Portrait illustration (acrylic on canvas) and design work (Adobe Illustrator)

Artist, Illustrator, Designer: John Potter - Escape Key Graphics

book cover illustrationThis illustration is an acrylic painting on a stretched canvas 18"x24". I used lots of reference photography, but didn't use any one single model. The woman you see in the illustration is one hundred percent fictional and a product of my imagination only. This is one reason I didn't hesitate to change her looks a lot as I went along. Hiring a model for reference photography would have been a good idea, but I didn't go about it that way.
The book is a story about a young mom from Nigeria and her experiences with genital mutilation, custody and immigration battles, and more.
The original concept was far more complex, but we decided something that could hold up well when greatly reduced was better.
The stitched mouth was both a metaphor for genital mutilation and the attempts of people to silence her. The concept beyond the stitched mouth was a bold portrait of a strong and defiant, young, attractive, Nigerian woman.

Purchase the book on Amazon.book cover portrait painting

COVER ILLUSTRATIONS:

Boat Show Illustration
Uncle Sam's Book Cover
Boat Show Illustration
Cover Art
Illustration used for the Yacht and Brokerage Show in Miami Beach
Album CD cover for Harmonic Motion

ABOUT COVER ILLUSTRATIONS:

There's a popular saying that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but people do. If you've invested your time, money and effort into a piece of literature or a publication of any sort you need to get the best, most eye catching cover you can. I've been told by authors that my cover illustration sold more copies of their book than their literary content. On the one hand that's a little sad, but on the other that author reached readers he wouldn't have otherwise. Another thing of note is the comparison of photography to illustration. I love photography and sometimes that's the right choice for a cover, but an illustration can more clearly describe an ambiguous concept or depict a fictitious location as well as other things you just can't go out and take a picture of. In an illustration I can also control color brightness manually down to digital precision as well as a lot of other specific details you just can't in a photograph.

I've illustrated a lot of book, magazine and other publication covers over the years. I'm not sure when I made my first, but I think the oldest one I'm showing on my site right now is the cover of Phillip Singer : An Accounting from 2011. It was an oil painting done by hand and photographed, then I did the graphic design in Illustrator and Photoshop. All of my recent cover work is done solely on the computer and most of it is vector based.


PAINTINGS:

Siren of the sea
Contemporary Portrait of Buddha
Dog Park Painting
figure painting
Shipping Container Mural for a dog park
Portrait in  lines
Dog Park Illustration
Tongue Illustration
Robot in  lines
Bubblegum Machine Painting
Andy Warhol Portrait
Shipping Container Mural for a dog park
Iguana Wall Art
Alcove mural
bee mural
color pattern mural
Dancing Fox Mural
Abstract Pattern Mural
Zappa portrait
Doctor(mixed media)
Doctor(mixed media)
Skateboard and Scooter
Book Cover Illustration
Portrait in  oils
Astronaut illustration
sushi illustration
Portrait
Cave diver painting
Conquistadors illustration
Diver Illustration
Hello(Oils)
Einstein

PORTRAITS:

Siren of the sea
Contemporary Portrait of Buddha
Portrait in  lines
Book Cover Illustration
Art Nouveau Portrait
Cigar Aficionado Illustration
Andy Warhol Portrait
Cover Art
Zappa portrait
Shipping Container Mural for a dog park
Dog Park Illustration
Dog Park Illustration
Shipping Container Mural for a dog park
Iguana Wall Art
native americans painting
Doctor(mixed media)
Hello(Oils)

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