This last April I was asked by Charity Becker of Blysster Press to do the cover art for Crypticon Seattle’s Writing Contest horror anthology called De-Compositions.
I’d been doing some sketches of what I am calling “Hooded Creepers” and decide to incorporate them into the cover.
Preliminary sketch, foreground character was originally holding a doll, which I liked but wanted to go a wee bit creepier, so I had him holding a cloth with a persons face on it. The background character had a death thing going on with the scythe, thought it a bit too obvious and changed it in the final drawing.
I first go over the line drawing with colored pencil and burnt Umber acrylics, then give it a burnt sienna acrylic wash.
I re-darken the background area with more burnt umber and add more detail.
I then go in and add high-lights.
I then send the art off to the publisher who then does the final book design.
Here it is at the Crypticon Seattle horror convention, during the author awards ceremony.
Comments (1)
We are so very pleased with Nick's work on this project. He nailed the theme, and the details in the finished product were simply astounding. It all came together to create a mind-blowing cover. Blysster Press could not be more proud of the work Nick did for us–we'll be coming to him next year for more!
Charity Becker
Blysster Press Editor-In-Chief