Cover Reveal: SPELLS: TEN TALES OF MAGIC edited by Rayne Hall

A couple weeks ago, I announced that my fantasy short story "Lady Bard" from Women of Foxwick had been requested to be published in Spells: Ten Tales of Magic. Rayne Hall, the editor of the Ten Tales anthologies, sent me the cover art, and I have the honor of revealing it here today as well as a short interview with the cover artist Kuoke.

Here is the fantastic cover! I love the purple in it and how the magic is erupting around the guy's hand. :)

Kuoke, how long have you been working as an artist?

Started performing a regular schedule of being an artist: 7-ish years. Actually working, 3 of those years.

Your artwork is fantastic! I'm particularly drawn to your environment artwork on Deviantart.com. Where do you get your ideas for your artwork? Do you see a building/outdoor setting and decide to paint it or do you create the image as you go?

Paint as I go. I recently posted 6 videos on my Youtube account (http://www.youtube.com/user/Kuoke) which basically show that I start scribbling until something recognisable takes shape. Truth be told, I haven't exactly preemptively come up with an idea to paint for a long, long time.

When a person commissions artwork from you, what sorts of details about the artwork do you need to create it? Or can you take creative liberties with the work, such as decide what color to paint things?

Basically a general description is enough for me to work with. For the most part people only have a loose idea of what they want out an image which, if the complexity of the idea calls for it, I would sketch up multiple drafts for them to choose from. If we wanted to get more intricate in terms of the legal specifications, the main points I try to make clear is copyright and rights to commercial distribution.

Where can people find out more about you and your artwork?

http://kuoke.deviantart.com/ or http://kuoke.tumblr.com/ act as my main art dumps for people to follow. For a more organised portfolio and business enquiries, people can visit http://cringemore.com/ and hit that 'hire' button should they need to contact me.

Thank you, Kuoke! As for Spells: Ten Tales of Magic, I still don't have a release date yet, but I'm sure it'll be soon.