Create an epic fantasy book cover for Dioscuri Press

Dioscuri Press

Independent publisher of fantasy and science fiction

Target audience: anyone who reads epic fantasy.

Looking for a cover design for a print book, so front, back and spine. InDesign, PDF and EPS templates provided below - the latter two formats can be opened in Photoshop.

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This is an epic fantasy book entitled The Call of Agon, the first book in a series called The Children of Telm. The description of the book (which should feature on the back) is:

THE LAST LINE. THE LAST WORDS. THE LAST CHANCE.

Ifferon is one of the last in the bloodline of the dead god Telm, who mated with mortal women, and who imprisoned the Beast Agon in the Underworld. Armed with a connection to the estranged gods in the Overworld and a scroll bearing Telm's powerful dying words, he is tasked with ensuring the god's vital legacy: that Agon remain vanquished in his bonds. Fear forces Ifferon to abandon his duty, but terror restores his quest when the forces of Agon find his hideaway in an isolated coastal monastery.

Weighed down by the worries of the world, but lifted up by the companions he encounters along the way, Ifferon embarks on a journey that encompasses the struggles of many peoples, the siege of many lands, and discoveries that could bring hope to some—or doom to all.

Please fully justify the text and ensure there are no huge gaps between words, nor any hyphenated words.

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For the cover design itself:

The Beast Agon chained in the Underworld taking up the lower half of the cover, with various caverns in the background. Beast is in shadow, but the chains are visible. It looks frightening, but isn't completely clear, adding mystery (relative free reign on the appearance of the Beast, but generally looking for something demonic and mostly covered in shadow - you fear that which you cannot see).

Above the caverns are the various layers of the earth (thin so as not to take up too much of the cover space) and upon this are the silhouettes of the various main characters against a backdrop of a deep blueish night sky, potentially with the moon acting like a halo around the silhouettes.

For the shape and appearance of the silhouettes (they don't need much or any detail, as they will be small): two monks (one around 6 foot, bald, the other around 5 foot, ragged hair), a 5.5 foot stout figure with a billowing cloak and wavy hair, a thin woman with long hair in a robe, a tall broad woman with short hair, a gaunt figure with hood up, and a tall knight (tightly cut hair) with a young boy with curled hair beside him (possibly holding his hand).

It is worth also trying a version with just the silhouette of the initial monk (central character), to see how the suggestion of isolation works. I would also like to see a version with this figure holding an unfurled scroll towards the sky.

The overall idea is to suggest that this huge leviathan of a creature is chained beneath the very earth the characters are walking on, so the silhouettes should seem dwarfed by the size of the Beast. Looking for realism, but mostly focusing on suggestion and mystery, while keeping it clear that this is a dark, epic fantasy novel.

The title ("The Call of Agon") should be in a clear, clean and elegant font (all caps) above the silhouettes. The author name ("Dean F. Wilson") is similar, but at the bottom, beneath the chained Beast. The sub-title ("Book One of The Children of Telm") can be at either top or bottom, depending on which placement seems to suit best.

Willing to consider reversal of placement of title and author name if it better suits the structure of the image. It would be good to see both.

The spine and reverse continue the caverns, layers of earth, and night sky, perhaps with some trees, mountains or something similar to spruce up the top, but generally dark enough for the blurb to be clear and visible (so feel free to use lots of shadow). The spine should have "Book I" at the top, with the I in Roman numeral form.

Please leave some space at the bottom of the spine and back for the publisher's logo.

Since this is part of a series I am keen on the use of a dominant colour or two dominant colours (sky could be a deep, dark blue, but caverns could be an orange-ish colour, for example), so that the second book in the series can follow with equally bold, but different, colours.

Winner is likely to be approached for artwork for subsequent two books, and perhaps other projects.

Book size: 203mm x 127mm (8 inches by 5 inches). Spine width: 21.71mm (0.855 inches). Page count: 384. For bleed details see: http://www1.lightningsource.com/ops/files/premedia/CoverBleedDimensions.pdf Files should be submitted in Photoshop or InDesign format (as we need to be able to add in our logo, etc.). I have included templates in various file formats below.