For the cover of my novel Neanderthal Swan Song, I wanted to do something a little different. Since Neanderthals evoke images of primative life, cave paintings come to mind. (Nevermind whether they lived in caves.) But, since this Neanderthal is living in the 21st-century, the images will be of modern things.
This morning, I stopped in at Home Depot and finally found an appropriate paver that looks enough like rock that I can move forward. I brought it home and started scratching images from the novel into the surface this afternoon.
Starting on the cover art for Neanderthal Swan Song
In the picture above, I show the tool I am using–an expendable screwdriver–and the beginning of the flags of the three countries that the story takes place in: Greenland, United States, and Japan.
Everything starts with a polar bear, so the bear had to make an appearance on the cover.
Let me tell you, this kind of cover art is very tiring. I stopped after the bear and will continue tomorrow. Once all the images are carved into the stone, I will need to darken them so they appear obvious in photographs.
…to be continued.