Land of Fire cover art, step by step.

So, this is the cover for Land of Fire.  Up to now it's had a pretty boring generic one from Amazon's cover creator, so I thought I'd better do something about that!

I started with a few different thumbnails and messing about till I got a design I liked.  This is a scan from my sketchbook.

Then, when I'd got the thumbnail right, a sketch.

After that I got out my trusty quill pen and ink because I wanted more variety in the line than you can get with a .03 ink pen. which was the smallest I had available.  I had this idea that I wanted the figures to be outlined boldly in black, a bit like some art deco designs.  

After that it was time to add watercolour.

I wanted red to grab the eye on those very small thumbnails you see on kindles etc.  It scanned a bit pinker than the original, but I like it.

Then it was off to Gimp to add the title text.  I've been learning a bit about Gimp due to having to do these covers.  Can't say as I love it but I'm getting to know it a bit better.

What do you think?