Kingdom of Stories

For the 2nd book in Lizzy Pennington's dark fantasy series Kingdom of Beginnings, we already had a great design motif to use. A large, scarred dragon tail swirling through the composition intersected by a dagger. And I got very carried away while sketching, in fact it was already at a point I'd say was nearly finished. But I wanted to see how much further I could push it.

The trick was in getting the thick tail of Jakir to really feel golden and make for a striking cover. And dare say it really does glitter in the final art.

I also like the subtle touch of give the dagger a more sinister silhouette in this cover, a trend I hope to push again in the 3rd book!