Cover block sketching

The first stage of creating Starbird II's cover was to block it out in sketch form. I wanted to stay with the same format as the first book, but add new characters that were relevant to the storyline.

SB II very early cover blocking

Sketching in block form taking shape for front and back covers.

Star Bird Title Page Image Calypsos Run

SB II cover concept with Jayda Niker

In book II, Jayda Niker becomes a more prominent character through the rest of the series, so Nina and I were kicking around the idea of putting a vital scene depiction on the cover. This was an early concept.

SB II plant setup

Two planets orbit's close enough together that when they pass each other, they draw material. One was a water world, the other a desert world.

SB cover starfield with planets

The possibilities are endless in the vast expanse of the universe. It's really cool to think up things using your imagination.

SB II early bust creation

We didn't want to just duplicate the busts of the characters from the first cover, so we were kicking around ideas of how to configure the characters on the second cover.

SB II character bust testing

This is the first introduction of the Dãsha character. Ultimately, she wasn't used on any of the covers because of her position in the plotline. Having said that, she is my favorite character outside of the four main characters.

SB II cover art concepts

Working with other ideas as we progress along. The rectangular box on the back cover is a coffin or stasis pod.

SB II cover blocking

Getting Gunnar and Audra setup correctly was vital in order to get the other characters on place.

SB II concept cover with Jayda and Dasha

Nina and I were still working on trying to do an scene on the cover with Jayda and Dãsha.

SB II character bust blocking

Adding detail and posing for the secondary characters that will be on the front cover.

SB II character bust positioning and detail

This is the basic blocking that we ended up with.

SB II cover busts

This adds in the color and adds depth to their faces.

Caidin Mantose

Doctor Caidin Mantose composite sketch.

Caiden Mantose

Final rendering for Caidin Mantose.

Janox

In book II, Janox learns her true identity as a royal Princess of Hadrian and this is the result of her metamorphous.

Early Jayda creation concept for SB II

As the Jayda character became more prominent in the storyline, she garnered a place on the cover. This is the first created iteration of her bust.

Different iterations of Jayda's hair

Once Nina got the head and face right, she created a couple of options for hairstyles. We went with the center one.

Jayda Niker

It was really nice to finally put a face to the Jayda Niker character and put her on the front with her husband, Rick. She turned out really nice.

Early SB II cover art blocking

Color and main character blocking added to the front cover template.

Early color filtering for SB II

Nina needed to experiment with color filtering to help get the flesh tones on the main characters as they would be somewhat see through on the cover.

SB II early Dãsha and Jayda creation

These next few were a lot of fun for Nina and I the experiment with. All three are the same in blocking, but the women are wearing different clothes. We were also looking at facial expessions.

SB II Dãsha and Jayda outfits

Again, we were looking at creating a scene for the cover and this was one of them.

Jayda and Dãsha concept cover art

In the story Jayda and Dãsha get along well, but Jayda is somewhat taken back at Dãsha's demeanor and attire.