It's December :)

And the countdown begins.

Christmas is pretty much my favourite time of year. Though the commercial side generally starts a lot earlier than December, this is the month my Christmas spirit kicks in and as soon as I can I send the hubby up in the roof to get the decorations down. I'm very particular about my tree, I love to fill as much space as I can and every year I've owned a house of my own, I have bought an extra ornament to hang on it. I'm very much a gold and red kind of girl and though I sometimes consider having a new colour scheme each year, I can't help but to go back to what I know and what feels traditionally Christmassy to me. Via my nan, I have several cuddly toys and toys that sing and dance (much to the hubby's annoyance) and I love stringing tinsel all over the place.

I'm looking forward to wrapping gifts and eating ridiculous amounts of food, but more than anything, I can't wait to spend time with my family and extended family. For me, that's what it's all about.

What does Christmas mean to you?

I've had the pleasure of designing some seasonal covers this year each with a different feel, but in the end they're about coming together and love at Christmas time.

Latest Covers

For Toni Griffin who's descriptions involved a guy with a dark tattoo down his spine and a girl hugging a stuffed wolf toy for her next two Holland Brothers covers :)

Model Makeover #2

Tomorrow, I'm focusing on writing The Bad Wolf, but today, I had an arty day and worked on giving another model a makeover. Original Image © Dmitroza | Dreamstime.com

Friday Favourite #4

Well, 3 favourites this time :) I love this trilogy of covers for the Fire Trilogy rereleased next year from RJ Scott. I liked making a set so they all matched and shared a theme. They all consisted of a single image, textured, coloured and then the fire added to each one. They were different to a lot of the covers I had done already at the time and have come to be some of my favourites. Of the three, if I had to pick one, I'd choose Kian. He was the first and an image that caught my eye and inspired the rest in the set.

Current Projects

Missed posting my Friday favourite this week so instead an update:

This last week I've worked on covers for upcoming re-releases of Amber Kell's Blood, Sun and Moon series.

I then started work on her Vampire Wanted (Nick's Tales Book 1) which should be finished and finals sorted today.

Also this week Silvia Violet bought an image from the photographer Dan Skinner to use for promo pieces including an image for a totebag, business cards and facebook banner/icon.

I have to say, the image was gorgeous :)

I'm also in the process of finishing the e-book cover for Silvia's future release, Sorting Out, a sequel to the original ménage, Fitting In.

Future Projects:

Sorting Out print cover (Silvia Violet)
Moon Pack Volume 1 print cover (Amber Kell)
Bonding with Graven (Amber Kell)
Saving Valor (Amber Kell)

Friday Favourite #3

A very recent cover for you all today, made just this week in fact. This cover is for Amber Kell's rerelease of Twisted Rose - a detective story set around a BDSM club and all that comes with it.

The cover was simple and effective, but also took me possibly more time than some of the others to create. As I've said before, I do like details, so turning ...

...into what we have on the cover (even if it is behind the text ;P) was a cool challenge and was certainly worth the effort.

Model Makeover #1

I haven't done a lot of manipulations with images on covers in terms of a makeover for the models. I decided I'd like to practice this a bit more and change how a person looks. This is my first piece. I had fun, even if she didn't ;)

Original image © Abdone | Dreamstime Stock Photos

The Woes of a Cover Artist

Do you know what the biggest problem for me as a cover artist is?

Original models.

Seriously, unless you charge a fortune to cover your costs or your customer is able to buy one of the expensive photos from either istock or an actual photographer, then there's not really all that much unique choice out there on your affordable stock image sites.

I'm not going to start pulling any covers up in particular (scroll through my covers page and you can probably play guess where you've seen that guy before) but I see the same men popping up all the time...and you know why? Because they're hot and because they're cheap (just the way men should be lol). The worst offenders? Blond men. OMG it is a nightmare to find a sexy blond guy, second to that long haired sexy guys, they're all like 15 or well, not quite the hot and sexy authors are looking for.

I guess it's a case of first, luck, if you make a surprising find while scrolling through the 10,000 dark haired men you pull up on a search (some off these being blonde women. WTF search?!), second, set your sights a little lower, use those guy-next-door types instead of the Oh-am-I-drooling models, or third, it comes down to what-you-do-with-it.

I like to think I can create something special for an author and make it project the emotion and genre of their book, their story, not someone else's who may have the exact same guy in the exact same pose. I can change eye colour, hair colour, to some extent I can add hair (Is he wearing a toupee?) different clothes, different backgrounds, but unless I give him a moustache, dark glasses, and a baseball cap, it's still that guy that was on that cover over there, as well.

I do wonder if readers realise this sometimes when they point out where they've seen a model before..."Oh, isn't that blahblah from whatsimebob? Look everyone, someone else already used this picture for their story first." Way to kill the author's excitement. It's their cover for their story that they've put everything into. Their baby and someone's given their characters actual faces, something for readers to refer to. Authors with different publishers/cover artists even find themselves with the same guy on multiple books, but again, it's down to costs and what is available for lower prices.

So, there you have it, my greatest nemesis... the stock photo site.

Favourite Friday

Since I just finished working on RJ Scott's latest Texas cover, I felt it the right time to post another of my favourites, Texas Winter. I love to make covers made up of lots of little details and pieces. In particular this one had several elements including additional textures and layers that combined to make the final cover.

New Cover (RJ Scott)

The fourth book in the Texas series by RJ Scott.

Favourite Cover Friday.

My new feature. I have been fortunate enough to work with a number of great authors so far on book cover designs. I'd like to present some of my favourites for you. Today's cover I created for Sue Brown. She is an author who believed in less is more and I love the simple beauty of the final cover.

 

Magazine Adverts

Recent artwork for magazine advertisements.



A New Look

My latest project was to provide some images for a makeover for Diane Adams' website and facebook pages. Have to say it was nice to get a different kind of project to work on.

The image set included icons, banners and backgrounds - all colour coordinated and of the same theme.

Latest cover

My latest cover for Kimberly Hunter. It was a pleasure working on this and loved the look and feel of the ménage cover we agreed on. It's always great to work on different styles and genres :)

 

Nearly There!

I think I've just about got this place sorted out. I have myself a swanky new banner and icon, and have updated all the tabs.  For covers, banners and all your arty needs, Art by Meredith is here :)

Imagine. Create. Share.

This blog is a work in progress. This will be for information and updates on my art projects.

Thank you,

Meredith