Wednesday, January 17, 2007

DIVINE BY BLOOD


This image is the cover illustration for PC Cast's latest book in her 'Divine' series, DIVINE BY BLOOD, which is not yet released. This image is meant to show the daughter of the woman in the previous books, who has inherited the divine powers from her mother. I have to give credit where it's due and the design for this image was devised by the art director, Kathleen Oudit, at Luna. She came up with a powerful concept that was exciting to work with. This is really a pleasurable symbiosis, whene the artist and director are so much in sync that ideas flow back and forth freely. Thanks, Kathleen! And thanks, PC, for coming up with a story of such imagery!
Anyone who notices a resemblance in these covers to work by Maxfield Parrish is correct. He was a major influence and we set out to emulate his paintings, but, of course, do it in our own way. One of the ways I keep my art fresh is to continually look to the past for inspiriation. What I love is how an idea becomes transformed as it gets reinterpreted. Cross-cultural and across time, ideas get filtered through the culture we are living in. That's how we end up with crazy and wonderful things like the movie, MOULIN ROUGE. I'm sure Max did the same!

6 comments:

PC Cast said...

James,
As always, I adore the covers you do for my work! Seeing this one while I'm still writing the manuscript has been fabulous, especially (as I've already told you) when what you and Kathleen created bizarrely mirrors something I'd already envisioned. Thank you so much for your wonderful work!

Unknown said...

The cover is fantastic James. Your work is stunning. And correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the model the same one you used for her other 2 Divine books? Also, I meant to comment on your Dawn picture about how much I liked it, but my computer crashed and it has taken me days to fix. So, just to let you know, I love the Dawn picture.

James Griffin said...

PC, It's a collaboration! Thanks again for your nice comments! Can't wait to read the book!

James Griffin said...

Kathy, Your comments are much appreciated! You are right, it is the same model, different hairstyle and I made her thinner to give her a younger look. Glad you liked Dawn, too!

Unknown said...

i just wann say one worn
WOW !
its beautiful

James Griffin said...

Thanks so much for you compliments!
I'l be getting back into bloggin' soon. thanks for reminding me.