About the role
Project Overview
We are seeking a highly skilled traditional fine artist (Oils or Heavy Body Acrylics) to hand-paint a premium book cover illustration for an upcoming hardcover epic fantasy novel. We have a fully realized, highly detailed visual layout reference that establishes the exact characters, color story, background landscape, and composition we want. Your objective will be to bring this specific vision to life with real paint, rich textures, and flawless human craftsmanship, delivering both a print-ready digital scan and the physical painting.
Responsibilities
- Recreate a full front-to-back wrap canvas composition traditionally, using our provided reference image as a strict guide for characters, armor, poses, and environmental layout.
- Refine and correct anatomical details from the reference (ensuring natural, crisp detailing on hands, facial features, and perspective lines).
- Meticulously hand-render the intricate gold filigree framing, floral elements, and magical energy orbs.
- Provide a physical sketch or digital block-in for layout approval before committing final paint to the canvas.
- Deliver an ultra-high-resolution, glare-free digital scan (Minimum 300 DPI, uncompressed TIFF or PNG format) scaled precisely to fit our print framework.
Project Technical Specs & Layout
- Printed Book Dimensions: 22.9 cm (Height) × 15.2 cm (Width) × 4.3 cm (Spine Thickness).
- Layout: The painting must wrap seamlessly across a front cover, 4.3 cm spine, and back cover.
- Text & Gold Foil Preparation (Crucial): Do NOT paint or draw any typography, titles, or text onto the canvas. The painting must be completely clean and text-free. Please paint continuous, clean background details over the spaces where text will eventually go. This is because the final cover will utilize digital gold-foil stamping via platforms like IngramSpark/Lulu, requiring a clean text-free high-resolution scan to build the foil masks.
Physical Deliverables & Shipping
- Upon completion of the project, final scanning, and client approval, the artist is required to safely varnish, securely pack, and mail the original physical canvas or illustration board to the client.
- Shipping Cost: The $1,200 artwork budget is strictly for the art commission and digital delivery. Trackable, insured shipping costs for the physical canvas will be paid/reimbursed separately by the client.
Budget & Terms
- Budget: Flat rate up to $1,200 USD (commensurate with portfolio experience).
- Milestones: Escrow-based payment milestones will be structured and released upon specific checkpoints (e.g., initial composition sketch approval, mid-point block-in photo, and final approved high-res scan).
- Timeline: 4 to 6 weeks (flexible based on paint drying requirements).