Painting a Book Cover From Start to Finish! The Entire Process Explained with Helpful Tips.

[@joehorvath4660]

Another worthwhile art KZbin video. Well done.

[@hbendzulla8213]

Fredric Remington is and or was a great artist. Steve, you are every bit a equal. I love your paintings and the way you teach and tell.

[@SteveAtkinsonFineArt]

Hi H Bendzulla, that's incredibly kind of you to say. You made my day! Thanks for watching and for the kind comment. Paint on!

[@jensbasement3862]

Lovely. You inspire me!

[@SteveAtkinsonFineArt]

Thank you Jen, that's so nice to hear. Happy Painting!

[@Wingman115]

Thanks for posting. Videos like these help me out a bunch with my pyrography.

[@artsalivestudio]

Thanks, Steve.

[@123youknowme]

Getting a notification about new video post from your channel is a like seeing the weekend arrive.

[@SteveAtkinsonFineArt]

What a great thing to hear 123, thanks for making me smile!

[@karenjohnson6487]

Love this very interesting video. I never gave the process much thought. The cover of a book is usually what gets me to open it and ultimately to read it. Thanks for the explanation and demo. Love your painting.

[@SteveAtkinsonFineArt]

Hi Karen, I'm just like you in that the cover of the book, as well as the author's name recognition are the two things that'll get me to pick up a book. Thanks for your comment, Paint on!!

[@rockhoundingwithjasperblue]

Once again, Thank You, for letting us come along with you! So great watching you work. And thank you for the awesome advice and wisdom you ‘peppered’ in. There is much to take right to heart. Thank you💎

[@SteveAtkinsonFineArt]

You're so welcome Jasper, I hope you found it helpful and best of luck in your art. As always, Paint On!

[@vernonsaayman9741]

My first interest ever in western art started in1959more or less far back i can remember was buying the paper back ,,the man from yuma,, by hal g everts. I still have it today, from then i never bought any novel unless it did not have a good art cover. In those years unlike today, the frontispiece artist wes never even mentioned.only many years later i found the artist was fred lucas.i think im the only person in south afr,beinga member of the f ace book group ,,native american dsa,, where i witness lots of ,,indian art.greetiigs

[@mailie6403]

You are very talented. Thank you for all the tips and advice.

[@ruthbosveld449]

So helpful, Steve; thanks as always.

[@lydiagreenartandhorses]

Loved it, thank you for sharing your wonderful work

[@SteveAtkinsonFineArt]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@bruceosborne1892]

Perfect timing! Was just asked to collaborate a book cover for a local writer. Love your painting.

[@SteveAtkinsonFineArt]

Best of luck to you Bruce, that's so great to hear. Happy Painting! I love when I can work with the writer and so will you!!

[@Fred-ov5vb]

Thank you Steve, another fun and informative video! Actually, your way of anticipating questions is spooky!

[@rafim6869]

Great painting, do you have any online painting classes ?

[@billbevan9813]

Well Steve, that was interesting to watch, I really enjoyed it. I’m not interested in doing bookcover work myself, but to see the journey from beginning to end, and your comedy narrative make it enjoyable. Keep up the good work. 😁👍👏

[@SteveAtkinsonFineArt]

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it Bill. I appreciate you taking the time to watch and to comment. Happy painting!

[@taylorvanbuskirk8040]

It's so helpful to have the photo reference. Being able to use live actors with authentic clothing would be a huge help. I don't have anyone like that.

[@SteveAtkinsonFineArt]

No friends Taylor? Not possible, lol. Button-down shirts, jeans, a pair of chaps that you can order online, boots and a hat. That's a start! Acquire your clothing one piece at a time and over time it's how I started. You can do it buddy ;0)

[@taylorvanbuskirk8040]

@@SteveAtkinsonFineArt, well, it looks like I need to start hooking up some friends in costume. LOL!

[@Rockhopper1]

i like your hat, and cat.

[@SteveAtkinsonFineArt]

Thanks Richard, I'm rather partial to them myself! ;0)

[@chriswhitehouse8982]

Steve, quick question, that's maybe somewhat related to the topic of this video, that I'd like to get your take on. I was recently asked to produce a bird illustration to be published in a scientific journal article, which I did and painted in oils. Now, I've been invited to an exhibition and want to show this bird oil painting I did. Question is will I run into any kind of copyright issues if I were to sell the painting at the exhibition and then later it gets published in an article? Thanks for your advice!

[@SteveAtkinsonFineArt]

Hi Chris, my first thought is that ordinarily you won't have any problem with selling the image yourself. I say ordinarily because I don't know if you signed any kind of contract, or worked it out in emails, that gives the magazine full copyright ownership. Barring that, as an illustrator, you are only selling the rights to publish your image in their magazine, once. The artist, unless specifically called out in a contract (which I always, always recommend you have between you and your client), retains the ownership of the artwork and you're free to use it however you like, or sell it. Just make sure you have a high resolution color correct image for the publication, or any future prints you plan to make.

[@chriswhitehouse8982]

@@SteveAtkinsonFineArt Great thanks so much for the advice Steve.

[@DWardington]

What is the process for then getting the painting printed onto multiple many covers of books? Especially before the days of digital art?

[@SteveAtkinsonFineArt]

Hey @DWardington! So sorry, my expertise ends at handing over the digital capture of the image to the publishing house and letting them deal with the aftermath of my painting attempt, lol. Thanks for watching and paint on!!

[@artsalivestudio]

Are you painting on a traditional canvas or one mounted on something like a gatorboard? By the way, great painting, Steve.

[@SteveAtkinsonFineArt]

Hi George, I paint on stretched Claessen's Universal Primed linen canvas, but I just as easily could have painted this on the linen glued to some gatorboard.

[@johncollado1151]

Morning Steve.... another beautiful piece. When you work traditionally and you're down to the final portions of color and the client asks you to make changes, how do you handle that? Digitally it is very easy, traditionally I would think it would take time. And one more thing, you don't have to answer this, how much did you negotiate with the client for in this piece and how many rights did you offer or have them pay for? Thanks again for another informative video, always look forward to watching them. Stay safe.

[@SteveAtkinsonFineArt]

Morning John, thank you kindly. About the changes, if it's just color, I'll usually take care of it digitally if I can. Once you get approval from the client for the drawing, it almost never comes to reworking the drawing or composition But if there are any of those changes, I can usually take care of that digitally too. When I was airbrushing, before I learned to paint in Photoshop, I did the cover for the Monopoly Jr game. It was a scene with some kids riding a rollercoaster and I painted their coaster car blue, but they wanted me to change it to red. It was a couple of days work with having to patch in a new red car and remove the blue car. That's when I decided I needed to learn to paint digitally because that change on the computer wouldn't have taken even 5 minutes, ha! About negotiating, I did negotiate a slightly higher price, but not much since there was a guarantee of at least 5 covers. They have a standard boilerplate contract in which they can use the image for as long as they like and I retain the original for resale. There was an additional payment from Recorded Books for the rights to use the painting on the audiobook cover. Hope that helps!

[@johncollado1151]

@@SteveAtkinsonFineArt Yes it does, thanks. I stay completely away from "work for hire" projects, I don't even bother to look at them.

[@BK-ch6up]

Can you show your process for the drawings, thanks

[@SteveAtkinsonFineArt]

Yes, I sure will Robert. I'd love to show everything in one video, but attention spans being what they are... well. I've added your suggestion to my future videos to-do list. Happy painting!