Jennifer Miller, The Summer King Chronicles
Jennifer Miller lives in the southern tier of New York state, outside the town of Olean. Surrounded by wildlife, she paints wondrous images of fantasy art for numerous clients. For the Summer King Chronicles, a series of novels written an published by Jess E. Owen, Miller has created four panoramic images depicting the world of a gryfon pride.
"As a child, I aspired to be an artist as a profession." says Miller. "I've been able to realize that dream when I started doing freelance and gallery type work as a career ten years ago, in 2006. I have always loved animals (especially birds), and fantastical creatures. I suspect many of the adults in my life at the time were waiting for me to grow up, but it never happened! I now make art in both the wildlife and fantasy genres, full time."
“I suspect many of the adults in my life at the time were waiting for me to grow up, but it never happened! I now make art in both the wildlife and fantasy genres, full time.”
For the Summer King Chronicles, the author found images that the artist had painted on the internet and contacted her directly. "I first heard from Jess via email. She had found my work online and felt it fell in line with what she had envisioned for her stories."
Miller has to keep in mind several things for the process of developing covers for a novel. "I need to make sure we are both happy with the finished thing, that it follows the client's vision, and that the design actually works well as a cover. When working with an author directly, I work hard to find a balance between all of these aspects."
"I created several thumbnail sketches in the correct ratio (in this case, a very long panoramic format so that it wraps around the dust jacket) for Jess to pick from. At this point, I created more detailed sketches, so that we could really hammer out where the characters were in the image, their pose, attitude, etc. All while leaving room for the text elements that needed to be added later. After that, I create color mockups, to get the light, colors, and mood correct. Once we get all of these steps worked out to the satisfaction of all, I will being painting in earnest, which can take over a month of solid work."
"I think it's pretty neat, and a great personal honor, to find a relationship between writer and artist that really syncs up with one another's visions."