The cover for Yarn was painted by Anthony Palumbo. He’s a recent graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and has been exhibiting in fine art galleries in Philadelphia, New York, and Connecticut. His illustrations have appeared in Wizards of the Coast and Heavy Metal Magazine among others. Yarn is his first book cover.

Listen to the Podcast with Anthony

I spoke with Anthony on my interview podcast in November 2010, and we talked about illustration, painting, Scifi, and of course the cover of Yarn.

Below is the sketch I was not shown:

This is the sketch I was shown:

When I saw this, I had three concerns. I wasn’t crazy that it was going to be in black and white. While Grey‘s cover was nearly black and white and made perfect thematic sense, I didn’t think it worked for Yarn. It turned out it was just a black and white sketch! Tane’s suit looked a little frumpy to me. And the background came across as too Steampunk. Grey and Yarn are Fiberpunk (Thanks to Rudy Rucker for that!).

This is the final painting:

I love the color. The sense of movement. The clothes and the shears rock!

And this is the painting with the design: