Sketch Dairy: Kushiel's Dart Cover Part 2

The last entry involved a lot of ideation about the composition of the cover.  Well, we're not through yet!  Here comes the fun part that the research nerd in me adores.

Gathering Reference

The reason I gather references after creating my thumbnails instead of before is so that I can preserve the energy of my drawing without getting caught up on details that don't need to be defined just yet.  It can be a real time sink when you're trying to get ideas out fast!

But now? Research, glorious research!  Here are just a few of the images I pulled up to get my creative juices flowing:

This is just a sample of the items I've gathered
on my Kushiel's Legacy Board  on Pinterest.

The visual themes I kept in mind while I researched:

- Classical Orientalist/Romantic paintings
- Blood red roses
- White marble
- Sheer cloth
- Glowing skin

I also lit and photographed my own references for the figure.  Here's just one from the set of many that I took trying to get it right:

Sketch Dairy: Kushiel's Dart Cover Part 1

In the last post, I shared my thumbnails exploring the idea of a redesign of the cover of Kushiel's Dart as illustrated by John Jude Palencar.  I explored many themes in this initial set of thumbnails, including Phèdre's masked guise at the Longest Night masquerade to a more spiritual connection with prayer and doves in the later thumbnails.

It was very difficult to choose between what iconic symbols of this series I wanted to show - the heterochromia of Phèdre's eyes or her symbolic rose marque tattoo.  In the end, I personally favored the tattoo, as her eyes just aren't readable from far away and a prospective reader needs to be drawn in a little more immediately.  Number 7 seems the most aesthetically pleasing, but it feels too confident to me for a coming of age story such as this one.  Number 8 vogues the most with me for the possibilities of creating a very atmospheric spiritual piece and the presence of an angel statue, which very much ties into the lore of the universe.  The rest of the thumbnails feel too generic and posed to be interesting.

Nothing is quite hitting the mark, so on to the next set of thumbnails!

Number 1 still feels too boring and generic while number 3 shows the very important object of Melisande's diamond. However, new readers won't understand the significance of this diamond, which still leaves me with a rather boring image.  Number 4 is my second favorite in this batch again for the possibilities of a twilight garden with Phèdre in somber prayer before an angel statue.

Number 2 was my 'eureka moment' and my favorite out of this batch. Something about the idea of Phèdre framed by a bronze panel engraved with angelic wings and guarded by the bronze masked priests of Kushiel resonates visually.  Is Phèdre a prisoner enchained or is she chained to the post willingly?  Readers who know the story can appreciate the moment that inspired this scene (the scourging at the temple of Kushiel), while those who don't know it yet will (hopefully) start asking questions about her predicament, which is exactly the kind of interest I want in a cover!