Archive for Art

Cover Launch: SKYBORN by David Dalglish

I was fortunate enough to art direct David’s first series, the Shadowdance novels, so when I heard we were ready to work on his next series I was super excited. SKYBORN (US | UK | AUS)  is about the Seraphim, an elite military force protecting a floating island of Weshern. The Seraphim guard the remnants of mankind, defying gravity using ancient wings and mastering powerful elements to wage war in the skies.

The new series has been a different design challenge from the Shadowdance books in that we wanted to convey a different feel for the cover art. In David’s first series, we wanted emphasis on the main character, a ninja-like assassin, and the books’ energetic action. In Skyborn, the characters are a bit more unique in that they have metal wings to fly, wield swords, and wear military uniforms. Ultimately, the new series needed to convey high adventure.

In what I would call serendipitous timing, the work of Tommy Arnold came across my desk as we were discussing the covers. His style just hit the nail on the head for this project. His ability to illustrate characters was spot on. He could also handle textures beautifully: fabrics, metals, flames, etc. And most importantly, his illustrations really pull the viewer in and engage you. It was a no brainer in reaching out to get Tommy on board.

So after settling on what we wanted for the covers, we got Tommy moving. I couldn’t have had more fun designing David’s super fun new series with such a talented artist!

I’m thrilled to present the cover to Skyborn by David Dalglish!

Dalglish_Skyborn-TP.jpg

Skyborn, the first volume of a new series by David Dalglish, will be hitting shelves November 2015.

Cover launch: ANGEL OF STORMS by Trudi Canavan

Last month we released the paperback edition THIEF’S MAGIC, from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author Trudi Canavan. It’s book one in a brand new fantasy series called Millennium’s Rule – and judging from the fantastic reader reviews, it’s going down very well indeed!

We can now unveil the cover for the second book in the Millennium’s Rule series – ANGEL OF STORMS – out this November. We think this is looking stunning – if we do say so ourselves! – and we feel it really captures the sense of adventure and mystery that makes this series so thrilling.

The illustration shows the character Rielle, who is going to be swept away on a breath-taking journey in this book – by the Angel of Storms himself. Meanwhile Tyen, who has become a teacher of mechanical magic, will learn that the formidable ruler of all worlds, long believed to be dead, is back and enforcing his old laws . . .

Whether you’re an existing fan of Trudi Canavan or just a fan of fantasy in general, this series needs to be moved to the top of your to be read pile ASAP! #justsayin

The cover for Angel of Storms by Trudi Canavan, book two of Millennium's rule and sequel to THIEF'S MAGIC

 

Now available for pre-order

Cover Launch: THE IMMORTALS by Jordanna Max Brodsky

THE IMMORTALS by Jordanna Max Brodsky, the first volume of a new contemporary fantasy series, will be hitting shelves February 2016.

When I was first approached to work on this project, I was told there were three key ingredients I needed to keep in mind for this contemporary fantasy cover:

  1. History of New York to appeal to folks who love to find out about the city’s secret history
  2. Greek Gods to appeal to adults who read Greek mythology & legends growing up
  3. Bring New York and Greek Mythology together in a dark and eerie package

These kinds of projects are always a challenge because I need to convey specific information in a very specific way. In this case I need to show:

Greek Gods + New York City = Fantastical and Menacing

I didn’t want the cover to be campy and so the search began looking for the perfect image that would set the stage for the gods and the supernatural. I looked for a long time across a lot of stock sites and finally found the perfect image. The shot of Central Park and the graininess of the image perfectly set the tone.

With a little glowy magic here and a constellation there to introduce the Greek mythology, all the elements came together really nicely.

So with everything said and done, I am thrilled to present the cover to the The Immortals by Jordanna Max Brodsky.

Brodsky_TheImmortals_HC.jpg

Cover launch: Speak by Louisa Hall

Arriving at Orbit this summer from Waterstones Book Club author Louisa Hall comes SPEAK, a novel which will make readers everywhere question what it really means to be human.

Emily St. John Mandel, Arthur C. Clarke winner and author of STATION ELEVEN, calls SPEAK the ‘rarest of finds’, and it is already one of Huffington Post‘s Brilliant Books You Won’t Want to Miss this Summer.

She cannot run. She cannot walk. She cannot even blink. As her batteries run down for the final time, all she can do is speak. Will you listen?

