[Commissar Ploss]

I've had a chat with Grins1878 and he's asked me if I could post about his need for a cover artist for his self-published book. We've decided there is no better place to find one than right here on Heresy! He'll be the one judging the comp, not I. So post your submission here and get cracking!

CP

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'Morning all,

Having seen some superb 40K and Fantasy artwork on these pages I've asked for permission from the proper authorities (cheers gents) to make a bit of a competition for all you folk who're a dab hand with pens, pencils, paints or photoshop (or similar).

You see, I've written, re-written, re-drafted, adjusted and chopped a manuscript to get it to a point where I'm happy, and I'm currently finishing off a final spell check, after which point, I'm self publishing the bugger. And this is where the the competition begins, I need a front and back cover for it, possibly done wrap-around cover style, but it will have a black spine.

The story revolves around a Highwayman, his sidekick, and their slightly tapped friend which you can read three chapters of here:

http://grinsworld1878.blogspot.com/2...t-too-far.html

The idea for the competition is for you all to have a read on the page above, see if you can devise some sort of cover, and at the end of the competition I'll pick one of them, which I'll then use as the cover to it. Your name will be lovingly written on one of the initial pages, along with all the copyright and all the other caper, and a (non-offensive) message of your choice ;-) Sadly there won't be any payment money-wise, but I'll send you a copy of it, and buy you a beer in thanks.

Inquiries about characters and equipment, etc welcome and I'll post any information required on this thread for everyone to read and gain further ideas.

I may also need some black and white pics for inside the book too, so get scrawling!

The end date for submissions will be the final day in September 2010, after which I'll scan through them all with the help of some beautiful assistants, choose the winners and get my scrawlings printed into book form and online for purchase for the world in general.

If you have any queries please don't hesitate to ask,

Love and Hugs,

Grins
x'

 

[Grins1878]

Still no takers? :-o I'm shocked and aghast! ;-)

On a serious note, I will be doing a few over the next year or two, so if folk are interested in sorting a cover that'd be superb!

Thanks in advance for anyone who is interested!

Grins
x

 

[Babypowder]

I guess this post slipped past me somehow. Hope I'm not cutting it too late but I think I'll read it tonight and see what I can come up with! Couple questions though.

Do you know the size that the book would be or the resolution of the artwork needed?

Also is there any specifics for the artwork? Style of art, content that must be included, things like that? Or just looking for somebody to do a picture up based on what comes to mind off the chapters to read?

I'll try and post anymore questions ASAP. But I guess I better get to the reading first eh?

 

[Commissar Ploss]

i'm sure we can stretch the deadline a little further.

CP

 

[Grins1878]

Yeah that's no worries gents

It'll be US trade size I expect, so it'll be 6" x 9". was going to make it a pocket size like pratchett sized but the amount of pages pushes the cost per book way up, and sadly, no lottery win yet haha

Basically it could be anything, you can base it on the chapters online, or if you have a specific idea run it by me in a PM. I think the main toons are described in there.

Cheers for posting then, I've been dreading pulling out my pencils for the past week! haha

 

[Babypowder]

Kinda got busy past couple days but I read what I think is what that link was supposed to go to. The link in the first post kind of just goes to an error page for me but I went to your blog and judging by the links name and stuff I read the Heist Too Far post about the blue skinned thief, the black mustache, and the elf.

Before I get to the characters and stuff here's some basic questions I had. Would you need a title designed for the cover as well? Or should the art be done in a way that a title you already have done will go over neatly? Also, for the back cover part, will there be a description of the book and stuff like normally is on paper backs or will this be fairly empty for the art?

Now assuming I read the right thing I made some notes about the three main characters.

Mallik wears a leather trench coat(assuming dark brown/black?) Has a rune sword(assuming its basically a normal one handed sword done up to look luxurious?) Wears a Brimmed hat that has a cord chin strap(I kinda got the mental image of Vampire Hunter D's hat if you've seen that?) His skin is blue. And he has a horse named Kain.

Dick Swede "The Black Mustache" is the highwayman mentioned in the first post(Is he the main character or Mallik?) Wears black shoes, pants, and a frilly white shirt(I'm guessing he's meant to look like a cross between a pirate and someone of intelligence?) Wears a Tri-corner Hat with Bright Pink Feather Plume(Kinda like Pirates/Old Navy type hats?) and a cloak(Assuming just a sort of dark colored cape of some sort?) Uses a sword and pistol throughout the story. Rides a horse named Black Bess.

