u/QuinnValeAuthor

I'm looking for one illustrator to create cover art for all six books in a dark romance series. Publication target is early 2027. I'd like to find the right person this summer and have all six covers completed by late fall, with a hard deadline of early 2027.

The concept: Each cover features a single hand (or pair of hands) holding, wearing, or releasing a small silver key on a chain. The hand changes across the six books — different characters, different gestures, different emotional weight. Think character portraits, but the hand IS the portrait.

The style: High-contrast illustration on black backgrounds. The hands are rendered in luminous white/porcelain — not naturalistic flesh tones, not grayscale realism. The only color in the image is the silver of the chain and key plus one nail polish accent per hand. Everything else is black and white. The closest reference point is Sin City's selective color approach — monochrome with one color accent — but the execution is quieter and more refined, not comic-book.

Why one illustrator for all six: The hands belong to specific characters who recur across the series. One character's hand appears in four of the six covers and needs to read as the same hand aging through the story. Visual consistency is the entire design strategy. This isn't six separate commissions — it's one body of work.

What I have ready: Detailed per-book briefs covering hand position, chain/key staging, nail accent color, composition notes, and character context. Background adaptation specs for dark romance shelf visibility. Typography direction. You won't be guessing what I want — I know what I want and it's written down. What I need is someone who can execute it with the craft and subtlety it requires.

What I'm looking for in you:

• Strong hand anatomy. This is non-negotiable. If hands aren't a strength, this isn't the project.
• Willingness to engage with character briefs. The hands aren't generic — each one has specific posture, condition, and personality grounded in the story.
• Availability for a six-cover series starting fall 2026, delivering through early 2027.

Ownership: Full copyright transfer required. The finished cover art becomes my property — I need complete ownership of the illustrations, not a usage license. This is standard for commissioned book covers but I want it stated upfront so there are no surprises. Price your quote accordingly.

Budget: Starts at $150/cover and scales with portfolio match and experience. Tell me your per-cover rate or series rate.

Process: I'll review portfolios from responses here. If your work looks like a fit, I'll send the full series overview and one per-book brief so you can see the scope. Before committing to all six, I'd commission a single rough sketch of one cover (paid) to make sure we're aligned. If we move forward, the sketch becomes the foundation for the final cover — not a throwaway test.

To respond: Link your portfolio. If you have hand studies, gesture work, or limited-palette illustration in there, point me to it specifically. I'll be looking for whether your natural style feels like a fit for this project — that's a subjective call on my end, so don't take it personally if the work is strong but the aesthetic isn't what I need.

I'm looking for one illustrator to create cover art for all six books in a dark romance series. Publication target is early 2027. I'd like to find the right person this summer and have all six covers completed by late fall, with a hard deadline of early 2027.

The concept: Each cover features a single hand (or pair of hands) holding, wearing, or releasing a small silver key on a chain. The hand changes across the six books — different characters, different gestures, different emotional weight. Think character portraits, but the hand IS the portrait.

The style: High-contrast illustration on black backgrounds. The hands are rendered in luminous white/porcelain — not naturalistic flesh tones, not grayscale realism. The only color in the image is the silver of the chain and key plus one nail polish accent per hand. Everything else is black and white. The closest reference point is Sin City's selective color approach — monochrome with one color accent — but the execution is quieter and more refined, not comic-book.

Why one illustrator for all six: The hands belong to specific characters who recur across the series. One character's hand appears in four of the six covers and needs to read as the same hand aging through the story. Visual consistency is the entire design strategy. This isn't six separate commissions — it's one body of work.

What I have ready: Detailed per-book briefs covering hand position, chain/key staging, nail accent color, composition notes, and character context. Background adaptation specs for dark romance shelf visibility. Typography direction. You won't be guessing what I want — I know what I want and it's written down. What I need is someone who can execute it with the craft and subtlety it requires.

What I'm looking for in you:

• Strong hand anatomy. This is non-negotiable. If hands aren't a strength, this isn't the project.
• Willingness to engage with character briefs. The hands aren't generic — each one has specific posture, condition, and personality grounded in the story.
• Availability for a six-cover series starting fall 2026, delivering through early 2027.

Ownership: Full copyright transfer required. The finished cover art becomes my property — I need complete ownership of the illustrations, not a usage license. This is standard for commissioned book covers but I want it stated upfront so there are no surprises. Price your quote accordingly.

