In further celebration of all things #Dune I thought it would be fun to share some of the background stuff on the @AceRocBooks deluxe edition art .. eg prelim sketches for art that made the cut, and for some that didn’t .. like this early design for a title treatment.. (thread)

Here’s some stuff that didn’t make it.. an early sketch for a fremen fighting a sardukar

Some explorations of an ornithopter encountering a worm.. I do not like my ornithopter design

Very early charcoal sketches.. I had thought murky, mysterious charcoal would be a nice way to go.. in the end I think the more graphic style works better but these were fun to do and I might do more someday (you get such nice textures)

A fremen

My initial design for the map inspired in part by the prod design on lynch’s 84 film.. it was decided it would be in greyscale and more functional, less decorative.. so I redrew the map & the publisher put in more detailed text

And now for something that did make it - the image of a Sietch entrance .. while it’s not a dramatic scene I wanted to have drama in the lighting.. this was intended as a glimpse into this strange world - an attempt to put you there watching your fremen mates arrive home

While researching I looked at lots of images of desert caves & wind-eroded rocks .. that’s what made me think of a Sietch.. so I started sketching, working out possibilities for the light & texture

...then I made a bunch of marks with a wide dry brush & ink .. I brought them into photoshop and adjusted individually

As mentioned I wanted to put the viewer there, into an everyday scene on arrakis .. if you look closely, the dust & sand is still blowing off the fremen shawls & stillsuits.. they’re just back from the desert, glad to be home alive, among the welcome light of glow globes...

And lastly here’s the image of Chani for the inside of the dust jacket.. I sketched it up in 3 seconds, liked it and then used my previous textures again .. unusual for me to only have one sketch and then jump right in, but .. it worked for me on this occasion

That’s it for now .. hope this was of some interest to you Dune fans out there :) delighted I still get to play in the Dune sandbox with covers for the new @DuneAuthor & @TheKJA books! And hopefully I get to play in there again in whatever way I can #Dune