Countdown to the Art of Death Cover Reveal! #3

The very first thing I decided about the Art of Death cover, before even settling on the Caravaggio/old painting inspiration, was that I wanted to show Riley's face but have his eyes be in shadow.

One of the things I've really enjoyed lately is experimenting with how expressive eyes can be while including as little detail in them as possible.  While a detailed rendered eye can be really cool (which is what I aimed for in my cover for The Dragon Tamer), it can also end up lifeless and lacking in emotion.  I wanted to show only enough of Riley's eyes to get the emotion across, and no more.