The Iliad Revisited

I created a cover last year for the Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Classic series of The Iliad. Never completely satisfied with the results, I've begun working on a revision so when it's up for reprint they may exchange it out for a new, improved version. I felt the first edition lacked the "eye contact" that the other titles in the series so successfully employ. At the same time, I wanted to keep some elements from the first cover intact to continue with the established brand of the series.

First step: find a pair of eyes that could very well launch a 1000 ships. As it happens, my beautiful niece fits the bill perfectly. With a hint of Greek features and a Grecian style prom dress from her high school days, she made the perfect model–no tantrums or outrageous demands either (just kidding girl). The results above speak for themselves.

Step two will be pulling together additional images to create a number of rough compositions to submit to the editors for review. I plan to add them to this blog as I create them. Stay tuned.

First rough concept of the new cover

There Goes the Neighborhood

Note the skull on the log

Unused cover concept

Upon archiving my photos last night I came across some out-takes from last year's Prestwick House Frankenstein: SAT Words from Literature photo shoot. This series was photographed by my older brother, Steve who is quite capable behind the lens. The photos were taken in Blackbird State Forest–a fairly remote tract of state park land far off the beaten path. It has a stunning section of pines on a slight rise of land that I thought would give a perfect old-world european sensibility to the images. With no low branches to obscure the view the tree trunks create the illusion of columns in an ancient temple. I go there often for inspiration. Many of my wooded images have been photographed there.

I had never seen another soul in this area prior to this day. Of course the moment I'm draped in black wool robes, sporting black Darth Vader pants, face make-up, all while running, sweating and growling through the stands of trees, we see 2 rough-looking bearded backwoods campers come strolling down the trail, gathering firewood. As I recall, they stopped dead in their tracks with mouths agape when they spotted me some 20–30 yards off into the woods, breathing heavy as I tried to catch my breath after another run through the brush. My brother quickly fired off an "obvious" explanation before they could ask any questions. "We're on location photographing a cover for a book" he offered. He also commented on how beautiful the area was and a perfect backdrop for our "subject matter".  Casting suspicious eyes my way, they nodded in agreement and slowly continued on their way, mumbling how, up to this point, it had been one of their best kept secrets. There goes the neighborhood.