Cover Art

David M. Burke created the cover art for Secret of the Dragon's Breath (as well as all the other Derek Hart novels). I was very pleased with the final outcome, but I should explain how this process comes about.

Once I'm finished with the draft of a novel, I sent an email to Mr. Burke, with an outline of the plot, some high points, and my vision of what the cover might look like, if I've thought about it.

At his end, David laughs a lot, because I usually have all sorts of scattered thoughts, and begins playing around with images, colors, backgrounds, fonts, and all manner of graphic art stuff. I may be a writer, but an artist I am NOT! I can close my eyes and visualize certain elements, but it's Burke's (the accepted nickname for David is his last name - Burke) skills that pulls it all together.

So far, the dragon books have presented lots of challenges for us both. It took several versions of Secret of the Dragon's Eye to get it right and Secret of the Dragon's Breath was no different. In the end, however, we come to a meeting of the minds and visions. I will be talking more about Burke's brilliance on my other blogs, but he deserves tremendous credit for making the covers to my book shine.

Thanks, my friend.