Dungeon Bringer Art

Hey guys, so this isn't necessarily James A. Hunter art, so much as it is Shadow Alley Press art. But then I thought, I run Shadow Alley Press -- that's a big part of my work, and I wanted to give you all a little glimpse behind of the curtain of what I do besides write.

So, on top of writing all my books, I'm also in charge of about a gajillion things for the Press and its authors. I review outlines, do developmental edits for the folks we work with, offer pep talks, and run writing workshops to help out authors improve their craft. But the thing I love doing most? The art. I am almost solely responsible for finding artists, coming up with cover concepts, assembling all the cover comp titles, then making sure the art work turns out great. Getting new artwork back is one of my favorite things, and this morning we got a "final" art (without Title treatment, someone else does that) back for Nick Harrow's second Dungeon Bringer Novel. In the future, I'll try to post the art as it's coming in, but I thought this time I'd run you through the process. 

So here is the rough line art, which eventually became this gorgeous photo above.  Now, in the initial conversation, I'll explain exactly what I want to see in the cover. How many characters, which characters, what do they look like, what they're doing -- action poses, static poses -- and mention title layout (it'll be at the bottom, so make sure there's room!), and color. I'll also send over a bunch of artwork I find on pinterest to give the artist an idea of what I want, and I even occasionally do rough cover sketches for layout (depends on which artist I'm working with). The line art is the artist's interpretation on my instructions, and is usually way cooler than what I'd envisioned in my head anyway (because they are professionals and way better at art than me!). 

Assuming I like and approve of the line art, then this is followed by the rough color version, where the artist refines things, and starts to paint over the characters and add the color. I make suggestions for the final version.

Now, the guy who does these is a real pro. So there were only a few minor changes in composition from the rough color to the final -- the lady in the back now has green hair and her skin is sort of a grayish color, for example.  Once he has my feedback, he puts the on final touches, works in the details, and sends over the finished art. This process usually takes about three weeks.

Anyway, that's a bit about how the art works. Hope you all don't mind me sharing about the process a bit.