“There’s something strangely compelling about primates in human clothes. Crowds used to gather at London Zoo to watch the chimpanzees having a tea party. The PG Tips ads became instant classics. When creating Ack-Ack Macaque, I felt as if I’d tapped into some sort of archetype. I made him surly and rude, and unconscionably violent, and people responded. They seemed to connect with him on a primal level. I don’t know what it is about him. He has his own Twitter account and people love talking to him. Ladies flirt with him. Men tell jokes and post links to funny monkey pictures. He seems to have struck a chord – and I think it’s because he represents a certain freedom that we, as supposedly civilised human beings, have lost. He can smoke and drink and blow shit up, and not care. The normal rules don’t apply to him. He doesn’t have to bite his lip or bide his time. He’s a wild animal. Put him in clothes and he looks comical, but also dangerous. He’s us, but not us. The Hyde to our Jekyll. Our inner child.”

You can read the whole article here.

This is amazing… if you’ve ever wondered at the work that goes into creating a kick ass book cover, read on.

When picking up a copy of my novel, Ack-Ack Macaque, the thing most people comment on first (apart from the unusual title) is the artwork. And who couldn’t help but be drawn to a smoking monkey in a flying jacket, with a revolver big enough to shoot holes in the Moon?

Below, Jake Murray, the artist responsible, takes us through the process of creating that striking cover image, from commission to completion.

Take it away, Jake!

***

Hello readers! My name is Jake Murray and I am the illustrator responsible for the cover art of both Ack-Ack Macaque and its sequel, Hive Monkey. When Gareth invited me to write a guest post about the creative process behind the art for Ack-Ack Macaque, I was absolutely thrilled! As this is a literature blog, hopefully I’ll be able to shed some light on a subject that many of you may be interested in, or are at least unfamiliar with.

So let’s jump right in at the beginning!

The Commission

The first step in any book cover is being commissioned by the publisher’s Art Director or Editor. Jon Oliver of Solaris Books asked me if I’d be available to create a piece of cover art for a novel about a “videogame AI that becomes sentient and leads a rebellion.” Okay, that sounds cool. Oh, what’s that Jon? The AI in question is an ace WWII pilot who fights Nazi ninjas, smokes cigars like it’s his job, sports two massive revolvers….and is a monkey? Okay, that sounds AWESOME.

Naturally I said yes, please and thank you.

Jon introduced me to Gareth, and together they outlined a general idea of what they’d like to see on the cover. Obviously Ack-Ack Macaque would need to be front and center, perhaps flanked by a few of the other characters from the book. One of my initial concerns was that there might end up being too many characters jammed into it to be an effective, striking cover, so we narrowed it down to the three most important: Ack-Ack Macaque, Victoria Valois, and Prince Merovech.

Sketching

Once I’ve got a general direction laid out, I hit the ground running with some character sketches. Especially when it comes to fantastical creature/characters like Ack-Ack Macaque, it’s important that I have a solid idea of how he should look and get this approved by the author and editor before I spend 30+ hours painting him up in the final art. I started out drawing macaques to get more familiar with their anatomy and facial expressions, etc.

Add some pants, big guns, a flight jacket, and cigar, and voila! We have a pretty bad ass monkey.

 I also did some initial sketching to figure out what the giant, multi-hulled zeppelins might look like.

Composition

Next I have to determine how the image will be laid out. We knew all of the details that needed to be shown, so it’s a matter of figuring out where to put what in order to make it look awesome. Even though the story is set in the future, I wanted the cover to have a sort of aged feel to it in terms of the color, so I leaned more towards an overall pale yellow/sepia tone. The design of the zeppelins I felt would be enough to let us know that we weren’t necessarily looking at something historical. Oh, and then there’s that monkey right up front with all the big guns. That would help too. I came up with two composition sketches I thought would be promising and sent them off to Gareth and the publisher to see which one they preferred (if any).

 They decided to go with the first composition, but I wasn’t completely satisfied with Ack-Ack Macaque’s pose, so I revised it a little bit and got that approved as well.

Gathering Reference Material

Most of my work is digitally created, but for this piece I decided to work in oil paints. I love painting in oils, but since there’s no “undo” button when working with traditional art materials, you have to be much more careful as there’s just much less room for error. Since I work in a realistic style, it’s also important that I gather solid photos and images to reference for the final artwork. In this case, I went so far as to sculpt a small “maquette” head of Ack-Ack Macaque, which I could then light any way I wanted and shoot good photos of to draw and paint from.

 [Photoshop can be a godsend when you need to create some wacky reference photos!]

