A new book cover ... ' hell year' ... and what's new?

I know, I know, it's been a long time since I posted here ... and if I told you the story of 2018 it would be entitled "Hell Year." The year when I've spent most of the time trying to find a way to get back on my feet and stay out of the [insert your favorite expletive] hospital! But we're into mid-November now, and I'm still here. So ... here's a post to celebrate a book cover I just finished, and am very pleased with.

It's actually a digital painting, but it was based on a 3D model plus a drawing, and I designed this face from scratch, so ... 3D art? A cousin of 3D art at least. It's the cover for the new Mel Keegan novel, due out very soon -- a haunted house in the middle of a nasty winter, when you can't get out of the place. Very Gothic. (Very exciting, actually).

To give you an idea of how much painting is involved -- you'll have to see these at larger size to see the real work, but if you've an interest in this kind of thing, it might be well worth it:

The bald truth is, I haven't been able to do much art (or much of anything) in this last year. Right now, I have my eye on a new computer, new software, the works. Have you SEEN what DAZ has come up with lately? The new Genesis figures are out, and they are way beyond anything we could have imagined when this blog began. I'd love to get back into this, and go right to the pointy-end of the art, with the Genesis models, the newest Lux render engine ... and Corel Painter ... good golly, have a look at this, if you're interested in digital painting, even at the hobby level.

Meanwhile, I'm still muddling along with the ooold DAZ Studio 3 I feel most comfortable with, and the old Michael 4 model, and Photoshop Elements 9, because, frankly, that's what I have. And they still work. I haven't even bothered upgrading my Serif X3 yet! And speaking of Serif, which I use for all typography projects --

Serif Page Plus has become "legacy" software. Meaning, it's been discontinued. Serif is selling licenses, and you can get online help via forums and whatnot, but the company is devoted to developing something new which is tipped to blow everything else out of the water. LOL, here I am, still using X3! Again, it's what I have ... and it works.

This painting is one of a handful of formal pieces I've done in 2018, but as usual I'm hoping that next year will be a better year, and not merely for myself. (I'm not the only one "doing it the hard way" right now.) I did the cover for the ENDGAME OMNIBUS about five months ago, then to my surprise I found myself painting the cover for a new omnibus, FUTURE IMPERFECT. I'll upload that next time...

But this one, here, is a beaut ... and I got to design a face. I'd forgotten how much I used to enjoy designing faces, and painting light effects. Must get back into this. Note to self: indulge in art for its own sake. It doesn't have to be work. In fact, if it's not work, it's actually more fun. The brain begins to revolve, imagining new projects ... anyway --

This here novel -- the haunted house on the moor, with the blizzard outside and all hell busting loose inside -- will be out fairly soon. Not quite sure of the date, but I can certainly keep you informed. You can also visit [2023 EDIT: the dot-com web address is defunct as of early this year. For some reason, the system utterly denied access to it, and it could not be renewed. Then some joker bought is as a zombie domain name, and MK would have to buy it back at significant cost. Not going to happen, but the web pages are all still there and still viable. Find MK online in the same place...] Mel Keegan Online and keep tabs on the author there. I spent several days working on a new mobile version of the site, so if you're viewing on a phone, you're in for a treat. Click that link, above, and see what happens! 😃

I'll leave you, today, with the whole, finished cover including typography: neat!

Interestingly, the book had a title change after this
was done and uploaded. It's now
FALCONSTONE...

Something exciting is happening!

Something very exciting indeed is happening. Some of is have been waiting for this for a long, long time, but we knew it would be here eventually, and ... it is!

Yes ... NARC is finished! In fact, retired or not, I'm relishing the work of the final edit and book packaging, not least because (he he he), I get to read this monstrous trilogy a couple of months ahead of the rest of the fans. I'd actually forgotten how much I adore Jarrat and Stone, and the fact is, these three books are "from heaven." The trilogy -- all 400,000 words of it! -- finishes out the whole saga, all of a piece, and it'll be uploaded to Kindle in June.

A new post appeared on Mel Keegan Online just today, and I'll quote it right here:

Yes, I know -- it’s been an eternity since I posted. In fact, there hasn’t been any news to post, short of that annoying practice of issuing stuff saying “Hi, remember me? I’m a writer, buy my books,” which is something I don’t -- wont -- do (if it annoys me, it’s bound to annoy you, right?). However …

Now there’s excellent reason to be posting.

