I'm looking for an experienced fantasy illustrator/painter to create the final painted artwork for a full-wrap book cover. I'm needing a traditional-looking digital painting.

I already have a detailed composition sketch that has been approved by the publisher. The composition is established, so I'm looking for an artist who can work from the existing sketch rather than redesigning the cover.

The art style I am looking for comes from the original book covers of Thieves World (see attached). The first six novels had a similar art style that I am looking for. Painted by Walter Velez.

Classic painted fantasy — naturalistic, dimensional, richly painted artwork with a traditional/old-school fantasy illustration feel. High-key, high-value colors, grounded in natural colors. Dark like Thieves World but also bright, sun-drenched vintage look that feels optimistic, with thin lines.

The scene is quite complex (see attached composition sketch) and includes:

- multiple characters

- a Hollywood movie-studio setting

- 1920s/old-Hollywood elements

- ghosts/supernatural characters (which will be see-through)

- cars and motorcycles

- architecture and street scenery

- Hollywood Hills/Hollywood Sign

- a dragon from an old film

- a very small separate group of a few ghosts I'll put as an overlay on the title

It's meant to be one continuous image. In the attached composition sketch, there should be a wall in between the left and ride side connecting them (the space is where the book spine goes but the publisher wants the painting to continue on the spine).

No AI-generated final artwork. The publisher specifically requires human-created artwork.

I will provide:

- the approved composition sketch (see attached)

- visual references for the painting direction from the publisher

- character/reference information

- any additional references needed for the individual elements

I'm looking for someone who is comfortable painting over/working from an existing composition sketch and preserving the established placement of the major elements. Also someone that has a good eye for color—specifically, executing the artwork with high color saturation and rich, low black points to capture that heavy, dramatic, and theatrical pulp vibe.

Budget: $500 USD

​Rights: ​Work-for-Hire / Full Commercial Buyout. Because the artist will be rendering an existing, approved composition sketch and utilizing established character IP, the publisher will retain full copyright and ownership of the final image. The artist may not sell prints or monetize the image, but absolutely retains the right to showcase the final painting in their personal portfolios and on social media.

Timeline: approximately 2-3 weeks, so availability to start soon is important. Timing is important as the publication date of the book is nearing, but at the same time we do not want to rush the artist as the quality of the artwork is of most importance.

No book layout is required (that's already done on my end and I'll share it with you so you have a good idea of what it will look like finished).

Please comment with your portfolio and examples of full-scene fantasy/narrative painting, particularly work involving multiple characters and environments. I'm especially interested in artists who have experience with traditional-looking digital painting or painted book-cover illustration.

Please comment with your portfolio rather than sending a generic DM. I'd like to look through the work first.

The publisher will have other books coming up in the future to work on in a similar style, and it's very possible to contract the artist again if we find the right artist.

I've been building a fictional world called unKnown world of Ída for several years, combining worldbuilding, fantasy history, character design, maps, military history and visual storytelling into one long-term art-book project.

At its core, Ída is an attempt to create the history of a world that never existed but it should feel familiar.

I'm interested in imagining how ancient civilizations might have developed, migrated, fought, traded and influenced one another over centuries. The world draws inspiration from prehistoric cultures to early middle ages, ancient archaeology and mythology and the history of warfare, but everything is reinterpreted and developed into its own fictional history.

A major part of the project is the design of its warriors. Rather than simply creating fantasy characters based on an aesthetic, I try to design each warrior as a product of their culture, environment, technology, traditions and way of fighting (let's say more grounded in history).

Their weapons, armor, shields, clothing, colors and visual symbols are therefore connected to the history and identity of the people they belong to.

The map above shows one period of Ída and some of the cultures and warriors I've developed for it in last year. There are many different civilizations, tribes and historical periods and eras within the world, and I'm gradually building their stories and conflicts into a larger chronological history.

The Rise of the Atlanteans, for example, is just one of these stories. It tells the story of the Atlanteans and their invasion of Ída, but it is only one chapter within a much larger history that I'm currently developing.

I've recently brought this particular story together into an illustrated fantasy history documentary, combining my character designs, illustrations, maps, animated army movements and landscape footage.

I would like to share here a link to a documentary video I made about it (if anyone is interested)?

I'm still developing this world, so I'm curious: what catches your attention first — the map, one of the cultures, or one of the characters?

And for those of you who build your own worlds: do you design your characters first, or do you develop their cultures and history before designing them?