Jules Van Jives is the sidekick mentioned(I'm assuming he's the side kick.) Is a tall well built elf with a crossbow and a sword. I didn't gather too much info about this character other than he is annoying and likes to blow stuff up.

The three men are wanted thieves basically? The setting seems like old fantasy type with a grim/dark overcast?

I kind of have a few ideas I'm sketching around with at the moment. I just wanted to get all this strait before I try to paint something digitally. If I'm way off let me know, if it sounds close I'll keep working. I was kinda just thinking about maybe a picture of the three of them on horses in rainy weather with a kind of dark mood about it.

Also, since you don't seem to be getting much response here, though I will probably have something to show in the next day or so, You could maybe try looking for people at CG Hub. The site is full of great artists, much of which are better than I am. They also regularly do a challenge type thing where you are tasked to submit a piece based off a story in a book cover format(I will probably actually steal their template.)

I'm going to go ahead and start fleshing my idea out based on what I've got here, I'll wait for your responses before I finalize something and submit for review though!

 

[Grins1878]

Blimey you pulled a heap of info out of there!

Yeah the descriptions you've got are pretty much spot on. Just in case

Mallik: the brim of his hat is hugely wide, so he could stand in the rain for a bit and not get wet, probably just over shoulder with. His sword is also a bastard sword or hand and a half sword for use with one or two hands. Also, his eyes are yellow with no pupil.

Moustace you got pretty much spot on. The cloak he and Jules wear are just your standard black hooded cloak (think frodo and his chums cloaks).

For Jules, he wears some badly maintained chainmail, a pot helmet most of the time, and has shoulder length scruffy hair (not deliberatly scruffy, just not combed ).

Correct on all counts with the old fantasy and the wanted men.

The cover will have a black spine (I'm trying to get rid of this though), a block with the title on the front, and a block of waffle on the back. If anything interesting is on this I'd whack it around the back The title will be in a normal type font so there's no need to worry about that for now

Cheers for this pal, looking forward to seeing what you have

 

[TheLunaWolf]

i just saw this post and i will try and get something sketched out and finished asap. can you stretch the submission window a bit longer? if not i could see what i can do tonight.

 

[Commissar Ploss]

yeah, we'll be able to extend it.

CP

 

[Babypowder]

Took a little longer than I expected. Been busy enrolling in school and such. But here is my idea!

Since the spine is black I figure it might look cool to do a framed like picture for the cover art, then you could insert the box of text for your title/author above it, with a black border around everything so it's cohesive with the spine. Would probably look decent.

I ended up settling on something kind of simplistic with the three guys looking shifty in the dark.

I have a fairly high resolution image of it if you need it. I'm going to actually post the art part in my art gallery, hope that's ok! I'll put a link to your blog and say what it was for in the description.

 

[Commissar Ploss]

wow, nice job dude!

CP

 

[Babypowder]

Thanks. I enjoyed it. Learned a bit on this one.

 

[Grins1878]

Looking swish that man I like it

 

[Grins1878]

The deadline has been pushed back until the end of September, so if there are any other takers please feel free to have a crack.

Any submissions I'll be aiming to add to the back of the book as a kind of collection of art for it. If you're willing to put the time and effort in I'd like to show my appreciation for it.

Keep 'em coming folks

 

[Grins1878]

Hi all,

I'm sad to say the doors to this competition have now been closed. What I'm happy to say, is that Babypowder has very kindly provided me with the cover for my first book, and a stunning piece of artwork it is too.

Shown below, he's managed to capture the darkness of the book and the main characters and managed to draw them almost exactly as they'd been imagined all those years before.

Thanks once again for this pal, I'll be sorting it out this week, and with any luck, a copy will be winging itself to you in the very near future :-D

Grins
x

 

[Grins1878]

A Final Note

Hi anyone who cares to have a read

Well the book's in print with Babypowder's artwork on it for all to see. Prices are as low as I could get them (as in, if one is ordered and then sold through like amazon in two months, I receive a whopping 11p! woop!!), but as it's print on demand they're a little more than usual.

Anyhow, it's 575 pages, available as hardback, paperback and eBook, so if anyone fancies a crack at it, here it is:

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/RobKnipe

Hope folk enjoy it, and Babypowder's will be en route to him as soon as I get them delivered!

Cheers

Grins
x