Category: Art

Work-in-Progress Wednesday Book Cover Art Makeover – FASHION FRENCHIES Cover Makeover: ruby red!

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More progress on my FASHION FRENCHIES book cover rebranding!

I took some time on a printout to rough out a simpler #background (a la BEWITCHED) before working on it digitally. There, I discovered I had room for a sewing machine, which lead to a roll of fabric. I thought it looked nice so I’m going to work on it more!

I think the characters really pop against this color, but I’m wondering if it’s too dark a color an uplifting fantasy comedy. What do you think?

Hopefully I can move on to the outfits soon. 🙂

 

"Fashion Frenchies" series book cover. Background is now a ruby red-pink cover. A smiling French bulldog, inked with flat colors, now stands on a simple table built of flat vector shapes. Next to him is a simple sewing machine with some fabric on it. Behind him, a sassy fashion grandmain a simple placeholder black dress stands with one arm akimbo. She appears to be throwing a roll of magical fabric with her other hand. Simple cabinets are indicated at the top, providing backdrop for the series and title text in a retro script font: FASHION FRENCHIES BOOK 1: LOVE POTION COMMOTION.

WIP Wednesday Book Cover Art – FASHION FRENCHIES Cover Makeover

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More rebranding work on the FASHION FRENCHIES series book covers. (I wanna release FASHION FRENCHIES 2: THE POOCH SALUTE! in Spring 2025 and thought I’d redo the cover to FASHION FRENCHIES 1: LOVE POTION COMMOTION! while I was at it)

I buckled down last week and inked both characters. I’m keeping simple fill for colors–because these are now “paper dolls”! They’ll have different themed outfits for each book cover!

I also bought a new typeface (font) for the titles, after another set didn’t work out (I had to get a refund!)

And I’m working on a series logo (which is currently kicking my butt, yikes!). You might see a progress bit on it next week.

Enjoy!

FASHION FRENCHIES series book cover, work in progress. Background is still puce (grey-purpley). A smiling French Bulldog, now fully inked with flat colors, now stands on a simple table built of flat vector shapes. Behind him, a newly-inked, fully-colored sassy elderly lady in a simple placeholder black dress stands with arm akimbo. Shelves are indicated at the top with darker rectangles, and neon purple lines roughly indicate fabric rolls that will go up there.

New dragon art for a smokin’ book birthday!

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Book birthday image - a stack of books topped by a party hat. Photo generously provided by by massonstock.myportfolio.com

Happy book birthday to DEBUTS AND DRAGONS (2019), a fun underdog story about a drab dragon! Here’s some art I’m working on of one of the characters, Pinnacle Smokebelcher:

 

Digitally colored sketch of a lantern-jawed red dragon with blue spikes. Work in progress.

He’s not a major character or anything, but with that name I couldn’t resist doodling him! Read DEBUTS AND DRAGONS today and see a ton more weird dragon names!

Get DEBUTS AND DRAGONS

Celebrate BULLDOGS ARE BEAUTIFUL DAY with fun digital wallpaper!

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April 21st is Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day!

So I made some digital wallpapers to celebrate the breed! Inspired by my FASHION FRENCHIES book series, FETCHING FRENCHIES (hand-drawn by yours truly) combines the cuteness of Frenchie faces with a fashionable and fun pattern! Comes in 12 color variations for device and desktop, including “Puppy Vuitton”, “Funky Freeze Dark” and “Goldscaled”.

FETCHING FRENCHIES sampler thumbnail

Get it today from my Gumroad store!

Know someone who likes Frenchies? Please share this post with them so they can enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Queen!

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Today’s the Queen’s birthday (costar of my science fantasy STEEL CITY, VEILED KINGDOM), so I thought I’d post some of my drawings of her to celebrate.

She’s been around a LOOOONG while so I have a lot of art of her. Here’s two newer sketches of her, a detailed charcoal portrait I did of her back in The Day, and an equally ancient 8-bit? 16-bit? pixel sprite (not animated).

Of course, this is just the way *I* imagine her…your mileage may vary, and that’s A-OK by me!

(Click images to embiggen.)

 

Elegant sketch of the QueenQueen with her nervous grin-that-isn't-a-grinCharcoal portrait of the Queen from STEEL CTIY, VEILED KINGDOMPixel art of the Queen

Cover Makeover: THE BUREAUCRAT

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As one of the first short stories I published, The Bureaucrat got the best cover I could make at the time (2017). And while I still like the vibe the original acid green cover brings to this Twilight Zone-esque tale of just deserts, I thought it was time for an update that brought the human(??) element to the fore. And thanks to artist Christian Bunyan, I’ve now got a new cover that ups the creep factor by ten!

Here’s the before:

The Bureaucrat (Cover)

And the creeptastic AFTER!

Cover to THE BUREAUCRAT - A creepy office worker stands grinning with blank eyes in front of a wall of spooky blank eyes.

The Bureaucrat: An Uncanny Satire is available now in ebook (digital retailers) and paperback (Amazon).

Click here to read an excerpt here at Pixelvania Publishing.

New Fantasy Adventure release: THE CAPRAMANCER NEXT DOOR

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There goats the neighborhood!

Cover for THE CAPRAMANCER NEXT DOOR: A laughing woman wields a glowing shepherd's crook while a goat leaps through a portal overhead

Down-to-earth mage Will Schafer has her hands full moving into a new house while keeping her mischievous herd of magical goats in line. Meeting handsome gardener Rickert Nash takes the sting out of moving…until his shadowy past comes roaring back to bite him in the butt.

Now Will and the herd must step in to save their neighbor from getting mulched—but can a girl and her goats defeat a formidable hunter…or are they all about to buy the farm?

Called “a wonderful read!” by GoatsLive.com, The Capramancer Next Door is an upbeat fantasy adventure sure to leave you smiling.

Read an excerpt here at Pixelvania Publishing.

I got to thinking about how hard it is to keep goats out of places they wanted to be, and came up with this portal-generating herd.

The perfect last-minute (digital) stocking stuffer – MIDWINTER MAGIC

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Cover for MIDWINTER MAGIC: A stylized glowing reindeer leaps against the blue Northern Lights

Once upon a time, magic left the world for a night. It sighed back in through the scullery door in the morning with the cat, but by then, the Queen of the Northern Elves had fallen into a deep sleep, and, greatly diminished, the returned magic could not wake her.

From the author who brought you The Purrfect Christmas and A Gingersnap Cat Christmas comes an enchanting collection of three original yuletide fairy tales, written in the tradition of Jane Yolen and Ursula Vernon.

A little Christmas present from me to you. If you like reindeer, Santa Claus, elves, and mythic origin stories, you’re probably gonna dig this.

Buy from your favorite eBook retailer here (includes Amazon)

More info and excerpt here on MIDWINTER MAGIC’s Pixelvania Publishing page.