I had the recent pleasure of working with Bramasta Aji on the artwork for my first novel which featured one of the main characters, Akiva. I could not be any happier with his work and I cannot wait to have him do more artwork for my website, promotional material, and other future books. I explained to him how I wanted the armor to look, the features Akiva should have, and by the final draft everything was perfect. I promised my wife that Akiva would resemble her and at the end, it most definitely did.
Bramasta was great to work with, extremely responsive, fast, and I highly recommend him if you like his style. Below I show the progression starting with the initial concepts he sent me all the way up to the final piece.
Initial Concept Sketches
When he sent me the sketches he asked if I liked one of the poses and if so, which one. I chose the one on the left. I also made sure he knew that Akiva carried two swords.
Initial concept art for "Legends of Nuvia: The Soul of Kaesh" book cover, featuring Akiva.
First Draft
In the first draft the swords were too small so I asked him to make them bigger. I could already tell that the armor was going to be awesome.
First draft for "Legends of Nuvia: The Soul of Kaesh" book cover, featuring Akiva.
Second Draft
Some proportional changes.
Second draft for "Legends of Nuvia: The Soul of Kaesh" book cover, featuring Akiva.
Third Draft
He added a lot more detail, got the swords the right size, but the hair was way too light and the face was also not resembling my wife.
Third draft for "Legends of Nuvia: The Soul of Kaesh" book cover, featuring Akiva.
Fourth Draft
First draft that was in color and I could really start to see her take shape.
Fourth draft for "Legends of Nuvia: The Soul of Kaesh" book cover, featuring Akiva.
Fifth Draft
Fifth draft for "Legends of Nuvia: The Soul of Kaesh" book cover, featuring Akiva.
Sixth Draft
Sixth draft for "Legends of Nuvia: The Soul of Kaesh" book cover, featuring Akiva.
Seventh Draft
This was the initial final draft proposed but I had a few changes that I wanted made: the hair needed to be much darker (black), I felt the thighs were a bit too large which made her head look too small, and her face didn’t resemble my wife.
Seventh draft for "Legends of Nuvia: The Soul of Kaesh" book cover, featuring Akiva.
Final Draft
Perfect! Akiva looks awesome, looks like my wife, and he even got the two moles that she has on her chin.
Final cover art for "Legends of Nuvia: The Soul of Kaesh", featuring Akiva.
The Cover
Here is the cover with the title and name. Looks pretty awesome if you ask me 
Cover for "Legends of Nuvia: The Soul of Kaesh".
January 4, 2012 at 2:12 am
This cover art looks really amazing. And it seems that it didn’t take all that much time at all!
If this was a cover on the Kindle store I would most certainly click through to the description. Her face has a very life-like expression. Will he be doing the rest of the layout for the cover (text, title, name) for you?
January 5, 2012 at 6:54 pm
I did use him to put the text on it and make the final cover. I added it to the bottom of the post. I’ll also be using him for some more artwork on my site, character portraits, and more. I really like his style.