The very first book cover I ever illustrated was recently published, crossing that goal off of my bucket list and making me (officially) a published illustrator! In the past, I've had credits in comic books both through my day-job and as a colorist for comics and I've also had my work displayed in galleries, but ultimately this marks my first published illustration and I am thrilled with how it turned out!
I met G. A. Finocchiaro, the author of The Knightmares, in 2015 at Wizard World Philadelphia, where I was tabling in Artist Alley for the very first time. He liked my Seven Deadly Sin series (my college thesis), my compositions, and use of color, and after talking for several minutes we found a lot of common ground with our interests. We exchanged contact information and set a time to meet up to discuss his book further and set an agreement for the work I'd be doing for the cover.
We talked about the plot, important events and characters, symbolism, color schemes, influences and inspiration... He had many ideas and elements that he wanted translated into one image but he also allowed for my own creative freedom and feedback and we bounced ideas back and forth. We actually switched gears and scrapped the first cover illustration for a second concept, which ended up being the final cover. It was a really fun collaboration and I am happy to have gained a wonderful friend too!
Here is the final illustration used for the cover:
If you are interested in purchasing a copy of The Knightmares, it is available through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Inkshares. For more information, you can visit the book's website: www.theknightmares.com
"...The Knightmares is a spooky comedy filled with heart, big laughs, and genuine scares. Plunge into a world of ghosts, pirate treasure, monsters, alien gods, alchemy, and exorcisms with a motley crew of unlikely heroes."
What's next? Well, the past year has been a busy one for me and you can expect to see my work published two more times in the coming months! First, my "Twisted Endings (Evil Queen)" piece was selected for inclusion in Infected By Art Vol. 6, which should be out by the end of October. If you're interested in purchasing the art book, it is currently still open for pre-orders and is available for purchase here: https://shop.infectedbyart.com
I also spent about half of 2018 creating a series of vignettes inspired by Florence + The Machine songs for Red Stylo Media's next music-inspired fanthology, Cosmic Love. They released a special, limited edition for this year's FlameCon, but I don't yet have a specific update on when the Kickstarter for the regular edition will launch. What I do know is that the book is gorgeous and full of good stories and art! If you love indie comics and anthologies, I'd highly recommend checking out Red Stylo's website! They publish a lot of great stories and anthologies. http://redstylo.com
And if you are someone who is interested in comics, then it might interest you to know that earlier this year I colored a 10-page comic, written by Jeremiah Jay with art by Bob Hall (Shadowman), which was featured in another music-based anthology for the metal band A Sound of Thunder. Each comic in the anthology corresponds to a song on their latest album, It Was Metal. The anthology is also titled It Was Metal and can be purchased from the band's store and website here: www.asoundofthunderband.com
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post and for your interest in my art!
If you are an author or art director interested in working together for your book cover or project,
my email is RachelPerciphone@gmail.com
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