RayneHall

In my years here, I've worked with many awesome artists.

With some, I've built ongoing relationships,  have hired them again and again for professional jobs, and introduced them to other paying clients. 

I'm proud that for several artists, I've played a substantial part in their journey from amateur to freelance professional.

Others, I 'paid' with points and I hope that these small commissions were a stepping stone on their path to greater things.

I also want to thank the artists who have provided fabulous stock images which I've used in many ways. Where possible, I attributed the art, favourited  and posted a comment with a link. In a couple of cases, I wasn't able to find the stock image again after I've used it - maybe I was looking in the wrong place or maybe the artists put the art in storage. If this happened to your picture, I apologise, and I assure you that there is an attribution on or near the picture. 

I'm not planning to hang out here in the future. There is too much flaming, envy and hate-mongery going on, and I don't want to be part of that.

The artists with whom I've worked have my email address. I believe I've tied up all lose ends, but if any matter is still outstanding, please contact me.

Best wishes,

Rayne

 

I'm Rayne Hall, author of fantasy and horror fiction. My website is here sites.google.com/site/raynehal…

Here's a list of DA artists I've commissioned. 

Erica Syverson aka Komical  komical.deviantart.com/ (quite a lot of commissions actually - I've lost count. Including about 20 book covers)
Neamhni aka Fawnheart aka FawnhArt fawnhart.deviantart.com (several commissions: illustrations for book trailer video, avatar, etc)
Kuoke  kuoke.deviantart.com/ (several colour illustrations - book cover, fantasy townscape, OCs)
PRDart  prdart.deviantart.com/ (3 illustrations for book covers)
LadyArmageddon  ladyarmageddon.deviantart.com/ (2 illustration for book cover, 1 OC)
headbangerdragon  headbangerdragon.deviantart.co… (3 illustrations for book covers)
Spearcarrier spearcarrier.deviantart.com/ (1 illustration for book cover)
CottonCritter cottoncritter.deviantart.com/?… (1 commission: avatar icon)
mahomagic mahomagic.deviantart.com/ (1 illustration for book cover)
Remember2Live remember2live.deviantart.com/ (1 illustration for book cover)
Reokii reokii.deviantart.com/ (1 illustration for personal use)
Fatina1988 fatina1988.deviantart.com/ (1 illustration for book cover)
Guinzoo guinzoo.deviantart.com/ (1 illustration for book cover)
SamDenmarkArt samdenmarkart.deviantart.com/ (1  illustration for book cover)
MissVirginia missvirginia.deviantart.com/ar… (1OC for book trailer video)
AnaDalle anadalle.deviantart.com/ (5 illustrations for book trailer videos)
Ninjae8825 ninjae8825.deviantart.com/ (5 illustrations)
Sweettartslover sweettartslover.deviantart.com… (several chibis and OC illustrations)

I'm so excited! My dark epic fantasy novel Storm Dancer is suddenly shooting up in the bestseller lists.


At the moment, it's #422 at Barnes and Noble - out of the millions of books sold at B&N!

And on Amazon, it's near the top of two genre bestseller lists (historical fantasy and epic fantasy).

I'm sitting on the edge of my seat, glued to the monitor, watching the bestseller lists change hourly. I wonder if Storm Dancer will climb any further, or whether it has gone as far is it will go.

The price for the ebook is reduced from $4.99 to $0.99 until 5 June; no doubt this special offer has much to do with the sudden boost.
The paperback is at the standard price.

By the way, three DeviantArt members were involved in the creation of the book. I wrote the novel, and the cover art is by PRDart prdart.deviantart.com/ and Komical komical.deviantart.com/

If you want to buy the book (while it's on special offer), here are the links:
Amazon US for Kindle  www.amazon.com/Storm-Dancer-Da…
Amazon UK for Kindle www.amazon.co.uk/Storm-Dancer-…
Kobo www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Storm-…
Barnes&Noble for Nook www.barnesandnoble.com/w/storm…
Smashwords for all ebook formats: www.smashwords.com/books/view/…

You can also read the first six chapters free here:
sites.google.com/site/stormdan…

I'm Rayne Hall, author of fantasy and horror fiction. My website is here sites.google.com/site/raynehal…

Here's a list of DA artists I've commissioned.

