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.

Countdown to the Art of Death Cover Reveal! #4

Another preview snippet of the Art of Death cover!

Did I mention something a few days back about attractive guys posing with fruit?  Oh yeah, and wine.  And there's the ultra subtle artist's signature at the bottom!  (It prints a little clearer than it looks here in the jpeg.)

Countdown to the Art of Death Cover Reveal! #5

Ah, I'm a couple hours late with this cover preview.  Sorry!  I spent all day immersed in another cover art job and lost track of time.  Anyway, here's a detail shot of part of the cover!

Hmm... Riley, what's that red liquid in the bottle you're holding...?

Countdown to the Art of Death Cover Reveal! #6

Okay, it's decided!  On Thursday, May 3, I will reveal the cover art for Art of Death!

Until then, every day I'll post a teaser or preview, such as a detail or progress shot.  Today, I'm starting with how I (or perhaps I should say my "other" self) came up with the concept for the cover.

First off, a bit of background: Art of Death is a novel about a starving artist named Riley Burke who works as a nude model at the local art school in order to make ends meet.  Needless to say, he's ecstatic when he gets an offer to pose for a highly lucrative modeling session with Coliaro, a famous oil painter from Chicago.

Of course, there's more to the story than that, but that's where the inspiration started for my cover art.  I always imagined Coliaro's painting style to be similar to Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio's.

Boy with a Basket of Fruit, Caravaggio, courtesy of Wikipedia

I chose to do the cover art with Riley in a manner similar to Caravaggio's early work, which often involved attractive youths with fruit and the like.  The cover depicts Riley as if posing for a Coliaro oil painting, and the technique is meant to recreate the look and feel of oil on canvas.  But of course, this is modern day Sarasota, Florida, not 16th century Italy.  Oh, and did I mention the rumor that the famous artist Coliaro is actually undead?

So yes, the Art of Death cover is like a Caravaggio painting, but with a bit of a creepy twist.

More to come tomorrow!

Art of Death - Things are starting to happen!

I'm very excited right now because production has started on Art of Death.  I finished my cover a couple weeks ago.  I had originally planned to wait until the listing was up on the Dreamspinner Press website before doing the official cover reveal, but I don't think that will happen until June or so, and I don't know if I can wait that long!  I'm really excited about the cover.  I printed a huge 12x18 glossy photo print of it, and it looks way more amazing than I thought it would.  My art tends to look better on screen than in print  because I do it digitally, but I loved this one as a huge glossy print.  I plan to do a giveaway for the print; stay tuned for details!

Perhaps I'll do the cover reveal next Thursday...?

In addition to the cover, my manuscript is now in the editing queue.  I got my blurb draft questionnaire today, too.  Filling it out was surprisingly fun, though I feel I may have been more verbose than necessary.  I always err on the side of giving too much information, because I know I get frustrated if I don't feel I have enough information to work with.  Either way, I'm letting it stew overnight so I can review it tomorrow and make tweaks before sending it back in.

I also got the request for front matter such as dedications/acknowledgments.  I already know one person who's going to get a big fat mention here, but I need to think about if there's anyone else I'm missing.

And finally, I'm 51,000 words into the sequel (which I'm tentatively calling Bonds of Death, unless something else comes to mind in the next month).  Art of Death can stand alone as a story, but I had to write the sequel, and as it stands right now I love it every bit as much as the first, if not more.  When I first started writing it, it felt like I was visiting old friends and discovering new things I'd never known about them.  And I know exactly what I plan to do for the cover as well.

Additionally, I now have the domain name anaboschwriting.com.  At this point, it'll redirect to my blogger.  But eventually I'll find the time to build a new website from scratch.

So exciting stuff is happening all around!  As an added bonus, have a quick concept sketch of Porter Gomez, my favorite big-haired art school student.  (disclaimer: I'm not saying this is exactly what he looks like or how you should imagine him when you read.  This is just how I imagined him at the time I drew the picture.)  I'll probably switch my userpic to his face, because Porter is the man.

A quick note to authors with blogs

Are you posting a photo you didn't create?  An illustration?  A webcomic snippet?  Any other piece of imagery from the internet that you didn't license or pay for?  Then for the love of creative integrity, credit the original source!  This is important, especially if you're a professional!

New York, Continued

So it's been several days since the Dreamspinner Press Author Workshop ended, but only today do I feel like my head is on straight again.  I spent an extra day in New York to visit family, and as soon as I flew back home, I had to work on some rush freelance work.  Even though I still have some work to finish, at least today I feel like I can work at a regular human pace, rather than a human-on-amphetamines pace.

Some of the highlights from my weekend (and I apologize in advance if I leave out anyone I met, because seriously, EVERYONE was amazing):

-The opening reception

This was the first moment when I got to try putting names to faces.  Of course, the first thing that happened when I walked through the door was Elizabeth introduced herself as "Elizabeth," and I asked "Which Elizabeth?"  Needless to say, I felt like a genius after that.  But she and Ariel immediately made me feel welcome, and Elizabeth passed on some wonderful words from Mara, the art director.

