Horror Novel Covers

I have been working on the series of horror novels for Christopher Brewer since 2018. Most of them have titles that include "Dark", but I don't really have to take care of any layouting since the author is commissioning me from his own pocket; it's entirely unsure if the publisher will use the artworks, but fingers crossed. Nevertheless, I am having a lot of fun because our collaboration is quite creative. They often show the main protagonist Alice in danger, the depictions are very symbolic and I am to include certain elements taking cues from tarot and mythology. The greatest challenge certainly is that I need to show horror story artwork without making it unshowable despite subjects like cannibalism, child abduction, and abuse in marriage. Going all out gory might be simple, but I enjoy finding more subtle yet creepy ways of showing a visual synopsis. The next highest challenge is the format, which is much more "stumpy" than others. I haven't read any of the books ;)

My first cover for the series, Dark Feast, whose main theme is cannibalism. I was asked to have the Aztec god Xipe Toltec make people doubt if it's a bad thing. I included a lot of cooking and eating items and animals, dressed Alice in a tablecloth and have her wear parsley over her ear.

Dark Mambo has a drug addict dance with Baron Samedi from voodoo tradition. I love people dancing but it's all about movement and any one moment standing still can look silly; it was much easier with the couple though. Using abstract patterns for her hair and jewellery was a highlight, and adding the little dolls that leave the question who's in control over whom here.

A Darkling Sonata is about a monster in the winter woods taking children. We thought about making it look like a popular horror movie based on folklore but decided instead to personify the forest as a sort of fairy king. It was scary to abstract the children so much, into birch twigs with faces that Alice tries to hold tightly while they're being plucked away. The playing card composition with the two characters blending into each other was very nice to make. I still have plenty of unused sketches from this one that I hope to work into final paintings sometime.

Dark Vows deals with Alice attending a friend's wedding in the Mediterranean, and of course things go awry. It was one of the first times I used a 3D model I made as reference. Painting the dresses was both easy and difficult - choosing which folds and drapes are necessary, and detailing it without losing my mind from the embroidery and lace. The harpy bird signifies wrath, the two cups are from tarot.

Dark Web has Alice face hackers taking down the entire system. We initially had lots of web and spider imagery, since it's also an IT term, but moved to something more symbolic since the river Styx was an important visual, and I came up with the idea of making it a sort of double exposure image with Alice being the river, and clutching at Charon's boat as a sign she's not helpless against death itself.