For only the second time in 85 years, Time magazine abandoned the traditional red border it uses on its cover. The occasion – to push more global warming alarmism following the theme that green is the "new red, white and blue." But the April 21st issue is sparking ire among some Iwo Jima survivors. It’s become a visual meme in our culture, but some World War II veterans don’t believe that Joe Rosenthal’s seminal image of Americans hoisting the flag on Mount Suribachi should be appropriated or altered in any way. In fact, some vets, like Donald Mates, believe repurposing the photo, as Time magazine did, is tantamount to blasphemy.

Exhorder are best known as Pantera's most serious contenders. If not in sales stats, then in sound. This rather fun illustration depicts unknown agents dragging the pope out for his execution. Quite absurd, with the classic thrash metal touch.

The never-ending dystopia of death metal, manifested through Suffocation. Decay, chaos and apocalypse. And a fascination of all things cyber.

D.R.I was exactly that; crossover thrash. This cover just HAD to be spawned in the eighties, when the love of airbrushed metal was at it's heyday. Why the band settled for a spoofing man, beats me.

Long live the gore! This artwork concerning meat was initially censored, until it was replaced altogether for the re-issues. Pretty disgusting and frightening (considering those salmonella bacterias), it fits the noise perfectly.

Decidedly one of Bathory's most important releases, and it was packaged in style. It might be ousted as ridiculous, but it's still an iconic image.

Suicidal Tendencies urged us to join up through this truly horrific artwork. I guess it was a product of blatant patriotism and the popularity of a certain John Rambo.

Back when Alice was less of an old fart, he actually managed to frighten the public with the help of covers such as this. The drawing is undeniable cool though.

I guess the reason this Black Sabbath artwork isn't featured on t-shirts worldwide, is the fact that it's rather silly. How scary can a red baby really be?

I do realize that this is supposed to be humorous, but still. This is just awful.

Many people seem to enjoy the art that encased the early progrock-releases. Well, this cover of Yes has a dreamy quality to it. A fantasy castle conceived during some heavy chemical influence.

Hey, it's The Planet of the Apes all over again! A great image that probably would prompt me into buying.

Very clever. It's like King Kong, only there's a tiger. Fancy rendering, lame plot.

Vorige week gebeurde dan toch het onvermijdelijke. De band van de cassette raakte verstrikt in de speler. Het toont dat die ouderwetse technologie niet onfeilbaar is. Het eerste idee was om die leuke verzameling als een iPod afspeellijst te bewaren. Ondertussen lijkt een cd toch aanlokkelijker. Zo'n schijfje hoort in een doosje, dat op zijn beurt weer een kaftje kan gebruiken. Het is toch allemaal wat tastbaarder. De coverart is al klaar. Een simpel sprekend beeld maakt meteen duidelijk waarover het gaat. Wat dramatische effecten versterken het beeld. Hier zal ook menig bezoeker de wenkbrauwen over fronsen...

er schijnen huizen te bestaan

met iedere morgen ontbijt met graan

en waar bewoners aangenaam

de liefde bedrijven met warme lijven

er schijnen mensen te bestaan

die iedere dag gelukkig zijn

en vrijwel zorgeloos zonder pijn

doen wat ze moeten, doen wat ze willen

maar wat dan nog?

ja, wat dan nog?

we leven nog

we leven nog

mensen, we zijn rijk

tenminste, we leven nog

hebben zelden pijn

ja, alles kan beter, de crisis te lang

en in onze steden zijn de mensen bang

alles kan beter, het is snel gezegd

maar met onze wetten

maak je wat krom is zelden recht

alles kan mooier, alles kan beter

het is snel gezegd

maar wat dan nog?

ja, wat dan nog?

we leven nog

we leven nog

laat ons bidden!

of beter nog;

laat maar zitten

Tekst: Stijn Meuris - Muziek: Noordkaap 

Wow. I can't believe it!

I've won the October Award for Most Relevant Cover over at The New Covey Awards. It's really nice to be recognised in this field of work, especially considering I'm still a relative newbie.

Congratulations also go to Lexie Davis , the author of Rain Fell Down :D

Thank you to everyone who voted for this cover *hugs*. and thanks to TEB for giving me a go ;) Sheesh! Anyone would think I'd won an Oscar, LOL.

