Illustrating - Martyr the Bride Cover

Cover art draft for the first volume of Martyr the Bride.

Art is a A Labor of Love

It’s 2025. I could easily use AI to generate the cover art or the entire Martyr the Bride story, but where’s the fun in that? And really, what would be the point?

Part of why we are so familiar with names like George R.R. Martin, J.R.R. Tolkien, and J.K. Rowling is because their works are impressive in terms of what humans are capable of. To build an entire world with characters that feel real and narratives that have you on the hook for more, requires a lot of things. There is the skill of writing, but not just grammar, having an understanding of how people think, feel, what motivates them and scares them is something that those with excellent observational skills and storytelling capabilities use to get readers invested.

Anyone can write. Anyone can draw. Anyone can do any thing. To do something well though, that requires consistent effort and a love for that thing.

In short, it’s not satisfying for “creators” to use AI to generate music, or books and art and it’s not satisfying for readers or listeners either. It’s an insult to readers and viewers to ask them to give their time and attention to a project you refused to.

I don’t use protections on my artwork to keep it from being eaten up by AI, and maybe I should, but that stands in the way of what art is all about: risk taking and truth telling.

Art confronts emotions and insecurities and desires by placing them directly on the canvas for others to observe and feel. Art reflects the culture and time period it was created it, and this is because art is something that can only be created by organic living beings.

So, while this draft may appear ‘sloppy’ to more critical folks, I can at least say with confidence that I made it on my own, with no AI input.

I have been working on this digital illustration in Sketchbook Pro for iPad, for 3 days, and I am still not finished with it. And you know something? I’m having fun. Making art IS the art. When you remove creation from creating, all you have is production. Machines produce. Humans create.

Thought Process Behind this Cover Design

First and foremost, I don’t have a background in graphic design or commercial art, but I have read an absurd amount of comics, graphic novels, and manga in my time and I love studying the cover art and book jacket designs. This design started as a pencil sketch on regular drawing paper, and then I took a photo of that outline and began drawing over that on my iPad.

The design features the lead protagonist Chase as the focal point, directly in the center. Over her shoulder is her guardian angel Layne, keeping a watchful eye on her while she seems to be day dreaming. Chase appears happy and blissfully unaware of the angel behind her, the reflection of Nightshade in her hand mirror, or the hallucinated eyeballs crawling around her vanity.

These details are meant to allude to the “shadows” that surround her - a darkness, a secret side that she is unaware even exists at the start of the story.

On the vanity rests wedding band, a rosary, and a lipstick tube - hints to her marriage, and the theme of Christianity throughout the story, as well as her own understanding of her sexuality as a young woman.

She is wearing a dress that is intended to subtly look like a wedding dress - a clue and reference to the title, and she doesn’t have the dark lipstick I typically draw her with, a possible nod to innocence.

My favorite visually metaphor is that her eyes are drawn to the roses, not noticing the petals that have fallen, or the creepy eyeball-guy right next to them, a play on the phrase “rose colored glasses”.

Layne appears in either a window or a picture frame, and the walls are this moody, gothic-inspired wallpaper design that looks cool paired with the novel’s title.

I wanted something that communicated visually what this story could be about, obviously. I also wanted to showcase Chase as the beautiful ‘all-American girl’ that she is.

My art style is also meant to be an “Americanized” version of manga/anime artwork: high contrast, sharp lines, ‘cat-like’ faces that have smaller noses and large eyes, etc.

It’s a story about a woman who is in her mid 20’s, sure, but the average readership for comics and manga skews younger- teenagers and anyone who enjoys ‘YA fiction’.

Will it be a hit success and make me rich and famous? Eh, the odds are probably not. Is that the point? No, of course not. Writers and artists don’t start their crafts for the intention of making money from it, that is a happy side effect for those that choose to pursue their craft commercially. In short, I’m writing Martyr the Bride because I want to, because I believe in it, because I think there are many people that will relate to the morally-gray place Chase and other characters find themselves in.

For now, it’s my baby. I will take my time crafting not only this cover, but the entire story. Once published, only the rights will belong to me. The story will belong to the world, for people to either love or hate. It will belong to those that own copies of it and resonate with it.

It gives me a great sense of purpose and fulfillment to work on the project, and I couldn’t imagine my life without Martyr or the experiences that lead to its creation.

I hope you will enjoy it when it’s finished.