book cover - maximum ice

[sparth]

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/arth/art/stock/sacredeglace-final-small.jpg

a book cover done last month for a french publisher.
quite different from my usual stuff, and yes, it's weird.
i had time to read the book, written by kay kenyons, it's pretty good.

hope you'll like this thing

sparth

[tharmine]

Magnifique, superbe ambiance ! De quoi être fier

[Ant4d]

you are wicked:) It's different from your usual style indeed. But your choose of colour is perfect like in any other of your works. I love the mood in this one also. perfect
cheers

[mushuhaha]

Is his(the person lying face up) lower body's flesh completely gone?
me like the way sparth portray gory scenes and the reflective floor!

[darkcult]

I like weird.
And gory is an added bonus :) !

:chug:

[Loga4]

Excellent work,sparth!
Wonderful atmosphere!

[mtw]

Very creepy and weird. I'd probably read the book if it was written in english.

[MGH]

Nice Sparth. Are those nuns?
When I first read the thread I thought it was for some new beer. Guess not, eh?

[Scott Robertson]

Nice blending of your style with new subject matter.
Is it fun to do book covers?

[mtw]

Maybe I'm imagining things, but is the format of that picture longer than books usually are?

[pogonip]

How do I say this nicely . Your a fantastic concept artist but personally I think this could have been a lot tighter on the detail . I mean yes it is tighter then your normal work but still very loose on the details . Maybe the editor wanted that look ?? I am just going from what I usually see on book covers ...regardless I think it's a neat picture so please don't be to offended . :doh:

[bRyaN]

Sparth..you are on a roll bro...keep up on those solid pieces man...awesome

[mtw]

Originally posted by pogonip
How do I say this nicely . Your a fantastic concept artist but personally I think this could have been a lot tighter on the detail . I mean yes it is tighter then your normal work but still very loose on the details . Maybe the editor wanted that look ?? I am just going from what I usually see on book covers ...regardless I think it's a neat picture so please don't be to offended . :doh:
Now that I think about it, I agree.

[sparth]

hey thanx my friends

tharmine, Ant4d, darkcult, Loga4, bRyaN : many thanx!

mushuhaha: yes, it was a pretty gory scene from the book, and i did not want to put blood all over it. better remain minimal.

mtw: the author is canadian. and the text has been written in english. this is the cover for the french edition. :D
yea, the image is a bit narrow, but it was done on purpose. they'll fix it and find the compo they like within the piece.

MGH: too bad it ain't for some new beer. the novel is definitely sci fi, and quite apocalyptic. i liked it.

Scott : yea, quite fun to do. the interesting fact is that you give all you can on a single subject, and bam, after the effort, it's finished, and ready to be printed. pretty much satisfaction and relief. very different compared to long terms projects, like ........... video games? :D

pogonip: no offense at all! and you're right about this fact. i tend to leave too many unfinished areas in my pieces but i'm working on it.
it's a fact that the first two book covers i did were pretty much loose on the style. the editor was interested by my nervous style, that may seem different from others illustrators who sometimes lose their first graphic thoughs when working on an image for too much time.
i guess that there's a balance that i have to find between both. i' m improving ! :D

here are the first two book covers. you've seen both a while ago. i'll have one more to do before the end of the year, and probably three new ones for next year. arg!

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/2070302849.08.LZZZZZZZ.jpg http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/2070420809.08.LZZZZZZZ.jpg


sparth

[ceenda]

There's a saying that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover... but these are just great. Awesome work.

C'est magnifique!

[Palm]

I love it!!

[Forge]

I will go to my next Fnac and certainly buy this 2 books !!

[pipmoo]

Looks fantastic Sparth.

Kinda reminiscent of the Bene Gesseritt cult from Dune. Love the colours on this one.

PiP

[Zeravla]

that boat cover kicks ass sparth, very nice

[Main Loop]

the cover this thread was for is prett good, (i agree with the "more detail" thing) but the other covers are especially wonderful.. great job on those

[Sedone]

However loose or detailed the rendering may be, the compositions on these really work, and it's cool to see you tackle various subjects. The cover with the boat is damn nice.

[Luke Mrozek]

i'll have one more to do before the end of the year, and probably three new ones for next year. arg!

Heh, i have to do two more this year and i already have six covers for first three months of 2004. It's going to be a busy year.

Your covers are great.

Luke.

[scumworks]

I'll buy both books just for the cover.

[ShawnYe]

Does it mean that you can actually not follow the proportion of the book and go beyond the size? Does this need to be discuss before hand or it just a common practice?
Did they brighten up that last two book covers for print or was it just the jpeg compression.
Your composition is definately one of the strongest and your strokes too.

[tharmine]

I bought the Wilson book "Darwinia" because of his cover ! It's true, and i don't know it was you. This is so GREAT! (enjoy to read the book, hope it's as good as his cover !)

[MindCandyMan]

Amazing! Such skill!

[viag]

great work !! the printed version :eek:

[bad weather]

Great image .The lighting is nice and the forshortening on the figure looks spot on.

[Tigger14]

Looks great! The thing I like about your work is the amount of information you get across while maintaining a loose style.

[defcombeta]

cool stuff , the colour depth and the cold feel is just right, amazing, will study youwork to learn the dark arts.

john mac

[hethe]

Wow, I really like it. Good stuff.

.hethe

[Living Rope]

OMG ! OMG ! OMG ! OMG ! OMG ! OMG ! OMG ! OMG ! ..............

[Yaseck]

Those pipes are fraking awesone. I also like this freezed atmoshere of the image. Like someone has suddenly came in into this place and those "sisters" are kinda amazed.

Great work dude (as always!).