Being a Cover Artist is one of those jobs that I've always wondered about and wished that perhaps one day I'd achieve. Even as a kid I would wish I could paint/draw as well as the artists on the covers of my favourite books. Usually it was horses, like most young girls ;) . Still it seems to have been one of those jobs that I've always coveted, yet could find so little information about.

So I've decided to use this blog as a way to promote my own covers, as well as discuss what's involved in creating them. It's a bit of a 'Bridesmaid' role, considering that it is what's between the covers that people are after. However, I like to remind myself that mostly it is the cover that draws the reader's attention in the first place. So instead of being a 'Bridesmaid' perhaps we should consider ourselves more like 'Match Makers' ;)

All the posts you see below are what I have transferred over from Blogger.

Cheers!

I've also been trying to create a CSS Journal for my DeviantArt page but have given up in disgust. I have a feeling that no matter how hard I try, I'm never going to understand the codes. I might yet have to palm it off to someone who knows a bit more about it. And here I was considering creating my own web page. Yeah. Right!

Here's a little something that might be of interest. It's a breakdown of one of Lust In Time. If it's a bit hard to read, it can be seen here. Just click on it to enlarge.

The concept for the cover was pretty straight forward. The character has dark curly hair and blue eyes so all I had to do here was change her eye colour. The houses were a good find and seemed to fit the storyline well. The card is a carry-on from the previous cover and ties the series together. So there it is - a pretty simple, yet effective cover :D

Got a few minutes spare? Go check out Dionne Galace's recent interview with incredibly talented Cover Artists - April Martinez, Anne Cain, Frauke of Croco Designs & Christine Griffin.

Dionne also asked other cover artists to send in a sample of their work which I did. I got a great & might I add VERY quick response. So it seems that I may just be part of Bam's Friday Showcase! I was asked for a quick rundown on the cover that I sent over. I'm ot very good at that sort of thing, BUT I sent off a little blurb so we'll see whether I look like a right git once it hit's the ether LOL.

Got some more covers coming so better get back to them.

So, if there's anyone out there ..... (echo .. echo .. echo ..) Head on over and vote for us - The New Covey Awards ;)

Hmm ... probably should let people know that I have a blog LOL!

Cheers,

Demon Wind is probably my favourite of this group, and really tested my skills. The original couple were clothed so I had to paint out their swimmers. Even went to the extreme of painting the woman's nipple, only to be told it might be a bit too sexy LOL! I tried to paint in some wet cloth, but I ain't that talented, so went with shadowing instead.

Whipped probably took the most time as there were quite a few redo's and touch-ups but I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

The woman originally had red hair so I had to darken it to black. Gawd I hate hair. It's probably one of the few things when it comes to manipulation that I dislike doing. There's a fine line between having it look 'normal' and having it look like a wig. Still, I think I pulled it off this time ;) Not so sure about the guy's though.

So, I've currently got 5 covers on the go. I'm stuck on the first, of course. The damn thing has twins in it. So I guess that by having twins we need to see their faces, which means that I need two images of the same guy but both slightly different. Otherwise it might look a bit clone-ish. So after some fiddle farting around with the fabulous Claire over at TEB we finally decided on some stock that might work. Now I just need to give the guy's curly hair and change the heroine's hair from red to black. God I hate hair! All the more reason to chop off their heads.

Anyway, brings to mind something else that I have been thinking of lately. I have never done a course in design/photoshop/cover art, etc, so there is every chance that I am spending hours on something that could be easily done in a few minutes. I've also noticed that most of the cover artists are Graphic Designers, which makes me feel a bit of a ring-in. I wouldn't mind doing a course in Graphic Design but am not quite sure what it entails or if I'd even be able to qualify. Being a mature aged student and all. Something to look into anyway - It's a bit scary, but exciting at the same time.

No doubt I'll post my journey here too :D

I've just purchased a stock subscription so am now madly downloading as much stock as I can :lol: Lord only know's if I'll ever use any of it. Still, it can't hurt I guess. Considering I have a limit of 5 downloads a day, I want to make the most of my money. Lucky I like doing photomanips so if I don't use them on a cover, maybe I'll use them in my artworks.

Anyway, I feel like I'm just writing things to fill a blank :lol: So I'll stop now until I have something more interesting to add ;)

I think I'm starting to find a style that I'm happy with. I like the clean, fresh, less cluttered approach. But of course, next week that could change LOL. Looking back at my earlier covers (yes, I know that wasn't that far back), I think I was trying a bit too hard. But you get that I guess. At least I can see improvements, even if others can't.