[ inspired by the short story ‘Caverns of Mystery’ by Kage Baker, published by Subterranean Press ]
Book interior art for SUBTERRANEAN: TALES OF DARK FANTASY
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AV E R N S O F M Y S T E R Y 2008
I was asked to do a number of interiors for this anthology and was told that the cover art would be by Dave McKean. I’m a big fan of his work, which has been a big inspiration to me, so I jumped at the chance to be featured in the same book as one of my favourite artists.
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HE GOD ENGINES 2009
The physical appearance of the chained god isn’t described in much detail in the book but John gave me a lot of direction on how it should look. John saw it as being
more of a trickster god (a Loki as opposed [ by John Scalzi, published by Subterranean Press ]
Book cover for THE GOD ENGINES
lithe rather than overly muscular as it is
to Thor) who’s clever, a bit insane and very dangerous. I wanted to convey this in the pose and expression – it’s chained but isn’t struggling against its bonds and has a look that suggests that it’s the one with the power and may have a trick or two to escape when it wants.
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ELCOME TO NEKROPOLIS 2009 I had a great time working on this one. The publisher wanted the cover to have the feel of the Sin City movie posters, which I think look great, so I loved the direction this was going in straight away.
[ by Tim Waggoner, published by Angry Robot ]
Book cover for NEKROPOLIS
I’d built up a collection of photos of bones that I’d taken, which I’d been trying to find an excuse to use, so this was the perfect opportunity. The bone lamppost in particular was very fun to design. The idea for the tentacle coming out of the manhole came from the author, which I thought added a nice touch.