Since the other characters were humans, it just came down to finding or shooting photos of people who I thought would make good “actors” for the roles. It’s all about making sure the lighting, poses, and costuming are as accurate as possible to the scene I’m trying to convey.

Final Art

Once I’ve gotten everything that I need, it’s just a matter of execution. I work out a detailed line drawing which I then show Gareth and Jon for approval before I start adding color.

Once it’s approved, the rest of the process is just 20-40 hours of painting……and painting……..and more painting……And then I’m done!

Oh, except that something doesn’t quite look right.

So I paint, paint, paint some more until it does look right.

Once I’ve gotten it to a place where I’m comfortable calling it done, I take a hi-resolution photo of the painting, do some clean-up and color correcting in Photoshop, email it to the publisher and hope that everyone likes it. If they do (and in this case they did), then my job is done!

Hopefully that gives you some insight into how a book cover illustration comes to be. Thanks to Gareth for letting me ramble on and on about my process, and thanks everyone who has enjoyed my work on the Ack-Ack Macaque series so far! It’s been a  real blast, and I hope for more opportunities to step into the world that Mr. Powell has created!

Images in this post are © Jake Murray 2013. All Rights Reserved.

How does this new album differ from your previous two?

On this new album we’ve still got the same band, and we’ve still got the wonderful Danny Thompson on bass, Pat Illingworth on drums and Allan Greenwood on other guitars. We recorded at home and at a local studio called The Chairworks, and then we took it to Abbey Road to be mastered. All three albums were mastered at Abbey Road, but this time around we did experiment a little more. The first track, ‘Kitty’s Blues’, was recorded in mono, which is a little bit different than anything we’ve done before. We were trying to get a more old-fashioned feel to it. Also, we experimented with reverb. Usually you put the reverb on afterwards. You listen to the song and decide what reverb you would like. But we decided we’d record ‘Blues For Muse’ with the reverb on it, to give more of a live sound.

I’d like Driving Into The Blue to be received well. Obviously it’s the third album, so I’m a little bit further down the line. The thing that differs about this one is that it has a little more of an aspect of fun to it. A few of the songs on there, like ‘Kinda Girl’, ‘Roundabout’ and ‘Arriving At The Station’ have a fun, tongue-in-cheek quality to them. So although we follow the same general format and have the same band, this one’s a little lighter in mood.

Do you ever write new songs when playing live, or is it all done in the studio?

When it comes to recording in a studio and playing live, I like and enjoy both, but they are very different. I love the of-the-moment feel of playing live. When you’re recording you put a lot of pressure on yourself to get it right; whereas when you’re playing live you only get one chance. With recording, you can be quite creative in the studio, which is one thing I really like. You’ve got the whole day to get one track right, if you need to, and that’s quite nice.

I don’t ever write new songs when I’m playing live. I find you’re just focussed on the gig and the stuff you’re going to play. I probably wouldn’t write songs in the studio either. It’s more of a getting up at two o’clock in the morning kind of thing, when you’ve got something going around and around in your head. Just when you’re on your own, really.

I don’t write in one particular way. It depends on what you’re doing. You could go and see an exhibition. I’ve recently been to the Gauguin exhibition and the Bridget Riley exhibition, for instance. Or you could be reading a book like Geoff Dyer’s Jeff In Venice, which I absolutely love at the moment. Or you could go and see a film like The Big Lebowski or The Godfather. Anything like that can trigger it.

There’s got to be a part of you in your songs, but I like to think of mine as a little bit more universal, rather than autobiographical. When I went to see the Gauguin exhibition it was so awe-inspiring that afterwards, you don’t know when or how that’s going to come out in a song.  I think that’s the way I work: collecting fragments. Whether that’s from reading a book or doing something as banal as going to the supermarket and hearing somebody say something that’s either inspirational or completely zany. You might pick that up and use it in some way.

Which song do you most enjoy playing?

The song I’ve most enjoyed performing live is one called ‘No You, No Me’ from my CD Catch The Echo. It’s probably one of the most simple songs I do but that’s the one I tend to enjoy. It’s a sad song but I enjoy playing it, and form the feedback I get, that tends to be the one people like in the live show.

Who are your biggest song writing influences?

As a songwriter, I’m influenced by the usual suspects. Bob Dylan, of course. I also really like Tom Waits and I could listen to Nina Simone all day. I absolutely love her singing. I’ve also recently come across a lady called Leanne Carroll, a jazz singer who is superb.

How did you get started?

I had guitar lessons as a kid and went up through all the grades, as you do. I took up violin originally, from a very young age, and then one Christmas I got a guitar. I remember working through the entire tutor book that Christmas; my mum and dad never saw me. And that was that, really. From then on, I was up in my bedroom practicing for hours on end.

