Art Commissions

FAQ and Booking Info

Commission Status (Currently Closed)

I am currently CLOSED to commissions for book covers and illustration work. (Too busy!)

Stance on AI (I'm AI positive, with a 10% discount for using AI)

I am pro-AI and welcome work with authors who use AI for their books in any capacity.

I believe AI has the potential to greatly enhance and elevate the creative possibilities for a cover, as well as make the work much more enjoyable and lively for the artist.

I'm giving a 10% discount for working with AI assets and techniques on your cover.

I am happy to use AI art or tools in my design and illustration process—which can mean things like:

  • Generating fully customized characters, backgrounds, or props hard or impossible to find in stock photos
  • Using AI images as reference and inspiration
  • Generating textures for custom-built 3D spaceships
  • Heavily photobashing AI imagery into an illustration
  • Heavily overpainting an AI image to make a new painting
  • Any other creative way to get you a beautiful cover that helps you sell your book!

I can also work without AI art in my process.

Photoshop itself heavily relies on AI in some of its tools, so I can’t promise my work will be AI free, and the cover design landscape certainly won't be AI free moving into the future. I want to help you have the best edge possible for your books into the future.

I am especially interested in working with authors who’d like to have diverse characters on their covers.

Many people are not currently well represented, or even represented at all, in commercial stock imagery (queer, trans, nonbinary, BIPOC, disabled, and various intersections, etc). I want to bring these people to more covers so that readers can see themselves reflected in the books they read, and I can do that with AI.

I've honed the photo-realism of my prompts to make models that are indistinguishable from real people.

I am 100% for transparency in my work.

I will not use AI generated art in my process without your go-ahead and full transparency in what and how I use it. You'll never pay me for one thing and get another. If you commission me for work, we’ll talk about that up front, and I'll write it into my contract.

I follow ethical prompting practices.

I don't prompt to living artists or trademarked brands.

I will never use an AI image on a commissioned cover as-is.

Unless you ask me to, that is--I can do that with text on illustration packages, which is an affordable way to get beautiful type and paperback designs over your own or my generated images.

My Midjourney subscription is private, so any images generated there will not show up in the Midjourney community.

I believe firmly in using every tool available for the best and most creative result possible. And also, having fun!

I use tools such as Photoshop, Zbrush, Blender, and Keyshot to create my art. If AI is used in a piece, I use these plus a combination of Midjourney, Dall-E 2, Stable Diffusion, and Topaz AI upscaling and enhancement, along with Photoshop neural filters.

The majority of my existing portfolio is pre-AI and does not include AI imagery.

I fully expect that to change. My current work is a mix, and labelled as such.

Booking Info

Contact me to discuss projects and rates!

I am happy to work with authors using AI, or use AI in my work. I actively encourage it, even, as it opens a lot of possibilities not present in stock or lower budgets. However, I also will not use generative AI in commissioned work without your permission and approval, and 100% respect your wishes if you do not wish to use AI. If you don't wish to use AI, I'll write that into the contract. (And I'm very good at spotting AI in stock images as well, so there's little worry of my using AI stock by accident.)

tl;dr: I'm happy to make art for you however you would like it to be made, and I won't make it how you don't want it to be made. My personal views on this don't affect my integrity and transparency as an artist! <3

I require a $100 deposit when we book. If you need to cancel work, I’ll need to keep the deposit. (I depend on work for income.) Then half the cover price on initial design (deposit included), other half on finish.

My base rates START here (but may go higher depending on what you’re looking for, the timing involved, and the rights you’d like). I base my quotes around how much time I think will be involved in the job. But this is a loose guide, and please contact me for a personalized quote for your exact budget, visions, and needs!

  • $50/hr for quick and dirty design. This is my lowest (probably!) possible rate, good for if you already have an image(s) and would like something quick, market-ready, and cheap. It's entirely possible for me to get you an ebook cover in under 2 hours of work, paperback in 3, if you prep everything beforehand. It's also possible to go over that if you don't. But I'll dive in, take shortcuts, make magic.
  • $350 print + ebook for text design over an image or illustration you supply. 2 rounds of light revision. This is the first of my full and formal packages (not quick and dirty!).
  • $450 print + ebook for 1-2 image (stock) or equivalent time-wise AI generation—you supply 3-5 choices of model and background and I’ll pick and make them excellent, or will generate a model & background and make them excellent (nothing very specific, please). 1 round of light revision.
  • $650 print + ebook for 2-5 image (stock) or equivalent time-wise illustration, or AI generation (moderate complexity) trust me cover. Can be much more specific. 1 round of light revision.
  • $850 print + ebook for 6-10 image (stock) or equivalent time-wise illustration which may involve a simpler scene built in 3D (like a single spaceship). This tier is for complex covers, more than one character, complex scenery—if fully illustrated, must be simpler. 2 rounds of light revision.
  • $1200 print + ebook for from scratch 3D spaceship model(s) and/or full complex illustration (little or no stock used and only for textures--stock will be merchandise-ready). 5 rounds of revisions.

Erotica or man-chest covers aren't my usual (ace artist here!), but if you have a project in mind, ask and we'll see! I’ll give precedence to space opera, epic fantasy, thrillers, and pretty much anything queer, BIPOC, or otherwise diverse.

Coloring books, art books, and book layout and design: I quote per project and typically work hourly on these. So please contact me if this is something you're interesting in!

I might take rush jobs with a 50% rush fee if I'm open and the project is a good fit, but please plan for a good block of time for most jobs. I don't typically do work-for-hire, unless you’re someone like Marvel, in which case I’ll happily don my Spidey mask. I don’t sell my copyright in full illustrations except in very specific cases (and much, much higher price--I'm willing to talk, though, so ask if that's something you're after!).

I DO sell all the typical rights you’ll need for your cover.

I DO sell merchandising rights, but only to covers where no purchased or full commercial stock images or fonts were used (assets were illustrated from scratch or generated with AI, and/or use fully commercial fonts).

My working time for a simpler cover is usually a 2-4 weeks from starting talks to final files. Complex or fully illustrated covers can be 1-2 months. Hourly work is likely to be quicker.

Any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

Clients

My clients include The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Factor Four Magazine, SciFutures, Evolved Publishing, Phoenix Pick/Arc Manor, and New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors.

Testimonials

Note: some testimonials were written before I changed my name. I’ve changed the name portion in brackets to reflect my new name. No other portion of the quotes were changed.

“[Novae Caelum] designs stunning covers that draw the readers in. Any writer or publisher who still subscribes to the adage of not judging the book by its cover must’ve made the mistake of working with somebody else.”

— Alex Shvartsman, author of The Golem of Deneb Seven and Other Stories

“If you’re looking for a talented graphic designer who handles not only the creative process but also the business side of your project with consummate professionalism, look no further than [Novae Caelum].”

— Travis Heermann, author of Night of the Hidden Fang (as T. James Logan)

“[Novae] has amazing skills and is a joy to work with. Patient, reasonable, professional, and honest, they’re my artist of choice when I need a brilliant cover for anything.”

— Lee French, editor of Swords, Sorcery, and Self-Rescuing Damsels

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