It was tremendously…

It was tremendously difficult choosing an illustrator for my Kickstarter book, Demimonde. Over fifty talented artists applied for the job, and out of that field, I narrowed it down to five finalists. I liked all of their work, and wasn't sure which would be right for the book. So I invited them to submit a draft illustration of one of my stories, "The Night Air," for which I would pay a small fee. I requested pen-and-ink style illustrations, since that's the look I want for the book. Beyond that, they were free to do whatever they wanted from the story of a brief, night-time encounter between a somewhat cat-like alien female and a human male.

All five decided to participate, and sent in wonderful images for my consideration. If any of you are looking for illustrators, here's a terrific sampling of talent. I wish I could use them all -- maybe someday, for future projects!

The four finalists, in alphabetical order, were Maral Agnerian, Robin Kaplan, April Kasulis, and K. Sekelsky.

Maral Agnerian:

Robin Kaplan:

April Kasulis:

K. Sekelsky:

And my selection in the end, Jack Kotz. I'm really delighted to be working with Jack. I loved his initial submission work, especially this piece -- the play of light and shadow in this piece is lovely and haunting. Jack is a student at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and was pointed at my project by one of his professors; I'm very grateful.

I think what I like best about this piece, (which Jack would like me to emphasize is only an initial rough draft) is the dynamic character energy in it. You can tell, just from looking, that there's a story here, a tension between these two. It's very alive.

I'm really looking forward to working with Jack on the rest of the book! Onward!

3 thoughts on “It was tremendously…”

  1. I am going to be putting out an album soon, and am thinking about cover art. If you are not too busy, and don’t mind talking to me about it, I would appreciate it if you would be willint to e-mail me so I could ask nosy questions about going rates and how you put the word out to artists that you are hiring and such?

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