Cover Design Behind-the-Scenes: The Artwork for Tipping the Scales

Years ago, when I had the opportunity to photograph tortoise feet, I never thought I'd use those shots to create a dragon tail in Photoshop CC.

I consider myself a semiprofessional photographer; 95% amateur and 5% professional. I can't afford the fancy cameras (and I especially can't afford the fancy lens attachments!), or I'd be more comfortable upgrading to the status of "professional." Regardless, I've sold a few photo prints, I've given away far more, and a few photos have appeared in publications. But for the most part, my photos make appearances in my other art: in graphics for my website, as references for digital art, or -- as of now -- as the foundations of the cover for my first fantasy novella.

It took me a while to come up with a cover I liked. Illustration is not my forté.

I thought about sticking to the styles of my previous digital artwork. I tried a flat vector style. I tried a digital painting style. The results were ... not great.

Too basic. And I'm not crazy about associating this dragon silhouette with my MC's appearance.

Is there a scene where Cayna is transforming from human to dragon forms while reaching for a taxi door? No. Did that stop me from trying this anyway? Also no.

So I had to brainstorm a bit more. I decided to combine photos with Photoshop. I thought of using a gator tail as the basis for my design ... but although I live in Louisiana, none of my gator photos were closeups of their tails, and I wasn't enough of an idiot to drive out and try to get that shot. There were plenty of photos online of gator tails, but if I used them, I'd have to pay the licensing fee, and I wanted the cover to be made of my art, not someone else's.

I remembered I'd photographed the tortoise feet. The tortoise had belonged to a zoo with a booth at an outdoor festival. I've actually posted a photo of its shell online previously. And I've been to the beaches in New Jersey and Florida.