How long have you waited for THE END OF THE NARC SERIES? You know how long you’ve waited. You may also be aware that my health has been so poor, I now know more about hospitals than I ever wanted to. Only a couple of people sent “hate mail” (along the lines of, “I don’t care how close to death you are, you should have finished the series or ‘unpublished’ the whole thing”). Still, I’m keenly aware that it’s been a long road, and many readers may have simply lost interest in the Jarrat and Stone saga. I understand this, I really do. I hope some old readers will rediscover Jarrat and Stone now, because --

It’s done. The end of the series is a monster trilogy. It was a fair bet that if I issued it book by book, some readers would say, “Yeah, right, I’ll believe it when I see it -- I’ll get back into it when Keegan finishes it.” So that’s what I did.

SCIMITAR - BASILISK - ENDGAME is a single story in three parts, running a whisker under 400,000 words (no, that ain’t a typo). I wrote the whole thing before issuing so much as a word of news. It’s right now being packaged for Kindle, also for paperback, so it’s time to let readers know the good news.

My way of saying “Sorry about the delay” is to make the trilogy available as ONE VOLUME via Kindle, at the same price as any ordinary book. In June 2018 you’ll be reading the whole thing on your device for a penny under ten bucks. If you want the paperbacks, you’ll have to wait till July, due to the time it takes proofs to be delivered to Australia; and alas the trilogy will of course be three paperbacks, because it’s far too large to fit under one cover.

(The largest book I ever issued was the final Hellgate volume, at 640pp. It’s borderline too large: so heavy, it actually hurts your wrists to hold it for long. Now, SCIMITAR - BASILISK - ENDGAME would be around 800pp., and though some of the print on demand companies go to this length, it’s not feasible, first because of the shocking weight of the book in your hands, second because of the prohibitive cost of manufacture, even before you get to the post office. So … one Kindle book for ten bucks, but -- sorry -- three paperbacks. It’s huge.)

So …

Find out how far Aphelion really extends, in space and time (tying off all threads originating in APHELION). See what happens when the surviving brains behind Death’s Head rise like the phoenix from their own ashes (closing out the thread begun in STOPOVER). Witness the horrifying results when the Sorenson Bill is passed in the homeworlds and colonial cities erupt. Sit in on the explosive legal wrangle when Governor Cassius Brand takes on Starfleet, over the Mostov Incident (resolving the thread begun in SCORPIO). Find out what becomes of Stone’s old sparring partner, Colonel Jack Brogan … and what’s waiting for the newly promoted Captain Petrov, not to mention the newly launched carrier Huntress. Shake hands with the last of the Angel empires, a nasty called Basilisk … and hang onto your hats, because hell busts loose. Literally. And what of NARC itself, in a political environment going haywire while the new colonial ‘super-sleeper’ ship, flying the revolutionary Weimann Drive, is opening up a new colony so far beyond the frontier, it looks like the promised land … but when did anything ever work out that way? Then there’s the last of the monsters, Angeliberty, leading to an endgame that will change everything.

One massive story. Done, finished, being packaged for Amazon Kindle at this time. Due in June, 2018, with the paperbacks to follow in July. Jade has prepared a fantastic cover for the Kindle one-volume edition, and we already have a mockup for the SCIMITAR paperback cover, with two more due to be assembled in the next few weeks.

I’ll “ping” the old mailing list when the books go on release, and for now I’ll just say, “Sorry about the delay.” But I really did finish the whole thing before saying a word of this on the interwebs: the least I could do -- that, and give you the whole thing, three for the price of one. Thanks for your patience, guys … I appreciate it.

---------------------------------------------

...and there you have it, direct from Mel, while I perform the packaging and organize the paperback covers. It's such a pity that he can't do the trilogy under one cover in paperback, but the size and weight of Event Horizon is tickling the "prohibitive" line, and Scimitar-Basilisk-Endgame would be about 175pp bigger and heavier. No can do. So, three paperbacks it is, and I've already mocked up the cover for the first one:

Yes, sticking with the original paperback jacketing, which is absolutely classic. Right now, I don't think I have to render any new images to put the three jackets together, but am seriously thinking of doing some Jarrat and Stone renders for the sheer pleasure of it. Oh, this takes me back! 

I'd also begun to forget how much fun it is to produce the art for books ... and write them too. It's been a long year for me. Those of you who know me will know that my mother passed away on June 20 last year, and since then it's been "one goddamned thing after another." Right now, I can't even walk! I'm on crutches, following a "medically induced fall" on a treadmill in a medical center a while ago. Such fun. Not. [rolls eyes] But with any luck the worst might actually be over, and I can actually get back to projects like The Sea Witch, and lots more I'd planned before life went haywire...

