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Shock Totem #6
January 2013Shock Totem Radio
Tag Archives: Artwork
Evolution of a Book Cover
Most artists live in the shadows of their work—and few see them.
We have sold thousands of copies of Shock Totem, and one thing we’re consistently complimented on is our cover art. This happens all the time. Think about that. We get complimented for something we did not create. All the time. The artist, for the most part, is ignored.
Sure, someone from Taiwan got on his back a tattoo of a slightly altered version of the cover art for issue #1—which is flippin’ brilliant—but that’s an extreme compliment. How many people have just e-mailed our artists to tell them how great their work is? Few, if any. I’d bet a lot of money on that.
But they tell us. Again, all the time.
Much like the fact that most people don’t understand how much time and effort an author puts into creating his work, I don’t think people understand or appreciate how much goes into creating cover art—or album art, a painting, a cartoon, etc.
On our Facebook page, we have a photo collection called Resonance. In it you’ll find a series of photos that includes numerous drafts of ideas for cover art we didn’t use, as well as early/alternate versions of the cover art we eventually did use. We want people to see part of the process, because it’s a long one that takes a lot of time and hard work.
As mentioned recently, we will soon reissue James Newman’s ode to 80s horror, The Wicked. We commissioned new artwork from Jesse David Young, as well as numerous interior illustrations. This process began back on September 16, 2011. Over six months ago. To give you a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes, I’ve put together a little slideshow which begins with the very first sketch idea and ends with the final product.
(All the artwork was done by Jesse David Young, but the layouts for final three covers shown were done Mikio Murakami, Rex Zachary, and Yannick Bouchard, respectively.)
Scroll down this page a bit, and on the right sidebar you’ll see a section labeled Artists of the Totem. Below it, links to all the artists that have helped make Shock Totem great. Check them out, hire them—or, at least, if you like their work, let them know.
Posted in Artwork, Blog, Publishing, Shock Totem News
Tagged 1980s Horror, 80s Horror, Artists, Artwork, Cover Art, James Newman, Jesse David Young, Mikio Murakami, Rex Zachary, The Wicked, Yannick Bouchard
4 Comments
The Slushin’ for Nothin’ Blues
“Delay is preferable to error” —Thomas Jefferson
I used that quote in the editorial for issue #2. I should have seen then that I might one day have to quote it again.
Our second issue was delayed. When January of 2010 came around, we found ourselves short of content. Specifically fiction. We finally filled the issue around the end of March, at which point I made the decision to further delay its release until July, so from there we could continue our July/January release schedule.
And we did, for a while. Issue #3 came out in January of 2011, and issue #4 came out in July, right on schedule. And then we hit a wall. The slush pile stopped producing gold. And here we are, once again without enough content for our next issue.
So I’ve made the decision to delay issue #5 until July of 2012. But this time I’m going to be smarter about it.
By the time our belated second issue came out, we were well on our way to filling the next issue, and in the following months we accepted a lot of stories—all of which we put into that third issue, nearly doubling its size. In hindsight, we should have saved a few of those tales for the fourth issue.
But you know what they say about hindsight.
Going back to that second issue, I thought we’d had a hard time finding content because we were still a new publication, that authors weren’t sending us their best work—or any work, for that matter—because they were still unsure about Shock Totem. I see things differently now. Sometimes four months just isn’t long enough to find the right content, at least if we want to keep releasing a magazine that is up to the standards we’ve set with our previous issues.
So hopefully by delaying our next issue, we’ll be finalizing issue #6 when issue #5 comes out next July. That’s the goal, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable. I just wish I’d figured this out back in July of 2010.
With that said, we do have some content ready for our next issue, and soon we’ll be announcing the overall winning story from this year’s flash fiction contests, which will be featured in issue #5 as well. And how about a peek at the cover?
Can you dig that? I hope so! And how about this…
Before our fifth issue is released, we will be releasing something else: our first non-magazine release. It’ll be a novel, slated for publication in March 2012. We’ll run a contest soon that’ll reveal the name of this novel, but it’ll require some detective work on your part. It should be fun.
Hopefully this will hold everyone over until issue #5 comes out.
You guys have always been great to us, so I thank you for your anticipated patience and understanding. It is very much appreciated.
Posted in Shock Totem News
Tagged Artwork, Contests, Shock Totem, Shock Totem #2, Shock Totem #3, Shock Totem #4, Shock Totem #5
10 Comments
Issue #4 Cover Art
Here is the cover art for issue #4.
Please note that this is a low-res version with font added by me and my decidedly unskilled Photoshopping. The final version will of course be much crisper.
Issue #4 should be out very soon! Click here for the table of contents.
