Category: Art
- Lauren Panepinto - November 1st, 2010
The cover art Daniel Dociu did for Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey is so cool that we wanted to make it a wallpaper immediately (for our own use!) so why not share, right? I love the movement and action in the piece and I think that it says a lot about what kind of epic space opera reading experience you’re in for with Leviathan Wakes.
Hopefully these wallpapers can tide you over until the release in June 2011! Enjoy the fabulous illustration by Daniel Dociu, type by Kirk Behshoff, wallpaper layouts by Wendy Chan.
Enjoy the art fullsize and all the usual downloadable sizes after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »
by Lauren Panepinto • Post a Comment • Posted in: Art, Covers, Orbit UK, Orbit US, Wallpaper
- Kirk Benshoff - November 1st, 2010
Leviathan Wakes is by James S.A. Corey, which is the pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. This behemoth is hitting stores May 2011. What an awesome project. We’re talking space opera, big ships, interstellar travel, secrets, conspiracies, and high adventure. Once I got my hands on it the gears started turning full tilt.
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by Kirk Benshoff • 2 Comments • Posted in: Covers, New Titles, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- Lauren Panepinto - November 1st, 2010
As the Creative Director of Orbit US, I am very happy to make some announcements and introductions. And maybe a few explanations, with a small peek behind the curtain at a book publishing art department. SFF readers are pretty opinionated about covers, which is awesome, so I’m guessing you’d like to know a little bit more about how an art dept. is set up.
When Orbit first launched here in the US three years ago, the cover design was handled by the fabulous Art Directors and Designers of the Little Brown Art Department (some of their awesome work can be pointed out in my very first ever Orbit blog post here.) Orbit’s first year in the US went so swimmingly that it jumped out from under the Little Brown umbrella and teamed up with Yen Press to become it’s own division of Hachette Books. It then needed its own art department and I was hired to get that moving. Kirk Behshoff, who you will meet in a minute, had already been handling the cover art for Yen Press while it was a part of Little Brown Young Readers, and thank goodness he came over with Yen or I might have lost my mind those first few weeks. So long story short, the last two years were a lot of wonderful covers mixed with panic and a lot of late nights, because let me tell you, two people for two imprints is a bit of an insane workload. And because of the time crunch, I stuck mostly to Orbit and Kirk stuck mostly to Yen.
But now we are three! As of the beginning of September, we have welcomed Wendy Chan onto the Orbit/Yen team as a Junior Designer. With Wendy’s help we’ve been able to start to mix it up a bit. I did my very first Yen covers (for the High School of the Dead series) and Kirk is handling some Orbit covers—the first of which, Leviathan Wakes, is launching today! Very exciting.
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by Lauren Panepinto • 1 Comment • Posted in: Art, Orbit US
- Lauren Panepinto - October 29th, 2010
Day five and competition is fierce. I love reading all your comments in the posts, so keep it up! This is the last batch of covers, and the winners of each day will have a runoff vote on Monday!
I kind of love the Steampunk-versions-of-characters costumes too. It’s already awesome to be mashing up time periods and technology, but then you throw Green Lantern, Doctor Who, and Star Wars into it, and that’s just doubly awesome… If you havent seen them around the web, there’s some really cool anachronistic and Steampunked worlds here, here, and here. And altho not technically Steampunk, these “premakes” are favorites in the same anachronistic vibe.
And on to today’s covers, after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »
by Lauren Panepinto • 38 Comments • Posted in: Art, Contests, Covers, Orbit US, Uncategorized
- Lauren Panepinto - October 28th, 2010
Just one more batch of covers left after these, and thank heavens, because I am seriously straining for good titles! Keep voting, and keep the comments coming.
Meanwhile, there’s some video from NY Comic Con of our volunteer Steampunk ambassadors giving out Parasol Protectorate buttons (where you can see the back of the “Careless” outfit in all it’s bustled glory) and the packed house at the Steampunk 101 panel, where there seems to have been a spontaneous dance contest for Parasol Protectorate swag. Awesome!
Today’s covers after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »
by Lauren Panepinto • 23 Comments • Posted in: Art, Contests, Covers, Orbit US, Uncategorized
- Lauren Panepinto - October 27th, 2010
Hey everyone, sorry I’m a little late in posting today — you won’t be disappointed when you see all the fab Orbit cover launches we have lined up for the coming weeks. So a bit late but not forgotten, here is Parasol Protectorate: Team 3!
