• US$520

• 28 designs

• 11 designers

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Book Cover Design Brief

I'm looking for a book cover for a re-titling of my existing book, "Tahr - The Days of Ash and Fury Volume I". The book is going to be re-titled as "Omens of Fury".

The winner of this project will be also be offered a contract to complete at least three additional covers.

***Important: this should be a digitally painted scene, but quite realistic! If it's cartoon-like, it wouldn't fit. Resolution: Right side and left side (back of book) 3000w x 4800h, plus 400px spine, so total image size 6400w x 4800h***

The theme:

A tall dark wizard, long dark hair, wearing a dark robe, stands on the upper balcony of a light grey marble wizard tower, perfectly cylindrical, gazing away from the reader, to the north-northeast over the parapets. If you show the hem of his robe, it is a blood-crimson color. The wizard and tower are only a foreground to provide perspective and altitude for a proper view; the main point of the scene is the landscape to the north/northeast. The degree to which the tower is "zoomed in" on is up to the artist, so long as the character is recognizable as a person, and probably a wizard. It could even be be an over-the-shoulder view from within the tower, only the marble handrail of the balcony being visible. Note: he is not holding a staff.

Surrounding the tower lies the city, a city of approximately 300,000, sprawling several miles in every direction (although we can only see north/northeast on the main cover page.) The architecture would be medieval, or at least pre-industrial. A wall surrounds the city, and the land becomes more sparsely populated and forested to the north of the wall. A river runs east to west in the distance to the north; after it, the forests become quite thick all the way to the horizon. A road runs true north leading away from the city, cobblestone within its limits, becoming a wide dirt trail past the wall. Depending on the shot angle, this may be difficult to portray, but I would like it to at least be hinted at.

In multiple places throughout the horizon beyond the city, thin streams of smoke are seen, the evidence of small fires, perhaps a dozen.

The landscape to the northeast becomes mountainous before the horizon, and near the far side of the right edge of the book cover, just beyond the foothills, we see a tall narrow volcano, slightly taller than the surrounding mountains, only recently awakened, not quite erupting but ash and smoke are pouring from its mouth into a cloud. The wind blows gently east to west; the ash cloud is beginning to grow, but does not yet fill the entire sky. The volcano is just north of the river that is described above.

It is autumn, and the time of day is near twilight, so the sky will be quite colorful, as will the forestry. The light source will be from the left (western) side of the landscape. Lighting and realism is EVERYTHING for this piece, should be epic and inspiring! Feel free to apply textures that give the scene a sense of having been painted, or keep it crisp, as you prefer.

For the left side of the image (the back of the book) a continuation of the image with the tower basically on the spine would make most sense, I think, but feel free to be bold and play around with this theme, provided that the geographic elements are well represented. Again, the degree to which the whole thing is zoomed in or out is up to you, so long as the wizard on the tower is identifiable as such.

As far as title font goes, I am going for a serif font, and shooting for a balance between masculine and feminine, but use your imagination. Currently I use Goudy Old Style, but it's OK if you want to use something different. The font should be beveled sharply and contrast well against the background so that the title "pops" in a thumbnail.

Included must please be the title; 'Omens of Fury', the series indicator, 'The Days of Ash and Fury, Volume One' and the author name, 'SEAN HINN' in bold at the bottom. I will handle the typography on the back of the book.

The winner will agree to provide a layered PSD or EPS file, and certify that all work is original. The artist will be credited in the novel and on my social media pages, and I will own the work. The artist may sign the work and include it in his or her portfolio and social media pages, but may not make it available for sale.

If you have any questions at all about this project, please feel free to email me, sean@seanhinn.com and we can set up a time to talk on the phone or over skype.

Thanks to all you super-talented folks who will enter this contest!

Attached below are a few images for inspiration, indicating the kind of lighting and "feel" I am going for, as well as a map to give you the lay of the land. (These are not from this series but just great images I could imagine seeing somewhere in the world of Tahr.)

Target Market(s)

Fantasy Artists

Industry/Entity Type

Landscape

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Font styles to use

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Colors

Designer to choose colors to be used in the design.

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Look and feel

Each slider illustrates characteristics of the customer's brand and the style your logo design should communicate.

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Files

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