Book Cover #11 - WIP (ribbons and roses)

This is the cover drawing that would never end! Took forever this week to finish it up.

In my initial thumbnail, I attempted to have a significantly different pose from the previous two. However, the publishers did not like this one, so re-draws were required. I had already worked out the color palette and elements to include....

So I went reference hunting - for both references for the elements I already knew that I needed, and much searching for rearing, 3/4, tucked-head horses... Since flying-horse-pose reference is not so easy to come by, it take compiling what you can come up with and for me at least, quite a bit of working and re-working until the anatomy feels somewhat believable...?

...And of course, here is the flower featured on this cover. Herb-lore for the day: An Anglo-Saxon herbal of the 11th century speaks of a conserve of rose petals "taken in the morning and fasting at night, it strengthenest the hearte and taketh away the shakings and tremblings thereof."

I grow very old heirloom roses. They are not the most beautiful varieties, but their scent is heavenly and intense, their petals make for very flavorful candied garnishes and the most fragrant syrup you've ever tasted, and they have huge, plump hips. Decorative *and* tasty (jelly, tea, etc...) These wild roses above have been fun to draw and made me acutely aware of the occasional waft of deliciously intense rose fragrance from the roses that grow beneath my studio window...

Here is the revised sketch, which was approved-

-and here, at LONG last, is the finished cover drawing...

Three down, one more to go.