Komical  komical.deviantart.com/ (quite a lot of commissions actually - I've lost count. Mostly illustrations for book covers.)
Neamhni neamhni.deviantart.com/ (5 commission: illustrations for book trailer video, avatar, etc)
Kuoke  kuoke.deviantart.com/ (4 commissions: 1 illustration for book cover, 1 OC, 1 landscape, 1 fantasy portrait)
PRDart  prdart.deviantart.com/ (3 commissions: illustrations for book covers)
LadyArmageddon  ladyarmageddon.deviantart.com/ (2 commissions: illustration for book cover, 1 OC)
headbangerdragon  headbangerdragon.deviantart.co… (3 commissions: illustrations for book covers)
Spearcarrier spearcarrier.deviantart.com/ (1 commission: illustration for book cover)
CottonCritter cottoncritter.deviantart.com/?… (1 commission: avatar icon)
mahomagic mahomagic.deviantart.com/ (1 commission: illustration for book cover)
Remember2Live remember2live.deviantart.com/ (1 commission: illustration for book cover)
Reokii reokii.deviantart.com/ (1 commission: illustration for personal use)
Fatina1988 fatina1988.deviantart.com/ (1 commission: illustration for book cover)
Guinzoo guinzoo.deviantart.com/ (1 commission: illustration for book cover)
SamDenmarkArt samdenmarkart.deviantart.com/ (1 commission: illustration for book cover)
MissVirginia missvirginia.deviantart.com/ar… (1 commission: OC for book trailer video)
AnaDalle anadalle.deviantart.com/ (3 illustrations for book trailer videos)
Ninjae8825 ninjae8825.deviantart.com/ (5 illustrations)
Sweettartslover sweettartslover.deviantart.com… (several chibis and OC illustrations)
GameofDolls gameofdolls.deviantart.com/ (1 commision: illustration for book cover)
VRS-Virus virus-vrs.deviantart.com/ (1 commission: illustration for book cover)
TheSwanMaideN theswanmaiden.deviantart.com/ (4 commissions: illustrations for book covers)
ShawCJ shawcj.deviantart.com/ (1 commission: illustration for book cover)
farly08 farly08.deviantart.com/art/The… (10 0C illustrations)
IlovePfflyers ilovepfflyers.deviantart.com/ (10 OC illustrations)

This list is incomplete (apologies to anyone left out), not in any particular order, and doesn't include requests, trades and point commissions.

My Commissioning Information for Artists is here: fav.me/d5pbkfo

 
I'm Rayne Hall, author and editor of fantasy and horror fiction. Over the years, I've commissioned hundreds of artworks, mostly illustrations, including from DA members.

Here's my website: sites.google.com/site/raynehal…

These are my terms:

Subjects: I commission illustrations for book covers (all the above book covers feature art I commissioned from DA members), trailers and other projects. Mostly, these are characters, full-body, half-body or bust, with or without background, often in the fantasy, historical and horror genres.

Brief: I provide clear instructions with written descriptions and often reference pictures, and I expect you to adhere to them. If you only paint what your feel inspired to at the moment and chafe at the constraints of a brief, forget it.

Pay: The amounts I pay vary greatly from project to project. Usually, I don't pay much, but I pay promptly and have never kept an artist waiting for their fee. I pay by PayPal; half the fee on acceptance of the sketch, half on acceptance of the final version. If you want to be paid in advance before you've lifted a finger to do a single a stroke of work, forget it.

Experience required:  For higher-paying commissions, I expect professional experience and competence. For the lower-paying commissions, I'm willing to spend time guiding the artist,  e.g. amateurs taking first steps towards professional work, or art students seeking experience with commissions.

Format: Digital. Mostly I ask for jpeg.

Process: You send me a sketch. I'll request changes before you do serious work on it. Once the sketch is right, I send half the pay. When you send the completed picture, I may ask for some final tweaking. Once the final tweaks are done, I send the rest of the pay. For complex works, you may send me several updates and I give feedback at each stage. If you're not willing to make changes, forget it.

Rights: I get exclusive use of the picture. You're welcome to display the picture in your gallery and portfolio, as long as you make it clear that it's commissioned work and don't allow anyone else to use it. If possible, watermark it. If you want to use it for anything else, ask me; I'll probably say yes. If you want to sell the same picture to other buyers, forget it.

Attribution: I'll give a clear attribution in an appropriate place. For book covers, this may be a brief attribution on the book's masthead page, and full attribution, often with artist bio and URL, in the endmatter. For youtube videos it may be a brief attribution in the endcredits and a full attribution with URL in the description. If you want your name displayed on the picture itself, forget it.

Scheduling: Once you agreed to a schedule, I expect you to stick to it. If unforeseen events prevent this, let me know at once. If you can't keep to time commitments, forget it.

What I need to know: Show me thumbnails of work you've done (similar to what I require). Tell me the fee you charge (specific amounts, or "from...to") and by when you can complete the job. If you don't know your own terms and what you can do, forget it.

Repeat commissions: I like working with the same artists again and again.  If a new project comes up, I always consider the artists who've done previous work for me.

Referrals: Authors and publishers often ask me to recommend artists for book covers and illustrations, and I'm happy to suggest the dependable artists who've done good work for me. This often leads to commissions.

What I like: Artists who enjoy their craft, take pride in their skill, and are enthusiastic about the project. Commitment and reliability. Following instructions. Communications and progress updates. Art students eager to learn and gain experience. Professional artists who have solutions where I'm stuck.

Spammers and pests: While I may respond to unsolicited approaches from artists seeking commissions, I ignore copy-pasted standard messages from people who haven't even bothered to read my terms. I block and report spammers and persistent pests.

Whiners: I have no time to waste on whiners. If my terms don't suit, find someone else to commission you.  Sorry to sound harsh, but those are my rules.

I'm quite nice, really. Most artists enjoy working with me.