Like anyone, I started small. I was lucky enough to gain the support of John Renbourn, who let me do some support slots for him in the early days. I also did some support slots for The Albion Band. From there, I got the chance to support John Etheridge, who’s a fantastic guy, and we’ve been on tour together for six years! Now I’m embarking on a 13 date tour of my own, which is my first proper tour in my own right.

Do you get nervous on stage?

I think I’ve got past that now. You get a little bit nervous before the gigs. You’d be a little bit strange if you didn’t get some nerves and some adrenalin but I’m more looking forward to it than worrying.

I was talking to someone the other day and I said that when you’re up there on stage, it’s like that’s what it feel like to feel really alive. That might sound over the top, but that’s what it really feels like when you’re up there playing the guitar, doing the best that you can, and just enjoying the moment. You’re never going to have that moment again, not in the same way ever. And hopefully the audience will go with you and just enjoy the moment too. It wouldn’t be the same experience without them.

Do you have any advice for aspiring guitarists?

One of the things I would say to aspiring guitarists is to record your tracks as well as you can possibly record them. Because that recording will be there forever and it’s really important to get the best quality you can do. Although having said that, I’ve just done a session for Songs From The Shed  (www.songsfromtheshed.com). On Sunday I went to this guy’s house and he’s literally got a shed in his garden. You could hear cars in the street going past every thirty seconds or so. The session was completely acoustic and he recorded it with a handheld camera and it’s getting lots of support from The Guardian and the BBC have done a little feature on it. So, although I would advise you to record everything as well as you can, it does seem that the YouTube, low-fi thing is coming into fashion at the moment.

If you could work with anyone else in the music industry, who would it be?

I will go completely over the top and say I’d have liked to have worked with Jimi Hendrix. A band like Muse would also be fun, or the Arctic Monkeys, or Johnny Cash. ‘Hurt’ is probably my favourite song of all time. You just put that on your iPod and go for a walk and the world feels like a completely different place. Sad but strangely uplifting at the same time. I’m not very familiar with the original Nine Inch Nails version of the song, but it’s interesting that it was actually written by someone else, and that Cash did such a fantastic performance of it that he really made it his own.

How would you describe your own style?

People always say things like “not easily pigeonholed”. I find that quite funny, because who wants to be pigeonholed? I’d like to think it was a little bit of all the things I listen to; whether that’s Bach’s Goldberg Variations or the Arctic Monkey’s ‘She Looks Good On The Dance Floor’. I guess you could call if folk with a small “f”, with a bit of rock and pop and jazz and blues chucked in. On the second to last track on the new album there’s even a bit of flamenco thrown in for good measure!

What’s next for you?

Hopefully there’ll be another tour in the autumn, and I’m thinking about bringing out a live album, so we might do some recordings on this current tour. Also there may be an album of instrumental guitar tracks, because I have quite a few guitar tracks that haven’t yet been recorded.

I’d like to play some more high profile festivals, like Glastonbury or Celtic Connections. I think I’d really enjoy doing some big festivals. I’ve done a lot of the smaller art centre type venues in the UK, and it might be quite nice to go abroad next. I haven’t done that yet, so it might be nice to play in Europe.

You can find Kit online at: www.kitholmes.co.uk 

Next, convince yourself you can write, and then be confident enough to get some words on paper. And if your first attempts suck (and they probably will), have the balls to stick with it: keep learning, keep refining, keep improving. There are no short cuts; you have to sit down and do the work. You have to have the confidence to produce a finished manuscript, and the humility to take criticism from readers, agents and editors. You have to be arrogant enough to believe that the world wants to hear what you have to say; but if you’re too arrogant, nobody will want to work with you. Believe in yourself, but not to the exclusion of all else. Believe that you are a professional writer, and act like one. And what do professional writers do? They write. They put the work in. They strive to improve, to make every story they write better than the one they wrote before.

Aspiring writer? I’m an aspiring millionaire, but that doesn’t mean I’ll ever be one. Take yourself seriously. You might be unpublished, but if you believe in your heart that you’re a writer, say so. Declare to the world that that is what you are, and act like it. Don’t wait to be asked. Find your calling. Find a way to make it work. You won’t get a second chance.

Such first-hand experience can add verisimilitude to your fiction; but what happens if you’re trying to write genre fiction? What if you’re trying to write about a future society so far removed in time that they barely remember the present day? What if you’re trying to write about a supernatural horror preying on a group of cave divers, or a lone warrior on a quest across a mythic fantasy kingdom? In science fiction, fantasy and horror, characters are routinely put in situations in which it would be impossible for the writer to gain any direct experience. How then can you convincingly fill in these scenes using only your imagination?

