Final cover for Silver Shells: A Werewolf Gunslinger Tale

***UPDATE!!  Scroll down to the bottom to see the final cover.

I started the Werewolf Gunslinger short stories as a fun side project and a way for people to get a taste of my writing before delving into my novel, Lucifera's Pet. Thus far, Werewolf Gunslinger - Volume 1 has been downloaded 826 times and Volume 2 has been downloaded 528 times from Smashwords.

I put the original cover art for those together from a mishmash of photos and images with some digital effects thrown in. Every time I look at them, I cringe. New covers are long overdue.

I decided to take a shot and produce a couple of pen and ink drawings for the covers. I did three rough sketches last night. The first two were not fit to be seen by human beings ... you know ... with their eyes. They are bad. They are so bad that it would be a shame if they were described to a person who could not see because they would then also be subjected to the horror of the shoddy images as well.

The image below is the least awful of the three. It isn't exactly what I want, but it's getting there.

The moon and Lily's eyes will be red and she will most likely be holding both guns in a bit more dynamic pose. The guns themselves will be larger to fit the actual scale of a Walker Colt. I may go with a more stylized look as well.

UPDATE!!!

Several sketches later, I did a very quick one that has become my favorite so far:

I liked this one so much that I decided to reproduce it in ink:

Update 9-6-2010
Twelfth try if you're counting. Finished with ink and shaded with charcoal. I'll at least give this one a preliminary look as a completed cover. Stay tuned and let me know what you think.

Update - 9-14-2010

Okay. This is the final, final, final update for Silver Shells. Let me know what you think:

Big thanks to everyone who stuck with me on this one through my many revisions. Now, do me an even bigger favor and go read the story!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10710

Cheers!