Recent Projects

Child of the Mountains, by Marilyn Sue Shank, is a middle-grade novel about the struggles of a girl growing poor in the 1950’s in Appalachia. I had recently taken taken a number of landscape photos of the region on a road trip from Florida to Ohio, so I had the background ready to go. It was just a matter of photographing the model to match, and some careful compositing.



CLIENT: RANDOM HOUSE
ART DIRECTOR: VIKKI SHEATSLEY





Above is the cover photograph for Riding For The Brand, a collection of western short stories by Louis L’Amour.

Below is the cover montage for another Louis L’Amour western title, Tucker, this one a novel. The cowboy, horses, and ship I culled from stock, the landscape is mine. In this case I found the stock photos first, then shot the beach scene to match found images.





cowboy on horse © Daniel Lobo
extra horse on beach © Jodi Jacobson
ship: unknown photographer

CLIENT: RANDOM HOUSE
ART DIRECTORS: BEAU L’AMOUR, SCOTT BIEL


Below are two unpublished comps for a novel, Bird Sisters, by Rebecca Rasmussen. The story centers on the relationship of two sisters growing up in small town Wisconsin in the late 1940’s.



CLIENT: CROWN PUBLISHING
ART DIRECTOR: JESSIE SAYWARD BRIGHT


Below is the cover image for The Exceptionals, by Erin Cashman. This teen fantasy novel reminded me slightly of an American Harry Potter. It is a battle of good vs. evil, and the protagonist, a fifteen year-old girl who can communicate telepathically with animals, attends a boarding school in New England, where all of the students have special powers.



CLIENT: HOLIDAY HOUSE
ART DIRECTOR: CLAIRE COUNIHAN

Cover for “Dark Passage”

This is the cover image for a historical/fantasy teen novel, by M.J. Putney, set in Regency England. The tunnel is a 4" x 7" x 60" model made from balsa wood, cardboard, spackle and sand, then painted with acrylic. Below are some of the unretouched photos of the tunnel. I photographed it first with a small figurine in place of the live model, so that I could match the lighting as closely as possible when I photographed the live model.

CLIENT: ST. MARTIN’S PRESS
ART DIRECTOR: ANGELA GODDARD

Cover for “War Party”

War Party is another collection of Louis L’Amour western short stories being repackaged by Random House. Thanks to Sarasota Architectural Salvage for the cool wagon wheel.



CLIENT: RANDOM HOUSE
ART DIRECTORS: BEAU L’AMOUR, SCOTT BIEL

Next Louis L'Amour Short Story Covers

Here are the approved cover images for the next two collections of Louis L'Amour western short stories, The Trail to Crazy Man, and The Rider of Ruby Hills, respectively.






Below are four rejected comp images for the above titles. I liked them a lot, but the client felt they were way too gentle, and asked for more explicit dramatic tension.









CLIENT: RANDOM HOUSE
ART DIRECTORS: BEAU L'AMOUR, SCOTT BIEL

Louis L'Amour Western Short Stories

I am currently working on an ongoing series of covers for Louis L'Amour western short stories and novels, which Random House is repackaging. L'Amour wrote over a hundred novels and short story collections, beginning in 1950 until his death in 1988. My understanding is that all of them are still in print. Below is the first approved cover collage. Below that are two of the unused preliminary ideas.





CLIENT: RANDOM HOUSE
ART DIRECTORS: BEAU L'AMOUR, SCOTT BIEL

Returning Vets: The War Within

Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have a difficult time readjusting to family life, especially those with PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries. That was the subject for this illustration for the Military Officers Association of America, in which I am trying to convey the vulnerability and isolation many veterans and their families struggle with.

CLIENT: MILITARY OFFICERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
ART DIRECTOR: ROSE RICHEY

Summer of Tough Love

Oh, I have been a bad blogger, I have not posted in over two months. I have been busy, which is always nice. Unfortunately, several of my recent efforts—for various reasons— never made it to press. Here are three projects which all died a premature death at comp stage:

These are two variations of a poster for a production of A Christmas Carol at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis:



CLIENT: GUTHRIE THEATRE, SPOTCO DESIGN
ART DIRECTOR: DARREN COX

This is a sketch and two comps for a novel about a dying young woman and an introverted, emotionally wounded young man transformed by love.



CLIENT: PICADOR
ART DIRECTOR: LEEANN FALCIANI

And here are two rejected versions of a paperback cover edition of a best-selling novel:



CLIENT: RANDOM HOUSE
ART DIRECTOR: ROBBIN SCHIFF, PAOLO PEPE