book cover. Which is why I hired a professional.)

The first project we collaborated on was The Relics of War trilogy. Unfortunately, I didn’t save many of the in-process sketches that he sent me for that, but I made a point to save them when we started working on The Caein Legacy. The process fascinates me, and it’s past time I shared a little of it with you.

This was the initial sketch we came away with for the basic outline of the cover set, after our discussion call. Jamie had worked on a character in profile for a previous commission, and used that head as a placeholder for where Andrew would ultimately go on each cover. He sketched a very rough dragon, then placed the interim text for a visual representation.

Then I had some homework to do. It was my job to provide him with descriptions of the background for each cover. The backgrounds for this series are taken from a scene in each of the books. For Exile, it’s the pivotal scene at the tourney field; for Guardian, it’s an image of the Citadel and the Oracle’s tower; for Harbinger, it’s the keep and the site of a major battle; and for Legend, it’s the onset of what becomes the final battle in the series.

Since I had the whole series written by the time I commissioned the artwork, I sent him short passages from the books to help him visualize the scenes, and I provided some additional details that may not have been obvious from the text.

I also had to provide very thorough descriptions of Andrew in both his human and dragon froms.

While I was pulling the background info together, Jamie worked on Andrew. I was amazed that he captured Andrew’s human face exactly as I had envisioned it on the first try. I’m not sure if that was due to my descriptions or what, but the first sketch was spot on.

The first iteration of the dragon was good, but not quite what I was after…

So I asked him to elongate the dragon’s features a bit. I liked the second rendition much better.

Then it was a matter of adding the background details. He keeps everything in black and white until we’re both happy with the image, then moves to color. I love how all of the covers came out.

If you have a favorite, let me know in the comments below! And check out Jamie’s website if you’d like to see more of his art: thenobleartist.com