Possible Frontispiece for Fiend!

Sketch of the Day: Here’s a sketch I’m working on for the frontispiece of The Fiend and the Forge. The frontispiece is the illustration that goes right inside the cover and is thus critical as an attention grabber and mood setter. This scene is a powerful one in the book and I think could serve quite well if I can hammer out the final tweaks.

On a more involved/complex drawing such as this, I’ll work with pencil sketches, architectural models, and a digital drawing tablet to compose everything on the computer and experiment with different lighting, details, etc. before I’ll commit to doing the final artwork by hand using pen and ink and water. The computer is fantastic for taking the tedium out of things like perspective drawing (which was an absolutely brutal time killer) but I’ll always produce unique, handmade pieces for the final illustrations. That’s just my preference…I know other artists who swear by the computer for everything. The times, they are a changin’….