The Silver Hand

Here is a cover I recently finished painting for a novel titled "The Silver Hand: Book One of The Consortium" by Sharon Pansky. This one was a bit of a challenge for me, while I have painted many a still life in my day, doing a full fledged cover without a person in it was something new.

I was working directly with the author on this one, and she had asked to see photos of the painting progressing. I always swear I am going to do this one every painting, and this time I actually did. (These were shot at different times of the day and are uncorrected so the colors are kinda off from one to the other)

Thumbnail

Final drawing

Acrylic underpainting

From here I realized I had gone a little too warm with the metals. I usually do this to give them more "punch" but with a book titled "The Silver Hand" I went back in and toned them down digitally.


Final is 16" by 24" oil on paper on board. (ok, I guess acrylic/oil/digital)


In other news: I know everyone has just been dying to wear my artwork on a T-shirt. Well for a limited time you will have a chance, and help out the fantasy illustration community as well.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/artorder/works/8101324-michael-c-hayes?p=t-shirt

I am not sure how long they will be available for, Jon mentioned that it will be a rotating portfolio of shirts, so get em while you can. After Redbubble takes their cut, all proceeds will go to the ArtOrder community, an invaluable resource for aspiring illustrators.

Evocation

I started working on this painting quite some time ago, and recently finished it up for this years Illuxcon. (Which was amazing, as always)

There isn't a whole lot to say about this one. Sometimes I want to create something with a deep narrative and some days I just want to paint something beautiful. I am so grateful for shows like Illuxcon and the collectors that attend that allow me to get paid for both.

16" by 24" oil on paper on board.