The limited edition Fernik cover celebrates the book’s fourth anniversary, which occurred in November 2020.
The darker facets of the fantasy novel shine through the cover design, which features the main villains of the story, for the first time appearing in an official illustration.
The design process started with a line art of the characters, Irene and Jerycho, which took inspiration from the descriptions present in the novel. The first sketched also served as a way to set the positions and facial expressions of the villains, in addition to fine-tuning the proportions of the texts and illustrated elements of the cover.
After adjusting the layout, different coloring options were weighed, exploring multiple pairs of contrasting colors. The choice favored a palette with a prevalence of dark, cool colors, combined with accents of complementary colors, integrated in the scenes as secondary light sources and reflections.
The coloring stage aimed at achieving the eerie aura of the Fernik villains, and playing with value contrasts to highlight the focal points of the illustration. Material brush strokes and textures were central to rendering the fabrics worn by Irene and evanescent smoke that Jerycho is made of.
Laura Faraci
Alexis Saints
2020
Italy