I spent the majority of the first evening talking to Connie Bailey (awesomeness embodied), B.G. Thomas (such a sweetheart!), and Elizabeth's truly amazing oldest son who is wise beyond his years but also incredibly fun.  There was an open bar with wine and beer, but Connie was awesome enough to provide vodka cranberries for those of us who like the foofy mixed drinks.  I learned that she was also an artist, which I should have guessed because we seemed to share a wavelength.  I was also very excited to talk to Eden Winters and P.D. Singer, two more amazing and gracious people.

I was already in trouble at this point, running on three hours of sleep and loading up on the booze.  I learned that if a fancy waiter man holds out a tray of hors d'oeuvres and you only take a plastic sword-shaped toothpick while refusing the food, you will get a dirty look.

-Friday/Workshop Day

So much helpful information was shared!  Elizabeth knows her stats backwards and forward, and it was great to be able to hear about Dreamspinner's successful history.  Hearing her speak about past, present, and future business decisions gives me faith that this company really has its act together.  It's also a company that cares about its people, which is refreshing.

Ariel Tachna gave a great overview of translations and promotion.  Lynn West, Anne Regan, and Julianne Bentley shared helpful information on editing.  Damon Suede's and Ariel's presentation on branding definitely gave me some food for thought, and I've realized that one of the key aspects of my brand is that my stories are heavily plot-driven.  People who don't typically read romance can still read and enjoy what I write.

I got to talk with Tessa Cárdenas for just a short amount of time, but I hope to run into her at more events in the future because she seems incredibly sweet.  The same goes for Jaime Samms.  I was at the table next to her but got a little tongue-tied because, wow, it's Jaime Samms!

Friday evening was crazy!  I went out with Paul Richmond, B.G. Thomas, Catt Ford, Jamie Fessenden, and Jonathan Treadway to a fascinating restaurant named Lips, where I confirmed what I'd always suspected: drag queens are prettier, funnier, and better dancers than me.  I remember this evening as lots of laughter, lots of memorable moments, and a very elegant limo ride back to the hotel while we engaged in less than elegant conversation.  (At one point, the limo driver slammed her little window shut!)  This evening was probably the defining moment of the weekend for me, and what a great group to spend it with!

Saturday/Rainbow Book Fair Day

I was looking forward to doing the morning yoga that was listed on our agenda, but that kind of fell by the wayside as I seemed to be the only one raring to go.  But I have no complaints; instead I had many great conversations with other writers including Ariel, Mary Calmes, Amy Lane, J.P. Barnaby, and Rowan Speedwell.  I only got to talk to Andrew Gray for a moment, but he's another whom I hope I'll run into again in the future.  Yeah, he's out of my league and all that, but in the end, they kind of all are.

I want to read the books of as many people I've met as possible, and I was happy to get recommendations on where to start with each of them.  (I've decided my overall starting point is The Inventor's Companion, by Ariel Tachna.)  I was also very lucky to get to talk with Anne Cain and even pick her brain a bit.  For all her out-of-this-world talent, she's still so down to earth.

I rode down to the Rainbow Book Fair at around 2:30 with the last shuttle.  I couldn't handle too much time in there because of the crowd, but it was great to see what it looked like.  Dreamspinner's setup was amazing, and also the most crowded part of the room.  I steered clear of our section to make sure I didn't block off any potential customers, and I was able to stop by some of the other tables and make some contacts.

That evening, I went two-step and line dancing at the Big Apple Ranch, with Paul Richmond, S.A. Garcia, Jonathan Treadway, Kate McMurray, Zahra Owens and her partner, and Damon Suede (who's a pretty kickass dancer).  I call dibs on Paul any time we go dancing again!  I got to lead, which was awesome, even though it's a little hard to twirl a guy when you're 4'10" and he's 6'1".  It was also quite fun watching S.A. and Jon dancing, and later watching Jon dance with the pretty dude we were all not-so-subtly ogling throughout the night.

Sunday/Farewell Breakfast

We were all kind of exhausted by this point, but it was still great to be able to gather around the breakfast tables and chat one last time.  I learned that Shae Connor (who is awesomely fun and energetic!) and I share a mutual friend by way of my old job.  Small world!  H.B. Pattskyn, also at my table, has a really great energy to her - sweet, witty, welcoming.  It was sad having to say goodbye to everyone, but I'm hoping someday we might all run into each other again.

So that's my story in a nutshell!  Coming out of it, I have some new goals and have rearranged a few of my writing projects, and I'm really hoping to get more cover work as well.  Thank you, Dreamspinner Press, for giving us all a fantastic weekend!