From Alan Turing’s conviction in the 1950s to a Silicon Valley Wunderkind imprisoned in 2040 for creating illegally lifelike dolls. From a pilgrim girl writing her diary to a traumatised young girl exchanging messages with a software program, all these lives have shaped and changed a single artificial intelligence – MARY3. In Speak, she tells you their story, and her own. It the last story she will ever tell, spoken both in celebration and in warning.

When machines learn to speak, who decides what it means to be human?

[Cover design by Jack Smyth from the Little, Brown Book Group Design team.]

A CROWN FOR COLD SILVER: The Making of the Map

Welcome to a behind-the-scenes post on how maps get created in the Orbit universe. I thought A CROWN FOR COLD SILVER (US | UK |AUS) was the perfect opportunity to do a write-up on, because the map design even made it to the cover. I’ll be your narrator, and welcome Author Alex Marshall, and illustrator Tim Paul.

LP: People often ask how we decide which books are going to have maps, and most times it is author-driven. Some authors use mapmaking as part of their worldbuilding process, and some authors only have a more general idea of geography as they’re writing. If a map or diagram comes naturally out of a story, then I always like to create something to expand the reader’s experience of the book. And sometimes a “map” is not really a map – for example we’ll be doing a process post soon on BLACK WOLVES (US | UK | AUS) by Kate Elliott – that book has tattoo designs for each important clan in the book in lieu of a geographic map.

In the case of A Crown for Cold Silver, I knew the author had a very specific concept for the map, and when I want the author and map maker to work together directly, my go-to artist is Tim Paul. I’d actually known Tim for a few years for his more stylized illustrations. One day we were sitting at the Society of Illustrators in NYC, at some art event or another, and he was saying he was dragging out all his old Dungeon Master props and maps to start up a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. He was talking about how much he enjoyed geeking out on the mapmaking, and my head snapped over to him and I said, so….you like making maps huh? Have you ever illustrated one for a client? (See, networking is real!)

TP: Hurray for networking, and talking about yourself!

LP: Map illustrators are a special – and rare – breed. You have to really be into the process of drawing the map out of the author, and tolerate a lot of fine-tuning. If you aren’t really excited by that, then you burn out quite quickly on all the revisions. You have to love the collaboration process. Many illustrators feel map work isn’t as creative as other types of illustration, but good mapmakers know there’s a lot of room for artistic license.

TP: It’s true about being a rare breed. I’ve had lots of illustrators tell me they won’t touch maps, and those few that do try, end up deciding not to do them again. As one person described, it’s like doing 50 – 100 little illustrations that are always changing. I actually find drawing thousands of little trees and mountains relaxing, even as I strive to make each mountain unique.

I’ve played D&D since I was 14. The maps in the books and modules were one of my favorite aspects. As a kid, I always made my own maps and worlds. Surprisingly, it took a long time to put my love of making my own maps into another way to making a living with my art. (more…)

Cover Launch: The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross

Coming July 2015, THE ANNIHILATION SCORE is the latest science fiction thriller from Charles Stross, in a series where British spies take on the supernatural.

The Cover for Charles Stross's latest science fiction spy thriller, The Annihilation Score, showing a London scene and two spies pointing guns at each other, with a glowing violin pattern overlaying the picture.

NOBODY DOES IT BETTER . . .

Dr Mo O’Brien is an intelligence agent at the top secret government agency known as ‘the Laundry’. When occult powers threaten the realm, they’ll be there to clean up the mess – and deal with the witnesses.

The Laundry is recovering from a devastating attack and when average citizens all over the country start to develop supernatural powers, the police are called in to help. Mo is appointed as official police liaison, but in between dealing with police bureaucracy, superpowered members of the public and disgruntled politicians, Mo discovers to her horror that she can no longer rely on her marriage, nor on the weapon that has been at her side for eight years of undercover work, the possessed violin known as ‘Lecter’.

If this wasn’t bad enough, a mysterious figure known as Dr Freudstein is committing heists and sending increasingly threatening messages to the police. Who is Freudstein and what is he planning?

The Laundry Files by Charles Stross

Many thanks to crushed.co.uk and Sophie Burdess for their beautiful cover!

Fall 2015 – Winter 2016 US Cover Launch

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Mondays can be pretty dull sometimes. The weekend is over and everything seems a little grey and colorless…but not this Monday! To brighten your day with a splash of color and a full serving of awesomeness, here is a collection of our upcoming Fall 2015 and Winter 2016 titles.

Click on the images below to see a larger version and appreciate each cover in its full glory. Pin, tweet, and comment away with reckless abandon! We’d love to hear which books have already piqued your interest!

