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One of the great pleasures of publishing Richard Harland’s Ferren Trilogy is the amazing artwork and design by Italy-based Elena Betti. We will, in a few weeks, post a Q&A session with her, but in the meantime, here area few photographs that illustrate some of the techniques she used to construct cover art using the digital art medium (for Ferren and the Invaders of Heaven).

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Elena’s husband was her model, holding a Latin dictionary and wearing a soft and thick blanket arranged to create the drapes she had in mind. She then took several photos, selected some, cut them out, and worked them through various steps. This also applies to the hand with the two fingers raised. She said it was like “doing a puzzle”. She also executed some hand sketches that were more of a quick scheme to organise the proportions.

These photos will help you appreciate that digital illustration is a more complex work than it seems, and it can also be fun to think that you can use objects we all have at home, like a book or a blanket, to create the final images.

Ferren and the Invaders of Heaven will be globally released on the 26th February 2025, noting that stock availability in Australia and New Zealand will be approximately a month later.