Murder Under the Covered Bridge

Murder Under the Covered Bridge- Digital by Greg Newbold.

Here's the finished version of the cover for "Murder Under the Covered Bridge. I posted the drawing concepts for this project  earlier on the blog and wanted to show how things turned out. I like how it all came together. Here's the final graphite drawing I drew and then painted over in Photoshop.

Lynne at Llewellyn Worldwide loved how it had a little WPA feel to it and commented how it reminded her a bit of Thomas Hart Benton. I take being compared to Benton as a high compliment. I'm not sure when this one will be released, but I am sure I will get a copy of it when it rolls out. 

New Murder Mystery Cover Sketches

Revised rough sketch as approved

I'm working on a new murder mystery book cover and thought I would give a sneak peek at the cover sketch process.

You may remember the cover art a year or so ago for "Murder on the Bucket List". This was the first book in what was hoped to be a series of mysteries involving a group of seasoned older ladies. Well, the book apparently did well enough to merit a sequel and so I get to do this cover as well.

Rough sketch options

This one called Murder Under the Covered Bridge. The opening scenes involve a period photo shoot and the protagonists discovering a body on the banks of a river spanned by a classic New England covered bridge. I came up with four possible solutions from which the client selected one. I did a revision of the idea to better accommodate the type treatment and it was approved. I'll be working up the final drawing and art next and will post the final art when it is finished up.

Delivering the Truth

Delivering the Truth- Digital over graphite by Greg Newbold

Here is another book cover I just finished. The book is a mystery novel called Delivering the Truth and deals with a Quaker midwife in 1888 Massachusetts. She doles out advice, delivers babies and even solves mysteries in her spare time. I wanted to do something that gave the flavor of the era as well as a sense of mystery.

The client proposed an arrangement similar to this

The client proposed a shot of the character from behind that focused on the apron strings. I secured a great costume through my connections at the regional theater here in town, Pioneer Theater and had a great photo shoot that gave me multiple options. I created three possibilities of which I liked one the best.

I felt that a cropped shot of the figure holding the doctor bag was strongest and would be more to the point. By zooming in closer on the hands, and not showing the face, that cover option would add a sense of mystery as well.  Thankfully the art director and designer agreed and I got the go ahead. I was asked to add the town and landscape behind the figure in the distance which I had left out of the sketch.

I was not sure that my favorite option would be chosen, but it was simple to drop a few buildings in behind the figure. The monochromatic color scheme allows for the hands to be the true focus of the piece as well. I enjoyed painting them and tried to say a lot with the gesture of the hands. I think it gives a sense of confidence, gentleness and a bit of apprehension all at the same time. Perfect for the tone of the book. Thanks to Llewellyn Worldwide Publishers for the chance to work on this project..

Murder on the Bucket List

Murder On The Bucket List- Digital by Greg Newbold

I just finished this piece for a mystery novel cover. It's a bit it's a mystery novel with a bit of a light hearted twist in that the team of protagonists are all older ladies. The publisher wanted a less serious tone to the cover, so I went for a little stylization in the characters without falling too far into caricature. The opening scenes happen at night as the group gets together at a member's backyard pool to scratch another item off their bucket lists, namely to go skinny dipping. That would be why they are all clad in bathrobes, but it all turns south when someone notices a smell and they subsequently find the body.

I wanted to capture a mood of mystery by using the glow of the pool to silhouette the women. Also created a warm under light with the citronella candle. It's tricky to create these types of lighting situations and I took some small liberties but overall, it fits in with the stylized nature of the piece.
I think it's pretty successful and the client was thrilled with the result. This book is earmarked to become an ongoing series if the first volume pans out. That would be fun since it has been a bit since I got the chance to do a series of covers.

Suspend Disbelief

Any book or movie that falls into the fantasy genre demands that you suspend disbelief and just sit back and enjoy the story. I think it would also be pretty cool to be able to suspend magical flames in my hand and then send them flying like the character in this book.The painting above is from a series of covers I did for the Chestomanci Series by Diana Wynne Jones.

The book is called The Lives of Christopher Chant and you can still get it, though the series of covers I did has been phased out and the books are now packaged with different covers. It's a bummer that most books that hang around for any length of time get the face lift treatment, but such is life. It was fun to do so many covers for the same author and series though. I think I did seven or eight Wynne Jones covers over a period of a couple of years.

Puzzled

Digging through the archives a few weeks back, I found this cover I did for a murder mystery set in the southwest. It was titled Death of the River Master by Allana Martin and was published by St. Martin's Press. The story conflict revolved around water rights between neighboring towns on either side of the U.S-Mexican border. Murder and conspiracy ensue. As I recall, I quite enjoyed the story. I went for a metaphorical solution involving the desert mud and a couple of bullets forming a skull. I especially like how the dry riverbed mud puzzled all together. It made the textures and patterns a lot of fun to paint. I still really like this one.