Dragonwriter (26 page)

My introduction to the world of Pern came with
The White Dragon.
When I was asked to take on the assignment, I was unfamiliar with the books, so some catch-up was involved. As legions of McCaffrey fans will attest, that was no hardship!

After thoroughly reading
The White Dragon,
my primary concern was to come up with an exciting design that worked for the whole book, not just the front cover. The easiest way to do this, I felt, was to wrap some drawing paper around an actual book and draw the design directly onto the mock cover. This is just what I did, using pen and ink to sketch in the shapes. Later I added some loose color notes as accents to give the people at Del Rey Books an idea of where I intended to go with it. After the publisher okayed the idea, I was off and running on the actual painting.

What you see here is a scan of that original piece of drawing paper I folded around the book.

Pleased with the success of
The White Dragon,
Del Rey subsequently commissioned me to do cover paintings for more Pern novels:
Dragonflight, Dragonquest,
and other books through the years as Ms. McCaffrey wrote them and as I was available. Each of these assignments had its peculiarities and problems.

For example, a month and a half before beginning work on a painting for
Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern
(1983), I had broken my painting hand in my karate class. When I went to the emergency room I kept hold of a pencil so they could build the cast so that my hand and arm were in a position that would allow me to continue working as soon as possible. Two other commissions and these concept sketches, all painted in acrylics, were done while I was burdened with that cast; it was something of a trial of patience getting through the work. Fortunately, when it was time to begin the painting for
Moreta,
I had healed enough to permit removal of the cast. The joy I felt in my newfound freedom of movement is what inspired the sweep of intense color in the sky seen in the final cover painting.

Dragonsdawn
was special for its emphasis on the fire-lizards of Pern, and I welcomed the chance to paint them in a cover illustration. The actual cover painting went well enough until the last few days, when I found I was having great difficulty visualizing the look of the water at the foot of the painting. Before I could finish it, I had to leave on a prearranged family vacation to the United Kingdom. While touring Wales, we visited Three Cliffs Bay, and I took the opportunity afforded by the spectacular location to walk a bit into the surf and look back toward the beach. I could see then where I had gone wrong in my painting at home. I looked long at the scene and tried my best to memorize it; when I got home, I was able to complete it in short order and send it to the publisher.

My cover painting for
Renegades of Pern
was slated to be the last one I could reliably deliver before the anticipated birth of my son, Adrian. It was going badly when, a week before his due date, I admitted defeat and started over on a new painting. Day after day, I labored to get the work done before the baby arrived and my time would be lost. But he was considerate enough to wait a few extra days, allowing me time to finish; I delivered it a mere day before Adrian himself was. A close one!