Hi Guys

[grahamguitarman]

My name is Graham Hanks and I'm a painter, sculptor, writer & musician.

Most of my writing work has been articles about art & painting, and I've been lucky enough to get a 3 page article published in the Artists & Illustrators Magazine (actually I've been in the magazine twice but the second time was me being asked a few questions by another journalist)

I've wanted to write a fantasy novel for a long time (ever since I was at art college during the eighties in fact) but never got past the planning stages. I have however finally started to write a new novel in earnest now and intend to stick with it to completion.

By the way as mentioned above I'm also a painter, so if anyone is lucky enough to get published then please consider me for cover art, without being modest I think I'm a pretty good artist and have posted a few images of my work below:

Anyway I'm looking forward to 'meeting' you guys and chatting about fantasy ideas.

 

[Map the Dragon]

Welcome tou our humble home here at mythic scribes. Always a pleasure to gather more talented folks to our party!

I really like the post-apocalyptic feel of your second posted painting. I'm not sure if that's what you were going for, but that was my first impression.

Do you have any paintings with otherworldly creatures (dragons or something orginial), or anything with a warrior/battle? I'd love to see those if you do. Tere are three published novelists here, and many aspiring. You may just get your chance to find a cover in need among them.

Welcome!

 

[Kaellpae]

I really like that second painting. I'm in the planning stages for a story. No clue if it will be short or long, but it's the writing of it and finding. Out what happens that I like most of writing so far.

I look forward to seeing some of your work!

 

[grahamguitarman]

Thanks for the comments

And yes the second one was meant to be post apocalyptic with a touch of steampunk (the painting title is 'Sentinels' BTW, and the first one is 'Moonwitch')

TBH I've only come back to fantasy type art in the last few months (I've been concentrating on portraiture until recently) so I've not done any Creature/battle based paintings yet, but then it was just a spur of the moment thought that prompted me to post the work, if I had thought about book covers previously I'd have painted something a bit more suitable

These are a couple of VERY OLD creature sculptures from 1982 or thereabouts:

When I've got a couple of decent example book covers done i'll post them up on here

 

[The Blue Lotus]

I love your work! Do you have a link to an online portfoilo?

Also what would you charge to do cover art? I ask because (if) I get lucky and get pubed I can not draw to save my soul.

 

[grahamguitarman]

lol if you google my name i fill the first 2-3 result pages, but here is my website: Home not much in the way of fantasy art on there, mostly portrait stuff but I'm intending to fix that over the coming months.

As for rates I honestly couldn't say for sure as it was a spur of the moment thing that I thought of book covers - I will have to do some research to see what the going rate is!

 

[Shadoe]

I am surely jealous. I have few talents, and art isn't one of them. My stick figures don't even come out right.

 

[TWErvin2]

Graham Hanks,

Welcome to Mythic Scribes. Your art work is pretty neat and hope your fantasy writing comes right along too. Imagination and creativity are key elements and your painting indicates you've got that.

On occasion my publisher has need for cover art. Is there a website or link I could direct him to?

Terry

Update: Found your website by checking out your profile. Link: Graham Hanks Home Page

 

[grahamguitarman]

LOL I've really dropped myself in it by mentioning book covers before doing some examples! that will teach me to say things on the spur of the moment, hopefully I'll have some better stuff to show / put on the website soon

 

[Angharad]

Hi Graham,
Wow, you certainly are creative and talented! Welcome to Mythic Scribes! I look forward to reading your work.

 

[grahamguitarman]

Graham Hanks,

Welcome to Mythic Scribes. Your art work is pretty neat and hope your fantasy writing comes right along too. Imagination and creativity are key elements and your painting indicates you've got that.

On occasion my publisher has need for cover art. Is there a website or link I could direct him to?

Terry

Update: Found your website by checking out your profile. Link: Graham Hanks Home Page

I don't suppose you know what kind of rates he normally pays for book cover illustration do you? I've seen one website suggesting prices starting from £330 for a book jacket but I don't know how accurate that is.

 

[grahamguitarman]

Just added a signature so Hopefully it should be easier to see my work now

 

[TWErvin2]

I don't suppose you know what kind of rates he normally pays for book cover illustration do you? I've seen one website suggesting prices starting from £330 for a book jacket but I don't know how accurate that is.

My publisher either creates the cover art, or seeks out artists to do so (or allows the authors to seek an artist with budget limit, unless they want to add out of their own pocket--and all final art has to be approved by the publisher). I'm confident my publisher pays less than £330 (about $550 equivalent) for cover art. I doubt many small presses could afford that rate.

Larger publishers, yes. I've seen some established artists that advertise rates of $1500 (about £900) and more for cover art. And really, my knowledge in this realm is pretty limited.

I know some self-published authors commission artists, but I've never heard of one paying as much as £330, but I'm sure it happens.

And it is very true that top notch cover art improves sales, but it's a balance for a publisher. Cover art is just one of the costs that must be recouped before they begin to make a profit. With an established writer who has an audience, a publisher may feel more confident laying out more money for cover art than with an author coming out with his/her first novel...but I'm kind of getting off topic.

Terry

 

[grahamguitarman]

My publisher either creates the cover art, or seeks out artists to do so (or allows the authors to seek an artist with budget limit, unless they want to add out of their own pocket--and all final art has to be approved by the publisher). I'm confident my publisher pays less than £330 (about $550 equivalent) for cover art. I doubt many small presses could afford that rate.

Larger publishers, yes. I've seen some established artists that advertise rates of $1500 (about £900) and more for cover art. And really, my knowledge in this realm is pretty limited.

I know some self-published authors commission artists, but I've never heard of one paying as much as £330, but I'm sure it happens.

And it is very true that top notch cover art improves sales, but it's a balance for a publisher. Cover art is just one of the costs that must be recouped before they begin to make a profit. With an established writer who has an audience, a publisher may feel more confident laying out more money for cover art than with an author coming out with his/her first novel...but I'm kind of getting off topic.

Terry

No thats very useful information, the £330 was just a figure I got from a site for artists - they can tend to quote on the high side as they want artists to be better paid, so I was a bit dubious anyway which is why I asked

the point about balancing costs against possible returns is a very valid one too

which is why I suspect I'll have two price ranges, one for top notch Oil Paintings (the very best quality you can get) and the other for Pastels which can still look really good when reduced down to size but take a lot less time to do so are cheaper. I just need to work out what is a reasonable price without underselling myself too much (though working a bit cheaper at first in order to make a name is a given of course)

 

[Argentum]

Welcome! I love your artwork, especially the sculptures! They look so lifelike! Good luck with writing your novel!