I have always been captivated by the covers of The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare. I remember always glancing at it as I sifted through the bookstore. How could I not? The image captures movement, mystery, and the emotion of the story quite effortlessly. The quality of the cover is brilliant, no image online can do the shine factor justice.
The cover art is done by Cliff Neilsen and I have to say this man is a genius! That’s right there are no photographs used in the cover art.
Neilsen’s images have this uncanny valley like quality. I can’t tell you how long I’ve been side-eyeing Clockwork Prince trying to figure out if it was a real person or not.
Nielsen’s illustrations have also popped up in some pretty successful children’s books including Madeline L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time, Margaret Hadix Shadow Children and Lois Lowry’s The Giver.
Below are more examples of his work with the books; Heat by Mike Lupica, Nomansland by Lesley Hauge and Jessica’s Guide To Dating the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
Neilsen’s graduated as Valedictorian from Art Center College of Design in 1994 where he studied traditional and digital art. His wife is an illustrator for the card game Magic The Gathering and a freelance fantasy writer. They have 4 children and reside in California.
1/2 of the blogging duo at Books and Sensibility, I have been blogging about and reviewing books since 2011. I read any and every genre, here on the blog I mostly review Fantasy, Adult Fiction, and Young Adult with a focus on audiobooks.