Anyway, for the moment -- great news for those who love mind-boggling SF with gorgeous gay heroes: NARC IS FINISHED!!! (Incidentally -- tell your friends!)

The Sea Witch ... pure digital painting this time

Lately I've been painting more and more -- digitally of course -- rather than "just" rendering subjects in 3D, and I'm delighted with the results I'm getting. You notice at once, this painting is carrying the signature "Jen Downes," rather than "Jade." Yep,  I'm switching over to my own name for the new generation of work -- the paintings -- because this current opus is illustrating a novel.

The novel is finished, but be patient: it's the first part of a trilogy, and the whole thing will be "shopped around," shown to literary agents and perhaps publishers, in due course. First I have to finish and edit all three segments. That's a Mount Everest to climb, so ... patience, grasshopper. 

Right now, I can tell you the trilogy is entitled THE SEA WITCH, and the first book is A WITCH OF SEVEN WINDS. Yes, it's fantasy. This is a mainstream fantasy -- a huge adventure with sailing ships, handsome heroes, intriguing villains, high magic, ocean storms, romance ... for me, it's a dream come true.

And I must say, I am loving the digital painting, as distinct from the product of 3D rendering. Not that I don't love 3D art too ... I do. But my hardware and software are now so incredibly obsolete, I can't produce anything vaguely competitive in that field, whereas in digital painting ... hey, I'm not half bad at this, and can only get better with work and practise. 

The character you see here is the wind witch, Sophia Dorne. Next up: Captain Jacques Adair of the 'Fliegander' merchantman Dragonwind. Soon as I can get the design work sorted.

Update, November 2023

It's still all about the digital painting. The trilogy is done, but I have no joy to report regarding the hunt for agency representation. The process was uniformly disappointing, an experience reported by about 99% of authors who walk this difficult path. So --

I made the decision to change tracks, write short fiction, try my hand there instead and "work up to novels" via baby steps. Even this has not been easy or quick, but as of this date I can report that I have had some real success with short fiction. I've been in ANALOG twice, been podcast by that publisher (which is major ... if you know your SF marketplace in the US, you appreciate what I'm talking about). I've been published in many places, in fact, with many more to come. If you'd like to know more...

...cross over to my writing blog for stories, links, news and a lot of art too, much of it digital painting.

Speaking of which, with several years to get good at this, the art I'm producing now is well worth sharing. You'll find a lot of it on the blog here, but let me when your appetite:

Done and dusted: eighteen covers? No sweat. Well ... okay, a little bit.

Finally, after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, adjusting and re-re-repainting ... here's the last image in the current commission set of book covers, DONE. It's been a huge job:

You have to conceptualize the thematic material, then track down the cover elements, do the background painting, design the character, design the render, do the render, paint render and background together in post work -- and along the way wrangle a superior raytrace that'll actually serve the purpose, according to today's demands. You'll be lucky to get through a project in a day; and very fortunate indeed if the client doesn't want something changed later --

Which is why you always, always keep all the project files for every piece of art. I have everything going back to the reference photos for every item in this eighteen-cover commission, and several times I was sooo glad I had them, because I had to go back in and work on some detail or other.

But we're done now, and the last job was to add the text elements for title and author byline, on each cover. Ye gods. One last thing I did was to track down the best available art for six other existing covers and reprocess it through to meet the same size and shape requirements -- and in one or two cases, to redesign the text elements to bring these others into line with the new edition.

The result --

-- nice. Very. I've uploaded this "proof sheet" (as we used to call such an item in the days when we used to contact-proof negatives in the darkroom) at about 2300 pixels wide, so you can really get a look at the new work. If you've been playing "spot the novel" I was working on during the last couple of months, here's your chance to find out how right you were! Some speak for themselves, of course, and others you could probably work out by identifying the giveaway themes in the background. A gargoyle. A stone circle. A galleon. A schooner. A light plane crashed in the sea. A break-bulk freighter. A rain forest.

Enjoy!

Next, for me ... I'm working on something of my own. I've got a fantasy novel going (!) and am dying to visualize characters and situations, so I'll be playing with art purely for myself. The novel is a lot of fun -- having a ball with it. Am six chapters through and starting to think about packaging and promoting it. Will I bother looking for an American agent --?! Ye gods. There's easier ways to beat yourself up. No, no, I'm going to have fun with this, not fifteen years of frustration and heartache, before I give the book away in 2032!

Can you even imagine 2032?

As they say on the TV news shows, "Back soon with more."