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.
Fantasy/Sci-Fi Author Dawn Ross 
I just found out that I can use Big Stock for my book cover. There are lots of dragon art pictures there and the terms & agreement state that I can use them for book covers. I’ve found a few great ones!! Now to choose only one.