I’ve decided to take a two weeks break from writing serials to gather back some strength. Lots of reason for that, and I’ve wrote them down at the WriteNow wiki page if you want to take a look. Though I say break, I haven’t been able to take my mind off the next serial, and finale of the 139 series, The Number 139. Now, The Number 139, unlike my current two 139 serials, is going to be set in a steampunk fantasy settings, and I’m guessing my method of photography and creating my own book cover would not do such a genre justice.

139 Years' Cover

139 Years’ cover

In Evening Cover 2

In Evening’s cover

The above covers were shot by myself, and edited very quickly and simply. Except for some color and saturation tweak, they were left un-manipulated. Okay, I had to photoshop an extremely small tower out of Years, but other than that, what you see is what the original image looked like. But fantasy? Eh…that’s kind of out of my cost range at the moment. Besides, all the designs above had been relatively simple. I didn’t trace any customized typefaces since I was kind of time challenged at the time, but the end product turned out okay.

So I’ve been wandering DeviantArt like a hobo, looking for some skilled artist that can take a commission for it. I’m currently looking at the Guzzardi twins who does some amazing brush art and also do commissions within my budget. But of course, there’s a catch in their terms and conditions that I can’t post the image anywhere else. I’m hoping that rule they could revoke that for a book cover commission.

Of course, I could go straight for one of those professionals that does the entire book cover package, spine and everything, for less and at a faster rate. But as someone who has a diploma that studied designs, I know how much of a cheat some of them can be, and that the good ones will cost an upwards of at least $800 for something simple. Also, I can do the design part myself. Now that I’m about to be released from army, I could even customize my typefaces. Make it all fancy like. But the art itself is something that I have no skills in. Not photography mind you. That I can do. I’m talking about drawing stuff.

Back on track, there’s a few reasons to choose the Guzzardi twins. One, I love their art style. Really rebellious, really awesome. Two, they’re twins. Cool. From Australia? Dangerous and cool. If anything the internet has thought me, everything down under is a killer. I guessing that logic means their artists are killers too. Hopefully not human killers, just killer artists. Three, they are gamers. And they have amazing tastes in games. I’m hoping they’ll be able to get the look and feel for The Number 139 out. Four, they’re still up-and-coming. I want to support people in that category. Not just because I’m in that group, but also because there are some really good artist, writers and musicians in there.

Maybe I’m putting too much thoughts into this. But The Number 139 is going to be the end of the 139 series. I’m about 1/3 the way there and I can even see In Evening ending before the end of the year. I want it to end well. And I want the graphics to be awesome. Who knows, if it’s really good, I might just commission two more for the ebook covers for 139 Years and In Evening. Now I’m just getting ahead of myself.