Budget: Starts at $150/cover and scales with portfolio match and experience. Tell me your per-cover rate or series rate.

Process: I'll review portfolios from responses here. If your work looks like a fit, I'll send the full series overview and one per-book brief so you can see the scope. Before committing to all six, I'd commission a single rough sketch of one cover (paid) to make sure we're aligned. If we move forward, the sketch becomes the foundation for the final cover — not a throwaway test.

To respond: Link your portfolio. If you have hand studies, gesture work, or limited-palette illustration in there, point me to it specifically. I'll be looking for whether your natural style feels like a fit for this project — that's a subjective call on my end, so don't take it personally if the work is strong but the aesthetic isn't what I need.

I'm looking for one illustrator to create cover art for all six books in a dark romance series. Publication target is early 2027. I'd like to find the right person this summer and have all six covers completed by late fall, with a hard deadline of early 2027.

The concept: Each cover features a single hand (or pair of hands) holding, wearing, or releasing a small silver key on a chain. The hand changes across the six books — different characters, different gestures, different emotional weight. Think character portraits, but the hand IS the portrait.

The style: High-contrast illustration on black backgrounds. The hands are rendered in luminous white/porcelain — not naturalistic flesh tones, not grayscale realism. The only color in the image is the silver of the chain and key plus one nail polish accent per hand. Everything else is black and white. The closest reference point is Sin City's selective color approach — monochrome with one color accent — but the execution is quieter and more refined, not comic-book.

Why one illustrator for all six: The hands belong to specific characters who recur across the series. One character's hand appears in four of the six covers and needs to read as the same hand aging through the story. Visual consistency is the entire design strategy. This isn't six separate commissions — it's one body of work.

What I have ready: Detailed per-book briefs covering hand position, chain/key staging, nail accent color, composition notes, and character context. Background adaptation specs for dark romance shelf visibility. Typography direction. You won't be guessing what I want — I know what I want and it's written down. What I need is someone who can execute it with the craft and subtlety it requires.

What I'm looking for in you:

• Strong hand anatomy. This is non-negotiable. If hands aren't a strength, this isn't the project.
• Willingness to engage with character briefs. The hands aren't generic — each one has specific posture, condition, and personality grounded in the story.
• Availability for a six-cover series starting fall 2026, delivering through early 2027.

Ownership: Full copyright transfer required. The finished cover art becomes my property — I need complete ownership of the illustrations, not a usage license. This is standard for commissioned book covers but I want it stated upfront so there are no surprises. Price your quote accordingly.

Budget: Starts at $150/cover and scales with portfolio match and experience. Tell me your per-cover rate or series rate.

Process: I'll review portfolios from responses here. If your work looks like a fit, I'll send the full series overview and one per-book brief so you can see the scope. Before committing to all six, I'd commission a single rough sketch of one cover (paid) to make sure we're aligned. If we move forward, the sketch becomes the foundation for the final cover — not a throwaway test.

To respond: Link your portfolio. If you have hand studies, gesture work, or limited-palette illustration in there, point me to it specifically. I'll be looking for whether your natural style feels like a fit for this project — that's a subjective call on my end, so don't take it personally if the work is strong but the aesthetic isn't what I need.

Blurb:

Michael walks into a BDSM club on a Saturday afternoon and lets a woman he barely knows lock a chastity cage on him. Forty-three days later, he still hasn't taken it off.

Clenched Fist follows Michael through his first weeks in a 24/7 chastity and denial dynamic with Natasha, a woman whose dominance is as precise as it is relentless. What starts as sexual curiosity becomes something neither of them planned for: real intimacy built on top of an arrangement where she holds every key and he holds nothing.

This is the first book in The Open Palm, a six-book erotic romance series. All six books are written and currently in self-editing, with the final series total likely landing somewhere between 750,000-800,000 words. The series follows Michael, Natasha, and the expanding constellation of people drawn into their dynamic across three years.

Content:

This book contains graphic, explicit sexual content throughout. Specifically: BDSM (bondage, dominance, submission), male chastity devices, orgasm denial and edging, forced voyeurism, strap-on sex (F/F), verbal humiliation and degradation, sensory deprivation, multiple sexual partners within a negotiated framework, and power exchange dynamics. The sexual content is integral to the story and cannot be skipped.