1. Identify the parts of the scene you do know.

People for example. Your characters should be recognisably human, each with their own distinct personalities and foibles. No matter how fantastical the situation, you can base your characters on your own experiences of people and the way they interact with one another.

Sometimes when writing fiction, it’s hard to keep a consistent mental image of all the characters involved, and mistakes start to creep in. You get muddled and describe your hero as having blue eyes in chapter two and green ones in chapter six. To get around this problem, I suggest casting your story in the same way you’d cast a movie. Go through magazines and pick out photos of actors, celebrities, models, or “real” people to represent your characters, and stick them on the wall behind your computer monitor. Not only will this help you keep their physical descriptions consistent as you write, it’ll also help you visualise your scenes better, and you may even find the pictures suggest things you can work into the story to give your characters added depth, such as facial tics, a preference for a particular style of clothes, or an unusual mannerism, such as a raised eyebrow or twisted smile.

2. Draw on incidents from your own life and try to map them onto the situations in which your characters find themselves.

I’ve never been involved in a gun battle, for instance, but I have been paintballing. I know what it’s like to hunker down uncomfortably behind a tree stump with gravel digging into my knees, to run out of ammo at a crucial moment, and to take a high-velocity pellet to the stomach, head or leg.

It’s easier to write about characters in extreme situations if you’ve had a few adventures of your own. In my time, I’ve also flown a light aircraft; been punched in the face; crawled through potholes; kayaked down white water rapids; jumped off a bridge; taken fencing and shooting lessons; had my heart broken; swum in Loch Ness; and climbed a number of mountains. I know what it’s like to be tired and wet and cold; I know what it’s like to lose someone; and what it feels like to break a bone. Drawing on these experiences can add authenticity to the most fantastical situations, by providing the small details and observations that really bring a scene to life.

3. Know your setting.

In genre writing, it helps if you know your setting inside out. If it’s the flight deck of a space shuttle, research all you can; find images online; try to find a simulator, or at least set foot on the flight deck of an airliner. If it’s an invented city, then make sure you know everything there is to know about it. Visit London or Amsterdam or Barcelona and look at the old buildings. Use Google Maps to “walk” through the streets of cities in Japan, America and Europe. Get the flavour of as many cities as possible, and take the bits you like to furnish your creation. Draw maps. Immerse yourself to the point where you can see your city in your mind’s eye and hear, smell, and feel its hustle and bustle around you.

As my first novel, Silversands, was set a distant planet, I spent months assembling notes about the planet’s climate, orbit, geography and seasons. I researched anaerobic bacteria, magnetic weaponry and weird terrestrial sea life. I got to know the characters, their back stories and personalities. I even based the craggy landscape on my childhood memories of Pembrokeshire, with its plunging rocky cliffs and yellow-tipped gorse bushes. By the time I finished writing the novel, I had an entire box full of background notes, sketches and maps. Most of that information didn’t make it into the finished story, but it played a vital part in helping me convincingly visualise and communicate the setting.

Of course, I’m not downplaying the importance of imagination. A strong imagination is one of the genre writer’s most essential tools, and without it, you may as well be writing nonfiction. In order to write genre fiction, you need the audacity to make bold leaps into the unknown and turn the everyday world on its head. My argument is that if you want to lend authenticity to your flights of fancy, you need to do your research, observe the people around you, and have your own adventures.

[This article originally appeared on www.writetodone.com]

“For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed.”

My interpretation:

“Aim high. Shoot for perfection. Try to articulate the inexpressible. And with luck, you will.”

“I also admit that when reading a novel written from several perspectives, there is a temptation to skip over the more boring of narrators. Fortunately, this was not a problem while reading Ack-Ack Macaque, because while the protagonists share a crucial similarity (I won’t spoil what it is), each individual voice is unique and equally fascinating. There is, in fact, never a moment you want to skip ahead, because every turn of the page may present an unexpected twist or take you somewhere new, and often that somewhere is about to be blown up. Which brings me to my next thought on the writing: The action. Is is brilliant. It is powerful, fluid, and intense. … Ack-Ack Macaque is a highly readable book that moves at a remarkable pace, yet maintains a level of complexity to satisfy readers of more serious Science Fiction. If you are looking for an entertaining read, one that is engaging, effectively written, and just damned good fun, go pick up Ack-Ack Macaque today.”

Read the full review here.

“I wouldn’t be a writer if I didn’t love the process of writing. Some days it can be slow and frustrating, but on other days the words seem to fly onto the page almost faster than I can type them, and it feels like riding a tall and beautiful wave. It can be exhilarating.”

You can read the whole thing online, here.