INTERVIEW: Tony Mauro Illustration & Design

I was lucky enough to come across Tony Mauro's website - just by chance - and fell in love with his designs, lucky for me he was happy to chat with us and share some of his work. We hope you enjoy. Jodie xoxo

J: Hi Tony, Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today....well not actually just me. I got a bit fan girl crazy and told my fellow bloggers Megan and Kristen about you and they demanded to be in on the action.

I was lucky enough to stumble upon your website and was absolutely blown away with your art. It’s completely breathtaking. How long does it take you to do each piece? I mean, when you have all the images ready and waiting to go, how long does it take you to combine them into the masterpieces they are?

T: Every cover is truly different but on average I spend anywhere from 10 to 15 hours painting up a concept. Of course the more elements you have going on the longer it can take. Also if you have a very clear image in your mind of what the cover needs to look like before you even sit down at the computer you can usually get there pretty quick. More time is taken up looking for the right model, setting up the shoot and getting wardrobe and props together than actually painting. The more work you do in the beginning the less work you'll have to do later. 

J: You’ve done designs for some great authors and extremely well known movies, which one has been the highlight of your career so far?

T: This is always a tough one for me. If you’re talking most popular or most exposed it would definitely be The Pirates of the Caribbean. I worked on that film for about 6 months and it resulted in a 13 piece campaign that was seen all over the world. That’ll always be a tough one to top from an exposure standpoint. As far as book covers go, I got the opportunity to do Stephen King’s new book Under the Dome last year. That was probably the highlight of my book cover projects so far.

J: Who would you love to do a design for?

T: I’m a huge James Patterson fan so I’d really love to do a cover for one of his Alex Cross series books. Although authors like him have so much equity in their name that the cover usually ends up being mostly name and title with a very small, simple support image. My second favorite author is John Connolly and I was thrilled to get the call to work on his last couple books The Whisperers and The Lovers. I’m hoping to continue working on that series as well.

J: Ok, to make sure this Q & A doesn’t go on forever I’ll pass you onto Megan.

M: You've designed covers for both Anya Bast and Yasmin Galenorm. I also recognize covers for Lisa Hendrix and Virginia Kantra if I'm not mistaken. What other authors have you designed for?

T: Oh boy, this could take a while. I’ve done close to 250 book covers over the last 5 years or so with most of them being series books. This list includes as mentioned earlier, John Connolly and Stephen King, Glenn Beck, Sylvia Day, Nalini Singh, Jennifer Estep, Daniel Blake, DD Barant, Deborah Cooke, Philip Carter, James Wesley Rawles, Perri O’Shaughnessy, Robin D. Owens, Erin Quinn, Monica Burns, Chloe Neill, Christina Phillips, Katie Macalister, Marcella Burnard and many others. The best thing about this business is every project is different and it really never gets old. 

M: How do you learn about your subject matter when creating a book cover? What kind of information is provided for you about the book?

T: Usually I'm given a relatively detailed character description and a loose scenario of what the publisher would like to see depicted on the cover.

The best case scenario for me is always to read the book first. That really gives me a good feel for the characters and makes it a lot easier to bring them to life on the cover. Unfortunately, there isn't always time to do that so I'll work from a synopsis provided by the publisher/author which works too. 

M: Do you ever speak with the authors about what they would like to see on their covers or do you go off of the framework that the publishers provide?

T: All of my communications are with the publisher. They will convey any requests or notes from the author to me but there is definitely a chain of command in place. I often speak to the authors after the piece is finished via email or facebook. If the author is especially pleased with the way the cover came out it’s not uncommon for them to drop me a line and let me know that they are happy. It goes without saying that it’s always nice to hear that you represented the characters or settings well from the person who created them. 

And finally here are Kristen’s questions:

K: Your Fantasy Art is really incredible! Can you tell us a little bit more about your inspiration for these pictures?

T: I started creating my fantasy images back in the year 2000. I was working at an illustration studio in Los Angeles working on food, toy and video game packaging. 

The workload was pretty intense and I was really starting to get burned out as an artist. I felt I needed something that was just for me, no client, no product to sell, just art for art’s sake. So on my evenings and weekends I started the When Darkness Falls vampire series. I began photographing some friends and acquaintances to work from and in a matter of a year or two I was being contacted by all kinds of models wanting to get involved. That was one of the advantages of living in LA I guess. The work has evolved over the years into fairies, witches, mermaids etc. Currently I’m starting to break away from the paranormal themes and doing a lot of video game inspired ass kicker babes for lack of a better description LOL. I’ve always portrayed the women in my artwork as very strong and powerful. Before, every girl that walked into my studio wanted to be a vampire, now they walk in and see all the swords and prop guns all over the place and they all say “I wanna be a badass!” It’s all really fun stuff and it really does serve its purpose to keep me from burning out. In 2006 I was approached by Tide-Mark Press to put out a calendar of my fantasy art and I’ve been with them ever since. The calendar is now on it’s 6th year.

K:  You've pretty much done it all from book covers to fantasy art to movie posters. Do you enjoy doing any of these more than the others?

T: It’s funny because they all just kind of represent different points in my life and in my career. I loved doing movie posters the whole time I was living in Los Angeles and now that I’m back home in Western New York I couldn’t be happier working from home and doing book covers. I think I’ll always do the fantasy art on the side for the reasons I mentioned earlier but if I had to choose between movie posters and book covers it would definitely be book covers. I just love the process and the people I’m working with. The movies may have been a bit more high profile but the process was painful. 

The politics and competition with other agencies was fierce. I was also working at agencies all the time I was doing movie posters whereas now I’m self employed and work out of the house and I don’t think I could ever go back to working for someone else. 

K:  I see you graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, what a great school! I lived in Pittsburgh most of my life. How much of that early education still influences the style of your work today?

T: All of it. Being traditionally trained to draw and paint comes into play in everything I do today. I think the one thing the new generation of artists coming out today is lacking the most is the fundamentals. The computer is a wonderful tool but it is only a tool. I majored in airbrush illustration in college and made my living as an airbrush illustrator for several years before even touching a computer. I know for a fact that I couldn’t do what I do today without that experience behind me. There’s nothing more frustrating than someone looking at a piece that you just spent 10 hours hand painting on the computer and saying “boy, those computers are amazing aren’t they?” 

J: And now the most important part – How do authors get in contact with you to get the most awesome book cover on their next release?

T: Anyone can reach me through my website at Darkdayproductions.com but for authors I’d say the best thing you could do is tell your publisher about me and that you want me to do your next cover! 

J: A huge thank you from all of us Tony for the time you have spent with us today. We hope you will stop by again in the future and share some more of your work.