The full series (Books 2-6) escalates into darker territory including a step-father/step-daughter sexual dynamic with extensive consent architecture, gender identity exploration (a male character who drops into a feminine state through a ritual process -- not a separate identity, not DID, not trans; the same person without the anxiety armor), and psychological interrogation used as erotic tool. If any of these are hard limits for you, this may not be the right project, as the series is meant to be read as a whole.

What I'm looking for:

I'm a first-time author who doesn't read romance. I know the genre conventions exist but I haven't internalized them, which means I need readers who can tell me where the book works, where it doesn't, and why, from multiple angles.

Ideally I'd like 5-6 beta readers, and I'm hoping some of you will want to continue through the full series (subsequent books will be available on a rolling basis, roughly one every 2-3 weeks).

I have a structured feedback form, but the big things I need to know:

• If you stopped reading or skimmed, where and why
• Where your attention drifted (not just "did you stop" but "did you zone out")
• Where something pulled you out of the story
• Whether the sexual content felt consistent in tone and intensity, or whether some chapters felt like a different book
• Whether the emotional arc tracked for you

I'll send a detailed onboarding document to anyone who's interested that covers the feedback framework, content warnings, and what the series is about.

Timeline: I'd like feedback within three weeks of receiving the manuscript. No rush to read it in a weekend, but I do need it back in a reasonable window so I can act on it. If life gets in the way, just let me know -- I'd rather get a heads-up than silence.

Format: epub or PDF, your preference.

Excerpt from chapter 2:

Michael exhaled, sliding into the chair opposite her. "Both," he admitted, catching the way her lips curved at the corners. The waiter materialized with menus, but Natasha waved him off without looking. "We'll have the tasting menu," she said, her eyes never leaving Michael. "And another Malbec."

The first course arrived, a delicate arrangement of scallops drizzled in saffron butter, and Michael found himself dissecting market trends instead of shellfish. Natasha listened, chin propped on one hand, as he explained the volatility of tech stocks. "You're good," she said when he paused to sip his wine. Her foot brushed his under the table, a fleeting pressure that sent heat crawling up his spine. "Tell me about the last time you lost."

The question wasn't casual. Michael set down his fork. "Saroth Labs," he admitted. "Company put five million into their AI prototype. Turns out their lead designer falsified data."

"And?" Natasha's smile was razor-thin.

He let out a breath. "I fired the analyst that missed it. And reworked our entire diligence process."

"Punishment and prevention," she said, eyes darkening. "You understand accountability." The second course arrived, venison with juniper glaze, but Natasha ignored it, leaning forward. "People crumble when they lose. Or lie." Her heel pressed against his shin. "You rebuilt."

"I like systems," he admitted, swallowing nervously. "Rules."

Quick and surprised, her laugh broke through. "So do I."

Finally, Natasha picked up her fork, slicing into the venison. "Take my investors," she said, spearing a bite. "They want returns, obviously, but more than that, they need the illusion of control. So I give them reports. Spreadsheets. Enough data to feel like they've peeked behind the curtain. Never the whole picture, though no lies either." Her knife scraped the plate.

"And when they push?"

"Boundaries, Michael. I'm excellent at keeping them." Natasha's smile was all teeth.

Dessert arrived, a dark chocolate torte dusted with gold leaf, but neither touched it. Natasha leaned back, wine in hand, as the restaurant's hum faded into background noise. "Tell me," she said, "what's your safeword?"

"We're not..."

"Not playing," she agreed. "But you have one." Her gaze pinned him. "Everyone does."

"Stop now," he admitted. "Usually does it. But if I need..." He hesitated, thumb tracing the rim of his glass. "Red. Yellow. Traffic light system."

"Predictable." Natasha tapped a lacquered nail against her wineglass.

"Mine's 'Mihoshi,'" Michael admitted, embarrassed. The word hung between them, absurdly out of place, a Mexican wrestler crashing a funeral.

"From Magical Girl Supernova Starlight?" Natasha asked, arching a brow.

"You know it?"

"I've heard of it once or twice..." Her laugh caught him off guard, bright and genuine. "Embarrassed?" she said, sliding her foot up his calf. "Good. Means you won't say it unless you mean it."