Damocles Files 2: Seeds of Destruction

Here is the cover I did for the awesome new book in the Damocles series!

Available now through amazon

Video Nasties

Well, this one was a hell of a lot of work but I think it paid off!

I worked very closely with Duncan Ralston (the authour) on getting it just right. A lot of back and forth. Many, many emails and pictures bounced back and forwards. (Communication is key in a good project- both sides need to engage in prompt and open sharing of ideas and opinions. This is where the creative process flourishes and bears the best fruit. Artists: talk to your clients. Clients: importantly!; talk to your artists! Respond to emails. Acknowledge emails. Share ideas. Listen.)

The logo was the first thing we tackled and I came up with a load of ideas. Half a dozen of them got to be fully fleshed-out and solid designs which all worked really well but we picked the one that really popped out to both of us. It was definitely the best choice for the project (the others are really great- it was a very inspiring project- so I may end up using the designs for other stuff).
We wanted an 80s, retro feel for it. Something visually interesting. From the intial passes we picked the hand coming out of the box. The aim was to suggest all of the evil contained within and to homage Evil Dead a little.

Drawing the image tool a while- those tentacles are fiddly. Then I went in to the painting. Midtone flats (trust your midtones- you pick a base colour for a reason). Shadows (2 layers of these- faded airbrush then a solid one for definition). Highlights. Then put on an overlay layer and wash the whole thing in a fade of 2 or 3 colours to tie it together. Drop the transparency of this overlay down. Don't be afraid to flatten layers as you go- treat it like a real painting.

I hand-painted all of the stickers and textures. Those stickers are some of my most favourite things I've ever made.

I warped the logos onto the box in perspective on photoshop. Warped the whole image onto itself so it looks like it's coming out of the same box image.

I drew a couple of spot illustrations to go on the back. Then put in thumbholes where you can see a vhs tape (front and back) peeking out at the bottom of the box. Then painted on weathering textures with some splattery and cloudy brushes.

Then, after a little resizing to fit, we had our wraparound cover. So many elements and a lot of work to get them all to play together as one piece but I think I pulled it off. I hope you like it.

If you do, you can buy the book here!

Movie Night!

Now available in print from Lulu!

Please play around with it, take it apart. Get rid of the stuff you don't like.

It's cheap (£3.99), so don't expect the world from it. It's meant to be a bit of fun.

I'll post up links to character sheets and so on later.

Buy it!

Movie Night

I've made a little roleplaying game.

I was a bit bored of running games like D+D and getting bogged down in round after round of combat rolls and the like. Sometimes you just want to tell and experience a story.

So I came up with a basic system for resolving 'scenes' as a whole. I played it with my daughter, Kitty (who's currently 7, but was 6 when we started). She played a classic fantasy game.

The idea behind the game is a simple way to tell cinematic stories. It's presented as being a way to do classic 80s style films like ET, Monster Squad, The Last Starfighter, Gremlins, Goonies and so on, with a little Stranger Things thrown in for good measure, but includes several story ideas, a full adventure and different settings.

One of my friends is a teacher- he managed to get his kids to play it at school (thanks, Baz!). They enjoyed it and ran it on their own.

I put it through some edits and the like following feedback. The intention is that kids and teachers, etc. can access it at any time. I'll keep the pdf freely accessible and the print version low cost.

It's just over 50 pages of printer-friendly layout. A5 with a full colour cover.

I'm just waiting for a proof print to turn up before I release it to the wild.

The art was done in sketchbook (that's my daughter in silhouette by the way). Logos and layout in inkscape then the textures overlaid in photoshop.

Into Fear

New book with a cover by me has just been announced!

I did the whole thing in this- illustration, logo, design and pdf.

Awesome fun.

And I'm super pleased with how it turned out.

Here is some blurb...

Daniel Marc Chant releases INTO FEAR on 1st October. 22 tales of despair and dread. Zombies, Godless beasts, Eldritch horrors, serial killers and more lurk between its pages in wait to lure you into dreams, into nightmares, Into Fear!

Duncan Ralston, author of WOOM, said it was, "one of the best collections I've read in a while."

PRE-ORDER TODAY!

UK LINK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01IIJ2YSK
USA LINK: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IIJ2YSK

Dark Frontiers

Little logo/branding work for a short story anthology.

Done on a quick turnaround.

Kids -cover

My next cover for Dark Minds has been released. This time around it graces the cover of 'Kids' by that top-notch fellow, Paul M Feeney.

This cover is the third in a series, using the black and red on white style established with the first one.

The cover images were all done in Sketchbook on a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (the images were then increased in resolution in Photoshop). Pdf design and production was done in Inkscape.

The cover image is based off a picture of my own little psycho-killer, Kitty Jean, who is currently 6.

If you wish to purchase one for yourself, here are the links:

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kids-Dark-Minds-Novella-3-ebook/dp/B01HOI6YRS/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1467822678&sr=8-1&keywords=paul+m+feeney

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Kids-Dark-Minds-Novella-3-ebook/dp/B01HOI6YRS/ref=sr_1_2_twi_kin_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467822745&sr=8-2&keywords=Paul+M.+Feeney#nav-subnav

Slaughter Beach

So, here is the cover which I did for Dark Minds' 'Slaughter Beach' by Ben Jones. It's a pulpy slasher of a thriller with a japanese twist.

I went for a bold design which would grab the eye; something which would grab you in a summer airport lounge or the like. I picked out a simple yet bold font to accentuate this aspect.

The kanji on the back is just the title in japanese. I drew it out and added some blood splats to convey the 'slasher-horror' feeling a little.

The palm trees took ages. But I didn't just want to use a generic stamp off the internet.

The skull in the moon was both quick and fun. I really enjoyed that part and am quite pleased with how it turned out. I love the pen strokes.

The final was compiled and converted to a pdf based on the provided dimensions. It was formatted for print at a high resolution.

Seeing it in the flesh was very satisfactory. Somehow it looks better as a physical object.

Get your own copy here:

Slaughter Beach