The Hostage Prince

This is the cover art I made for The Hostage Prince, the first book in the Seelie Wars series written by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple and published by Penguin. When I was assigned this project I started thinking on a yellow golden palette instead of a usual green forest so I moved in that direction adding some purple and warm accents. I also didn't want any direct sunlight falling over the main characters, they must be crossing the waters and entering the forest at the front so I created a dim soft light with some accents on their edges.
I also made the title banner which was a good thing since I worked on it using the textures and brush strokes I usually work with, that way it integrates much better with the illustration. It was a really fun job to do and a good exercise on lighting and color.