Illustration Throwback Thursday #19

This was supposed to be the cover of a book about internet gambling. I did the art in December of 2000, and as far as I know it was never used. I’m not sure the author ever found a publisher for the book at all.

A lot of book deals go down like that. An author wants to make a “pitch” to various publishers either with the concept and outline or a finished manuscript, and feels like the need a visual to go along with the pitch. I never work on spec, so I expect to be paid for the art whether the book sees print or not. I always explain to the author that, unless the book being pitched is a “picture book” i.e. one based on art more than words, publishers want to pick their own illustrators for things like covers or interior spots. It would have been unlikely, had the book been picked up, that this cover would have ended up being used. Despite my explaining this, the client went ahead with the project.