Artwork, it is something that makes a novel come alive in a unique way.
Last year I hired Jennifer Miller to do an awesome illustration of Albino the dragon lifting the sword out of the pool while he stands over the grave of his beloved daughter.
This year I've hired a friend of Jennifer's named Amber Hill to do a promotional illustration of Patient the shepherd. The sketch on the left is the first phase of the illustration. Doesn't she do a nice job?
The reason for hiring a second artist is that Jennifer is not as strong when it comes to humanoid illustration. And, since her and Amber have collaborated on prior occasions, I now have the advantage of two good artist to look up.
This art piece will be finished middle of November. Its main purpose is going to be as a bookmark illustration.
Amber sent me three initial sketches and I chose the topmost of these two. However, she is going to make a couple adjustments that I thought were necessary. 1) I don't like the shepherd looking down, it makes him look abashed/ashamed 2) The staff needs to curve inward more dramatically.
Other than that it all looked great! Thumbs up, Amber!