http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/ ddraco's gallery of images en-us 120 http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/571840

Another book cover]]> Tue, 11 Dec 2007 14:29:34 +0000 http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/559341

Another urban vampire story book cover, or a portrait of my girlfriend... you decide.]]> Thu, 08 Nov 2007 20:53:10 +0000 http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/527283

Another book cover. This one is for an erotic book for Carnal Desires Publishing. It's a touch-in-cheek sci/fi erotica. Thus the cliche alien in the background. Done in photoshop with the help of poser characters in 3dmax, then over painted. I especially like the background alien, fog, rock and space ship. This was all hand painted using photoshop.]]> Thu, 09 Aug 2007 15:04:36 +0000 http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/508779

This is another book cover for Book of Dragons. The client liked it just fine... thought it was great in fact. But in my mind there are a few things I want to continue working on, so due to that I'll call it WIP. I'm uploading it for your enjoyment. Hope you like.]]> Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:16:17 +0000 http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/504627

This is something I just finished. It's a book cover about a desolate planet that's not too desolate, at least there are still "things" on it. I wanted to impress upon the viewer a feeling of expanse and desolation and dryness. Anyway, this is what I got. It's a painter/photoshop combination... did the background and little guy the back that way. Then put a 3dmax figure in the foreground. I think I'll go back to this image a little later and work on the figure in the foreground if I get more ideas. Here's the actual cover:

http://www.derondouglas.com/images/Hidden-Ones-200.jpg]]> Thu, 07 Jun 2007 14:46:21 +0000 http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/502206

I created this image for a book cover. It's about a boy that is influence behind the scenes to "work for" Satan. The guy with the tentacles is the main evil. But the boy turns out to be evil as well... Anyway, this started out as a drawing which I scanned, then worked on with my tablet. It's a Photoshop to Painter to Photoshop production. I'm pretty please with it (which is why I want to share it here). I hope the colors and depth show, there is a lot of detail but it was originally created on a regular monitor, then an LCD monitor.]]> Thu, 31 May 2007 13:34:17 +0000 http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/492406

I did this for a book by the same name. Actually, I was working on it for a few weeks now. But couldn't make it work, I'm not good with zombies and I was trying to force my own style into something that I couldn't get into. This week I decided do some random sketching and I came up with the figure in the foreground.

Anyway, it took me about 2 hours once I knew what I wanted. This is my first Photoshop to Painter X to photoshop production. I kind of like it, reminds me of "The Scream". I think I'll make a T-Shirt out of it.

Comments welcome... thanks.]]> Thu, 03 May 2007 16:58:54 +0000 http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/479884

OK... I did this quickly last night since I had a 24 hour deadline. It's for a book called "Space for Sale". I wasn't given much direction other than..."Man firing pistol at orange-eyed BEM in cave-like surroundings". I'm embarrassed to say I had to ask... "What's a B.E.M."? It apparently stands for "Big Eyed Monster". I had heard the phrase before but it didn't click this time.


Anyway, this is Photoshopped, I wanted a comic book look, and knew I wanted the angle to be from above. I wasn't too concerned with the shape of the BEM, but I wanted big orange/yellow eyes... I knew the angle of wanted for the man and KNEW the gun would have to be one of those BFG (I know what that means!) with a "pulse" coming from the muzzle. I had to fool around with the contrast and a few other effects in PS to get the look I wanted. I also used a lot of the prepackaged wash brushes, the crayon (my fav) and the ink pen. Comments welcome.. thanks.]]> Thu, 29 Mar 2007 16:37:30 +0000 http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/479199

I posted this last week when it was a WIP. I've finished this one (for now) and submitted it for publication. So in one sense it's finished. I usually go back to old images and rework them as I get new ideas. I created this with 3D max and Photoshop. It's a post-apocalyptic thing about a boy and his tank. The original cover is actually a montage of different aspects of this image broken apart and reassembled as a comic book page, complete with over-spray and ink spots. Th funny thing is there is a lot of nice detail in the tank, but you don't really see it. Same with the figure, before the "effects" I had a lot of nice detail and brush-strokes in there... they pretty well bleed out due to the "irradiated-film" effect. Of well, what can you do?]]> Tue, 27 Mar 2007 19:09:33 +0000 http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/477310

I did this a long time ago, maybe 5 years? It's actually one of my all time favs. It's heavily photoshoped. I've always like the characters of this pic.]]> Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:34:15 +0000 http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/474023

This is a work in progress. I like the colours but it's still not "there" if you know what I mean. I want to paint in more details in the background. I paint most of my clouds (after reading an excellent tutorial at androidblues!) and found a lot of satisfaction doing so... you may have noticed that I used a poser character for this pic. Frankly, I've become very dissatisfied with poser lately. Not that it isn't an EXCELLENT product, but for me it seems like "cheating" for some reason. So I've started a crash course in learning how to create my characters with 3dMax and Maya. It's a steep learning curve for me, but I hope to have something to present by mid summer or fall. This is for a book cover, and it's about an astronaut from the future that crashes and ends up in the past... time travel sort of thing. Originally the author wanted the figure to be wearing half futuristic cloths and half old clothing... I thought it would look a little too confusing. So I tried to suggest this in other ways. Thanks for any comments.]]> Wed, 14 Mar 2007 14:27:15 +0000 http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/476408

This is an image I did for volume 1 of a 2 volume book. Not sure what I'll do for volume 2, it has to have a dragon and have something to do with time. The dragon is a poser character, the background and cars are 3D max and the flames and explosion are photoshop. The colors are very bright, and I had a comment from someone on one of my other images saying that the colors were too bright as well... I realize this. I need to use a more subdued pallet! I find however that bright colors, and the use of opposing primaries really help to draw attention to the image. I also seem to be in a personal "rut" where I'm using a lot of reds and yellows. Something else I'm not too happy with is the way the dragon "blends" with the background... it doesn't seem "integrated" to me? How is this generally done? All my images are composed of multiple layers of images created from various 3D software, then a lot of post-production work in photoshop. How do you get the main characters to be part of the background? I tried a motion trail, but this seemed to "cheezy" to me. Thanks for any help.]]> Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:03:30 +0000 http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/472538

I just finished this one a couple of minutes ago. It's for a cover called "Captive's Curse". It should be released next week. If I come up with some new ideas, I may make some slight changes. But I like to keep the design simple for book covers, I find a cluttered design is too easy to do with too many elements. Comments Welcome. Thanks.
]]> Sat, 10 Mar 2007 04:49:34 +0000 http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/471681

I created this image as a full-size spread for a children's fantasy book by the same name. The grass was an after thought, I needed something to hide the ugly rocks I had there originally. The author's 11 year old son fell in love with the elf when he saw her... what other compliments does one need!

I may go back to the tree trunks and work on them some more. I bought a new flat screen LCD monitor and I haven't gotten used to it yet. This picture seems much brighter then on my old CRT monitor. I think I'm happy with everything except the trees.]]> Wed, 07 Mar 2007 20:41:41 +0000 http://ddraco.cgsociety.org/gallery/471690

This is an "alternate" cover for a book called Darkest War. It didn't make the cut and the art director preferred the version without the girl in it. No telling about good taste?

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