And yes, for the record, I am running short on good words that end in -less. Sooner or later, someone is going to end up with “Sugarless” but I am trying to avoid that kind of thing and just get inspired by the character once the cover is done. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep the streak going for TWO MORE DAYS! Stay tuned!
Team 3 after the jump…
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by Lauren Panepinto • 63 Comments • Posted in: Art, Contests, Covers, Orbit US
- Lauren Panepinto - October 26th, 2010
Here’s the second “team” of the Parasol Protectorate covers for your judging pleasure. Please do remember, you’re voting on the awesomeness of the Steampunk attire, not on the background or title and especially not photo quality, which was entirely my doing…
Remember, if you miss a day you can definitely still vote for your favorite of each grouping — we’re not going to tally until monday morning, and then we’ll have a second round of voting.
Team #2 after the jump…
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by Lauren Panepinto • 57 Comments • Posted in: Art, Contests, Covers, Orbit US, Uncategorized
- Lauren Panepinto - October 25th, 2010
Ladies and Gentlemen! After a short delay for design magicking, I am excited to present the first team of the new Parasol Protectorate covers! You may remember I was taking pictures of all the fabulous Steampunk costumes at New York Comic Con, and I promised to make them into Parasol Protectorate covers. I think they came out so fantastically, we shall have a CONTEST!
We will be releasing a group a day all this week, and I want you to vote for ONE cover in the comments for each day this week. On Monday we will tally the results and have a second round of the winners of each day, pitted against each other for Steampunk glory! And maybe a prize…I have to see what we’ve got around the office…I’ve got some post-it notes?
Anyway, enjoy today’s 5 covers in full size after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »
by Lauren Panepinto • 197 Comments • Posted in: Art, Contests, Covers, Orbit US, Uncategorized
- Anna Gregson - October 20th, 2010
Has anyone else noticed that the raised eyebrow has truly become one of the staples of science fiction and fantasy entertainment?
The Spirit Thief (UK/US /ANZ) by Rachel Aaron is out this month – and since its protagonst is a scheming, devious and devastatingly charming rogue, we felt that only the most superb demonstration of singular suspension of the supercilium (yes, that’s ‘eyebrow’ in Latin) would do . . .
By being represented in this way, Eli Monpress is truly joining the ranks of heroes from science fiction and fantasy history who have excelled at exhibiting this particular brand of facial gymnastics. See the following examples for reference:
Exhibit A – Spock (though we must admit, he has a natural advantage over his human counterparts owing to his Vulcan genes)
Exhibit B – Wolverine (the classic ‘Don’t mess with me, even if my hair is a bit silly‘ eyebrow)
Exhibit C – David Tennant as Doctor Who (In fact, no one is allowed to play Doctor Who unless they can display an ability to get some impressive eyebrow height)
And Exhibit D – The Rock (only vaguely fantastical – for The Scorpion King perhaps? – but there was no way we weren’t including this picture) Read the rest of this entry »
by Anna Gregson • 3 Comments • Posted in: Art, Commentary, Covers, Extracts, Fiction, New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US, Uncategorized
- Anna Gregson - October 19th, 2010
We are exceptionally proud to present the covers for an explosive trilogy of near-future thrillers that will be storming onto the scene next year. Equations of Life, Theories of Flight and Degrees Freedom make up this bold, fast-paced and highly intelligent new series that is a real breath of fresh air. It’s unlike anything else on the market at the moment and we wanted a striking new cover style that would convey that very fact – so here they are for your viewing pleasure.
Simon Morden has impeccable SF credentials, having edited the BSFA’s Focus magazine and served as a judge for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. He’s also a bona fide rocket scientist, having degrees in geology and planetary geophysics . . . so we were obviously expecting great things! I’m very glad to say that when we first read his series we were all astonishingly impressed – totally blown away. And since we don’t think you should have to wait for the future, we’ve decided to publish three books in three months – April, May and June 2011.
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by Anna Gregson • 7 Comments • Posted in: Art, Covers, New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US, Uncategorized
The cover art Daniel Dociu did for Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey is so cool that we wanted to make it a wallpaper immediately (for our own use!) so why not share, right? I love the movement and action in the piece and I think that it says a lot about what kind of epic space opera reading experience you’re in for with Leviathan Wakes.