Grant_Chimera-HC Elliott_BlackWolves-TP Leckie_AncillaryMercy-TP

Carriger_Imprudence-HC Watson_ReignofIron-TP  Sykes_MortalTally-TP

Abraham_SpidersWar_TP Carriger_Prudence-TP Grant_Symbiont-TP 

Marshall_CrownColdSilver-TP McClellan_AutumnRepublic-TP McClellan_AutumnRepublic-TP

CHIMERA: Design by Lauren Panepinto; ANCILLARY MERCY: Art by John Harris, Design by Kirk Benshoff; BLACK WOLVES: Art by Larry Rostant, Tattoo Design by Stephanie Tamez, Design by Lauren Panepinto; IMPRUDENCE:Photo by Shirley Green, Illustration by Don Sipley, Type by Chad Roberts, Design by Lauren Panepinto; REIGN OF IRON: Art by Larry Rostant, Design by Ceara Elliot; THE MORTAL TALLY: Design by Lauren Panepinto, Images Arcangel; THE SPIDER’S WAR: Design by Kirk Benshoff; PRUDENCE: Photo by Shirley Green, Illustration by Don Sipley, Type by Chad Roberts, Design by Lauren Panepinto; SYMBIONT: Design by Lauren Panepinto A CROWN FOR COLD SILVER: Design by Lauren Panepinto, Map by Tim Paul; THE AUTUMN REPUBLIC: Art by Gene Mollica and Michael Frost, Design by Lauren Panepinto; RADIANT STATE: Design by Lauren Panepinto, Images Trevillion

Autumn 2015 – Winter 2016 UK Cover Launch

Autumn2015OrbitUK

The Orbit design team has been very busy, and this morning we are very excited to present to you a selection of the beautiful art they’ve been working on for books coming out this Autumn and Winter 2016!

Click on the cover thumbnails below to see a larger version, and feel free to sound off in the comments (or hit us up on Twitter and Facebook) about your favourites.

Grant_Chimera-HC Elliott_BlackWolves-TP Leckie_AncillaryMercy-TP

Carriger_Imprudence-HC Watson_ReignofIron-TP Abraham_SpidersWar_TP

Marshall_CrownColdSilver-TP McClellan_AutumnRepublic-TP

CHIMERA: Design by Lauren Panepinto; ANCILLARY MERCY: Art by John Harris, Design by Kirk Benshoff; BLACK WOLVES: Art by Larry Rostant, Tattoo Design by Stephanie Tamez, Design by Lauren Panepinto; IMPRUDENCE:Photo by Shirley Green, Illustration by Don Sipley, Type by Chad Roberts, Design by Lauren Panepinto; REIGN OF IRON: Art by Larry Rostant, Design by Ceara Elliot; THE SPIDER’S WAR: Design by Kirk Benshoff; A CROWN FOR COLD SILVER: Design by Lauren Panepinto, Map by Tim Paul; THE AUTUMN REPUBLIC: Art by Gene Mollica and Michael Frost, Design by Lauren Panepinto;

Cover Launch: IMPRUDENCE by Gail Carriger

We’re thrilled to launch the cover for IMPRUDENCE (see below), the sequel to PRUDENCE (US | UK | AUS), the greatly anticipated new novel by New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger!

Readers will love this terrific new series starring Prudence, the daughter of Alexia Maccon from the Parasol Protectorate series. The Custard Protocol has got it all: vampires, werewolves, dirigibles, and Gail Carriger’s sharp wit and absorbing prose.

The action and adventure kicks off on March 17th when Prudence travels to India on behalf of Queen, country…and the perfect pot of tea.

Pre-order your copy of PRUDENCE today, and head on over to Facebook to see if Gail Carriger will be stopping by your hometown for a visit.

Carriger_Imprudence-HC

 

Photo by Shirley Green, Illustration by Don Sipley, Type by Chad Roberts, Design by Lauren Panepinto
IMPRUDENCE releases March 2016.

 

Cover Launch: CHIMERA by Mira Grant

One book. Two books. Red book. New book!?! Heck yeah!

Mira Grant visited us at the Orbit offices this afternoon to help us launch the cover of CHIMERA – book three of the Parasitology series! Check out the fabulous cover designed by Orbit’s own Lauren Panepinto!

The exciting conclusion to Mira Grant’s pulse-pounding SF thriller will be available worldwide from Orbit in hardcover, e-book, and audio formats this November. Stay tuned and most importantly…stay alive.

CHIMERA-verticle-rectangle Grant_Chimera-HC

 

Want start reading the Parasitology series? Here is an excerpt from PARASITE!