Ever wondered how we make the covers for our Orbit books? Orbit UK Editorial Director Anna Jackson gives a peek behind the scenes at the photoshoot for THE TRUE BASTARDS (UK|ANZ) by Jonathan French, the sequel to the hugely popular THE GREY BASTARDS (UK|ANZ)

It started on a cold December morning in a photography studio in South London . . . with digital artist and photographer Larry Rostant, the model and actor Lorena Andrea, the make-up artist Nikki Hughes, our Creative Director Duncan Spilling and yours truly – Jonathan’s UK editor Anna Jackson.

First, it was time to do Lorena’s make-up and hair, and to find the right outfit to transform her into the character we wanted to represent on the book – Fetching. She’s a badass half-human, half-orc who is the leader of her band of warriors. We needed her to look battle-ready and majestic as hell.

Nikki worked away at creating a fantastic look for Lorena, and Larry had hired an array of clothing that looked just the part . . .

Then it was time for Larry to set up the lighting for the photoshoot, to add just the right amount of drama:

Lorena then tried out a range of poses to represent the personality of the character Fetching. We wanted her to look defiant, powerful and not to be messed with – and we needed this to be a really impactful image.

Lorena’s great acting skills really came into play here, and Larry also knows how to set up a brilliant shot, having worked on some of the most impressive jackets in the fantasy genre. Combined with Duncan’s expertise about what makes a stand-out book cover, we were getting some fantastic results.

Then it was a case of Larry snapping away until we felt confident that we’d have a good range of photos to choose from for the final cover. Watch a short video of the shoot here.

Next, Larry went away to go through all the shots in detail, so that he could propose a few which would work best for the cover.

Here’s the final shot which we decided had just the right composition to make a really dramatic cover:

Larry then carried out some initial photoshop work on the picture, to orc-ify our model. Yep – that means grey skin, pointy ears, fangs and a vicious-looking weapon.

Finally, after a few more photoshop retouches, it was time for our designer Duncan to add the text, bringing the cover in line with the series look.

And very “fetching” the covers look together too . . .

THE GREY BASTARDS (UK|ANZ) and THE TRUE BASTARDS (UK|ANZ) are available  now.