tatiana: Thanks for the links. I’m actually a big Darrell K. Sweet fan, after seeing a number of his larger oils and meeting him last DragonCon. I think the white does pop much better, I’ll have to see what the author thinks =)
CyborgJA: Thanks so much for making the illustrative image. I’ve tried to make a few corrections based on what I think you were trying to get across. Is this better? Or have I completely missed your point?
It goes better, expecially with proportions, but I think you are “flatting” it a little cause you do not describe her torso as a cilindric section.
Another pic to help you comparing your reference image with your girl
#6 is in my opinion the more readable.
Good work,
Serena.
CyborgJA: I think I understand =) You’re talking about using light on both edges to enhance the three dimensionality?
I think #6 is the best for contrast too.
Her belly is now perfect, while you should shift a little to the right the shadow at the start of her right leg.
And, if you want to spend more time on it, check her right foot-knee alignment. The knee has a side-view while the foot doesn’t follow this direction. She seems to have a broken ankle. You can also cover it with few grass :twisted:
You aremaking a great work:love:
edit : #6 has the strongest contrast, yes… but I was thinking…the whole pic has got warm colors from greens to golden yellows and this light violet seems too cold. while the #5 has got a good contrast with more pleasant and warm reds. It’s a hard decision. 
I think #6 is better. The blue outlines make it really stand out while #5 in my opinion is just too in your face and can clash with the illustration. #7 is neutral and looks safe.
CyborgJA: I’m trying to figure out what do do about the foot-ankle-knee alignment. Here is the reference image I have that (almost) includes all of that right foot.
frostblade: I think so too. I don’t like the clash of the red and orange especially in #5.
Oplà, I’m here.
Well, take your photo and trace 2 lines :
Do the same for your woman.
Compare the angles. In the photo your ankle has got a rotation of about + 30° from its axis while in your pic it seems to have something like a +90° (see as example how it follows the log direction).
See you soon,
Serena.
Well, I hope this is good enough, 'cause I’m getting reeeally sick of this. I’m ready to call it a cover 
Thanks to all for putting up with my bumbling attempts at getting this right (Serena and Tatiana especially).
Here is the hopefully “final” version that I’ll be sending over for the author’s approval shortly, along with the two most likely candidates for text color (the first being a muted version of the red stroke).
Oh yeah, and here is the animated .gif of the process, just because I though it would be neat to put it all together (note it has all been flipped the same direction to keep the viewer sane 
). Warning: 3MB.
So I got the latest image up on my website and posted to my CG talk portfolio. I expect it will appear in the “showcase” forum eventually. Thanks again for the help everybody!
Update Here’s the link to the 2D showcase thread: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=403704
In the meantime, I've started work on the forth image for this particular author client (yes, same characters).
The premise here is a "final" battle type scene where Sarah and Jake are fending of dragons made of swirling mist and raw energy. Both of the characters will be shooting power from their hands. They will be standing in a rocky wasteland beneath a stormy sky. A granite tower is visible in the distant background and a bit closer are three of their comrades in arms. I am currently thinking an orange / purple / brown / gray / black color palette, but it could change.
Just the sloppy roughs so-far. Still trying to get a feel for poses:
Just starting to make sense of the mess… What are your thoughts on these poses? Anything immediately strike you as “off” as far as anatomy goes?
Reds, Oranges, Greens and Violets. I’m in colors overdose 
Check her right thigh : it seems to be too longer (In my opinion you can simply shift up the knee)
Looking forward fo updates,
Serena.
Your cover turned out great, Laura. Well done!
As for the new one, the only thing bothering me right now is the man’s right hand. His fingers look so crooked that they might snap anytime! ;D
Another suggestion is to make the background more neutral, since you’ll have to go crazy on the spell colours. They won’t have as much impact if they’re competing with the background. =)
Another great start though.
RalphD: Thank you, I’m glad you like it. I think your critique of his hand is quite to the point; it will be changed. As far as making the bg colors more neutral, we shall see how much I can make the spells/foreground pop without taking away (too much of) my precious color
Below is just a first correction of some anatomy issues that were bugging me. More on this one tomorrow.
I think the girl’s foot angle is a bit off (the leg in front). maybe turn it to the left a bit more…show less of the shoe’s heel.
Also the extremely large breasts (also very wide chest) make her hip size look really tiny. The bust line of the top of the dress is asymetical, might want to add a bit more dress to the left side to give the bust area support to make them look like that. her elbow could be too long on the right side as well…maybe that will fix itself after more rendering.
frostblade: Thanks! I’ll look into the anatomy stuff you mentioned when I start rendering the lady.
Just wanted to show off what I got done on the background today, before laying down in a quiet corner to rest my eyes.
Laura,
I think your cover turned out quite well!
I’m surprised that the book company’s art director let you make so many of the design decisions. My impression is that most of them prefer to make those decisions themselves (like the primary color of the cover’s picture and the design of the title text).
Somewhere I heard that covers that are mostly green usually are discouraged, for example.
selden: Glad you like it. As for the “art director” in this situation…there isn’t one. These are a series of commissioned pieces (4 total) for use as covers by a self publishing author. Though the author and I are back and forth about these the whole process through (she saw and made comments/suggestions on every step), she is very nice about not getting in the way of the artwork when it’s on a role One of the perks of not working for a publishing house’s AD for a change.
A bit of art direction for the general package may help a lot. Actually the only thing i dont like is the lettering stuff and the ‘no design at all’ choice for the covers. A good graphic design help to empower the illustrations.
My ispiration place about book covers http://covers.fwis.com/