Illustration roundup

Portal movie poster by Tristan Reidford.



Hulk commission by Maris Wicks.



Does your body spell treason?



The least creepy of the new book covers for Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. Thanks, Stephanie.

*Buy sketch cards at eBay.

New illustrated covers for John le Carre's novels

New illustrated covers by Matt Taylor for John le Carre's novels:









Looks like it's finally time to try Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. (The only le Carre book I've read was The Tailor of Panama, and I wasn't crazy about it.) Some of the books are available at Amazon, and Matt has various prints on sale here. Via.

Illustration roundup

Because dragon's are overdone, a fire-breathing swan. Merlin's Ring is available at Amazon and eBay. Via.




Orangutan with magnetic powers used magnetism in a suspect manner via this list of goofy Fantastic Four moments. The existence of this comic is an indication of how much education has improved, right?




Tattooed Black Manta by Dave Mott.




Longshot and She-Hulk by Jesse Hamm (I think).




Barbara Gordon/Oracle by Adam Hughes.

*Buy Batgirl toys at eBay.

How to make an optical illusion book cover

I previously posted the cool book covers for Simon Morden's Equations of Life series. The video above shows how to create book covers with similar optical illusions. Via.

Modesty Blaise

Modesty Blaise in Sabre-Tooth on sale at eBay. Via.

Procession of the Dead

Procession of the Dead book cover by Catherine Casalino:

Popular YA author Darren Shan's first adult novel is a combination of horror and near-future thriller set in “The City,” which is the center of Capac Raimi's world. Moving into the city to work with his small-time gangster uncle, Capac soon finds himself at the service of the Cardinal, the leader of all the criminal gangs and the ruler of the city. Capac enjoys his new life except for a few small details, including the enigmatic blind and mute monks who have a way of appearing at significant moments in Capac's life, and the fact that he can't really remember any of his life before he came to the City. Then he meets and immediately falls in love with a young woman who is determined to dig out the Cardinal's secrets. Fast-paced and exciting, Procession of the Dead is a gritty, creepy, and completely successful story with an ending that leaves openings for future series entries. Suggest to readers who enjoyed Miéville's The City and the City (2009) for its slightly fantastical setting combined with a thrilling story.

$10 at Amazon.

Book cover for the UK edition of The Magician King

Book cover for the UK version of Lev Grossman's The Magician King.

*Previously: The American cover.

If Voldemort went into SEO

One of several business books from the world of Harry Potter.

Cover for Lev Grossman's The Magician King

I've probably read two dozen books in the last year, and Lev Grossman's The Magicians was my favorite. (Indeed, the next time I have the opportunity to commission art, I might ask for a drawing of the book's villain.) Here's the cover to the sequel, The Magician King, which is available for preorder at Amazon.

The image is actually a photograph of a model by Didier Massard. You can read an interview with him here.

New book cover for The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel

Looks like this is going to be Thomas Allen's new cover for The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel:



Even his WIP photos are great:



*Previously: One of Our Thursdays is Missing cover by Thomas Allen.

Book covers by Alison Forner

Book covers by Alison Forner. Links are to Amazon:


Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc




My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge: Poems




The Good Rat: A True Story (P.S.)



Move Over, Rover: What to Name Your New Pup When the Ordinary Just Won't Do




Confessions of a Bad Beekeeper: What Not to Do When Keeping Bees (with Apologies to My Own)

Book cover for Haruki Murakami's 1Q84

Chip Kidd designed the book cover for Haruki Murakami's 1Q84:

The plot follows two seemingly unconnected stories that eventually weave together. The first involves a woman named Aomame, who in the opening scene finds herself descending a service staircase off a busy elevated highway in Tokyo to escape a traffic jam. Once she gets to the bottom and out onto ground level, she eventually comes to believe that she has entered an alternate reality, one only slightly different than what she had known. She refers to this new dimension in her mind as 1Q84 (the book takes place in 1984 and in Japanese ‘Q’ sounds just like ‘9′), with the Q standing for “Question Mark. A world that bears a question.” This concept becomes one of the novel’s major themes.

The vellum jacket:



And binding cover:



Combine to complete the cover image:



Available for preorder for %34 off Amazon.

Illustration roundup

Dean Trippe's cyberpunk illustration for Bristolwhip also works pretty well as a t-shirt. He posted it for vote at Threadless.




Megacon and Toronto Comics Art Festival posters by Darwyn Cooke.



Samurai by Tarasov Konstantin for the Tsunami fundraiser.



Monstrous Hamburger Helper mascot on a flyer for a show at Grass Hut.



Retro gamers poster by Hicham Habchi.



Cover by David Drummond for Outside the Box.

*Buy Kraven toys at eBay.

The Meowmorphosis

The Meowmorphosis:

“One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that he had been changed into an adorable kitten.”

The phenomenal success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies inspired a massively popular literary-remix movement. Now Quirk Classics once again charts bold new territory, turning the monster-mash-up formula inside out to infuse Franz Kafka’s horrific masterpiece, “The Metamorphosis,” with the fuzziest, snuggliest, most adorable creatures possible: kittens!

Gregor Samsa is a humble young man who supports his unemployed parents and teenage sister by working as a traveling fabric salesman. But his life goes strangely wrong in the very first sentence of The Meowmorphosis, when he wakes up late for work and discovers that he has inexplicably become an adorable kitten. His family must admit that, yes, their son is now OMG so cute—but what good is cute when there are bills to pay? How can Gregor be so selfish as to devote his attention to a ball of yarn? And how dare he jump out the bedroom window to wander through Kafka’s literary landscape? Never before has a cat’s tale been so poignant, strange, and horrifyingly funny.

Preorder for 33% off at Amazon.