Fantasy/Sci-Fi Author Dawn Ross

I am an artist, but I am not a graphic artist or illustrator.  I am also not very good at drawing people, dragons, or architecture.  The above painting is my first color version of what I wanted my book cover to look like.  As you can see, it needs a lot of work.  I wanted the dragon to fade out of the fire.  I wanted the castle too look more fantastical and to look like it was on fire.  And I wanted the fire to actually look like fire.  Reyker and Tomis Dukar don’t look right either.  Reyker’s face isn’t quite right.  And Tomis looks like a girl.  He is supposed to be a 10 year old boy.

I am reading a book on how to get published and it is talking about finding an illustrator to do my book cover art for me.  This sounds great except it can cost quite a bit – probably $2,000 or more.  Ouch!!  But it might really be worth it.  I am currently researching illustrators online but how do I know which ones I can trust to do the job right?  How do I know they will follow through?  I will probably have to pay an upfront fee, even for the preliminary sketches, so finding an established illustrator is a must.  It can’t just be any established graphic artist either.  They would have to specialize in fantasy art.  And I would have to like their style.

If I do an e-book, I may not need a fantasy graphic artist.  It would be a nice touch, though.