Summer Days, Evening Flames, and Cover Art Request... · 6:08am Jan 18th, 2013
If I could have another moment of your time, this is mostly separate from "What sort of hell goes on in Nicknack's creative / revising mind." This is simply, "The schedule of Summer Days and Evening Flames.
So, that's the schedule. Any questions? 
Anyway, final preparations are being made to the last five chapters of Summer Days, and they'll get posted this weekend. It's too early for me to tell what public reception of them will be, but I like the new versions. So, at least there's that.
As I explained over here, Evening Flames is virtually a new story. As such, I have no qualms in releasing it serially on a chapter-by-chapter basis—which, I know is kind of tough to hear, but at the same time, that's how I think it will be best and least stressful on me.
Either way, it'll be about another two to three weeks before Evening Flames gets posted, which leaves me with a problem that I think I can plan for.
That problem is, I don't have any cover art for Evening Flames.
Now, for the first two stories of mine, I've used existing artwork, with as much artist's permission that I could obtain. But, since I've got a few weeks to prepare, I figure I might as well put out some community feelers and ask: would anyone out there be willing to do a cover image?
I don't have any sort of money to pay for a commission, but I'd be willing for some sort of "art trade" (if you'd like a story written)... plus, you'd be entitled to a sneak peek at the "work in progress" version of Evening Flames (as it hardly seems fair to ask for a cover of something you haven't seen before).
If not, I'll probably dig up something from Derpibooru, so it's not the end of the world if I don't get anything; however, I'd definitely be grateful if I got some hits on this. 
I could do something for you, it wouldn't be as good of quality as summer flames artwork, but I could probably do one a little more like Heart of Gold's cover quality. If you are interested.
Depending on the level of detail, I could certainly try my hand at drawing something. I'm not terribly great at backgrounds, but I can draw characters pretty well. Would this be a pic of Gilda and some other characters or something?
Anyway, here's an example of my work.
The last two would be my most recent style.
Huh. Competing offers. I... did not expect this, and don't know where to go from here. Would it be unfair to just PM all offering artists the early version of the story, then choose the title image I like the best? That seems a bit dickish on my part, but I really don't know how this sort of thing is usually resolved.
I also don't know anything about working with artists on this sort of thing, so I apologize if there are some protocols / courtesies that I ignore.
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I got Summer Days' cover as something else entirely, so I'm not expecting something of that high-quality to be made custom, on a whim.
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I'm not entirely sure about this, because there aren't really any vectors of my non-Gilda characters or backgrounds from the show that I think match my city. Did you have something in mind?
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I'm not entirely sure what the image would be. I think, how I'm imagining this, is "give out the story, and get back the author's interpretation of what a title image should be." I think that gives the most creative licence to the artist (which, I'd rather someone draw something they choose than adhere to my guidelines), which I also think will get the best results.
Though, if you wanted to do a "Peronae Dramatis" that's better than the one I did in the Pony creator a year ago, I'd be interested in that for reference.
724662 It really doesn't matter to me how you choose. But if you were to give us the basic idea of what certain characters (minus Gilda) look like, that would be appreciated. After all this time, I can't remember things like hair, fur, and eye color, and cutie marks. >.>
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Character: Gender / Age as of Summer Days — Fur, Mane (style), Eye Color, Cutie Mark
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Iron Bulwark: Male / 25 — Gray, Light Brown (buzzed), Pale Blue, Mirror Shield from Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Starfall: Male / 27 — Navy Blue, Black (buzzed mohawk), Amber, A red streak that looks like a meteorite or cartoon knife slash
Shared "Sherry" Justice: Female / 54 — Magenta*, White (utilitarian pony tail), Hazel, A sword with a dagger blade instead of a hilt
Max "Maxie" Ardor: Female / 19 — Seafoam**, Lilac (???), Pale Blue (same as Iron's), A letter sealed with a red heart
Comet Tail: Female / 26 — Lime Green, Green (???), Deep blue, Angel wings wrapped around a heart
*Somewhere between Cheerilee and Pinkie Pie's Mane
**Slightly bluer than Lyra
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Sweet, thanks!
So, had you actually picked a method of choosing which picture you want, or are you still working on that?
Sorry, I don't mean to sound impatient. I have an unfinished request for another person and I'm just wondering if I'll even be able to participate.
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Well, you can still do something, even if I'm not sure if it would be made as the cover.
In all seriousness, if you want to start on something, I'll either use it or at least give you as much of a shout-out (your DeviantArt link in the fic's title description) as I can if I go with another image.
Heh, sorry for not getting back to you in a while, been busy with other things the last few days. Send me the story link and I'll make some art for it.
As for
"Would it be unfair to just PM all offering artists the early version of the story, then choose the title image I like the best? That seems a bit dickish on my part, but I really don't know how this sort of thing is usually resolved."
I wouldn't be offended, it is your story after all, it should get what you like best, you know? Personally I just enjoy doing requests, I feel like they help me grow better as an artist and it is always more fun to make something if someone else finds enjoyment from it too, so whether or not you choose my submission is fine to me!
(also, just checked out supervanman64's stuff on deviantart.... it's pretty damn awesome, and I have to say I wouldn't be offended in the slightest if you liked his work better.)
I realise this might be a tad on the late side, but I only just found this blog post have spend several hours freaking out. If you're going for the "PM willing artists and pick the best result" approach, would it still be possible for me to sign up? I think I speak for most artists that it would be an honour to even be given such an opportunity and wouldn't mind in the slightest if my work wasn't chosen. Just chalk up the works that didn't make it as fan-art, which a story like this definitely deserves more of.
Long story short, I'd love it if it was still possible to sign up for this. Examples of my work, if interested.
Keep being awesome! ^_^