Another year, another round of self-published stuff.
Now I’m playing with a digitally altered and painted cover for my contemporary M/M erotic romance MAESTRO, while I add to that short 16K story.
I needed brownstone houses. Fortunately, the Phoenix area has some, so I made a fool of myself getting shots of several at night. Then came the digital overpainting and filters.
Having cut my ‘cover appreciation’ teeth in the 70s & 80’s with lushly-detailed SFF painted covers, it’s a little startling to suddenly enjoy the stark, graphic, and often weird covers of the pulp & noir 50s and early 60s.
This is a rough draft, but I think it’s getting there. I want less of the traditional 2000s M/M cover of ‘hunky guys superimposed over a scene’ (though I did like the NineStar Press cover version of this novella), and more of a haunting and almost voyeuristic look.
Though now that I’m playing with the image some more, I like this next version better. The text is clearer, and the human figure a little more obvious.
Thank you!!1