A man's back is a beautiful thing. I don't mean his butt (that is also a beautiful thing as well, but not what I'm talking about here). The back can convey strength and grace and power. Anyone looking at Chris Hemsworth's back can attest to how beautiful the male back can be. Meanwhile, there is a tradition in romance novels of showing a woman's bare back (less controversial than boobage down to nipples and still quite sexy). For that reason, I decided that I wanted to show sexy men's backs on the covers for Ensnared.
One of themes in this volume is how distracted characters are by Andreas' beauty and sensuality, causing them to overlook his power and strength. That tendency is something Andreas will use to full advantage. On the first cover, he'll be in his Dami wear with a back that is bare to the lowest part of his spine. The sensuality of that back will be offset by the strength in his shoulders and arms. Holding him at the waist as if he had stopped Andreas from walking by is Darius. A very strong arm is across that elegantly narrow waist. A much taller and even more powerful body is poised to drag Andreas away in that moment on the cover. Their expressions could be taken as playful. Others will see a Dominant/submissive or Seme/uke dynamic, but their relationship is far more complicated than that. Each of the covers for Volume 3 will be part of a larger picture that will have more of Darius and Andreas and the supporting characters. There has been a great demand to know what the Ladies or Chiron or even Mykos look like. I have someone in my head for all of them. I hope no one is disappointed. The full sketches will be put up here and on my Deviantart page. If they pass muster (and with Kitty's help, I think they will), I'll have them for sale or for give aways at conventions. Probably. I go through moments of terror about drawing the covers at all. The bodies have gotten easy. It's the expressions that will be difficult. Eeek!
I'll spare everyone the rough sketches. I'll document the final drawings and put them in a blog after we've executed the covers.
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