Concept 1: The Crossroad

This was the first sketch I did for the cover. It came right out without any thought.

I liked this design because it conveyed a sense of the novel on several different levels. There is a lone character standing before a crossroads -which is an obvious metaphor. But I like the fact that the crossing of the two roads also looks like a sword. The shadow of the character is also in the shape of a sword. There is a recursion here that appeals to me. The overall effect of this concept is very dramatic.

I continued to tinker with this ide and tried it in oil paints and construction paper looking to get a certain feel.

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You can see in the sketch above there is one sword with a hole in the pommel. Through this hole you see the hooded head of a character. I liked this and developed it further. It ended up coming to a more finished scene shown below.