Written by / Lavie Tidhar
Cover illustration for Lavie Tidhar’s book “The Three Coffin Problem,” which recounts the adventures of his character, the vampire detective Judge Dee.
“Medieval Europe. A world of darkness. Of Gothic castles, isolated monasteries, of monks and knights and things that go bump in the night. A world where vampires can roam at will… At least, as long as they obey the rules! For a vampire may not murder another vampire. Not unless they have a really good reason to, anyway.
Enter Judge Dee. Ancient. Immortal. Ascetic. His cold intellect draws him wherever a mystery is present, and he will rest at nothing to solve the puzzle. Jonathan, the judge’s human assistant, on the other hand, mostly just wants cheese. With bread, if possible. And some pickles would be nice. After all, it’s not easy spending your life in the company of murderous vampires who only see you as a tasty snack…
Their adventures take them from the warm Italian valleys to the heights of the French Alps as they come face to fang with fiendishly complicated puzzles—not the least of which is love! But as they are drawn inexorably onwards to London, Jonathan wonders what awaits them when they finally arrive—and what choices he may have to make once they get there.”
Check it out at Awful Agent’s website →
Sketches & Creative Process
I began sketching a few thumbnails for this cover. The client wanted the main characters to appear on the cover, and I should refer to the three coffins somehow. One option was to make it a more conceptual composition, and another was to make it descriptive of a scene from the novel, which takes place in the docks of London.
I went with Option 3, which was the most descriptive one, and I began working on a more complete sketch. As usual, I added the typography beforehand, just to know how much space I’d need for the illustration.
The first sketch was done in black and white, and then I colored it roughly with a blue and yellow color palette. Two almost complementary colors perfect to achieve the mysterious tone of the book!
The more stylized character designs soften the dark tone of the cover, as these are sort of cozy, fun and bright.
And here’s the finished approved cover! As you can see, I always approach cover commissions step by step, to make the process as seamless as possible 🙂
