❦   THE ARTIST  ❦

Stories painted
in oil-light and shadow.

A studio devoted to the chemistry between two characters a half-second before everything changes.

Barbara Lynn at work in the studio

Barbara is a digital artist whose work lives at the intersection of romantasy and high fantasy — semi-realistic, theatrically lit, and rooted in the belief that fantasy was always meant to hold every reader.

She paints inclusive cast — including plus sized, brown, disabled, old — because the genres she loves were always meant to hold all of us. Her covers are designed to read at thumbnail and reward at full size; her character work is built on long conversations with authors about the heart of the story, never the trope.

Her work has graced covers from a long list of indie authors who needed their cast to look like the future. She works from a studio in the Pacific Northwest, attended by two cats and a great deal of black tea.

❦   THE PROCESS  ❦

From brief to gilded cover.

  1. I

    The Conversation

    A long call about the heart of the story — the moment the cover has to land, who the cast really is, what the spine has to feel like in a hand.

  2. II

    Thumbnails

    Three to five small compositions in monochrome. We find the silhouette, the gesture, the gravity well of the image.

  3. III

    Rendered Pass

    Full-colour painting. Costume, light, atmosphere, expression. Every revision is an opportunity to push deeper.

  4. IV

    Final Files

    Print-ready CMYK, layered PSD, web-optimised PNG, and the title-treatment lockup. Plus a high-res print for the artist proof shelf.

Ready to begin?

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