Diary of a Photoshoot – Part 2

July 11, 2013

This is part 2 of my Diary of a Photoshoot, where I’ll take you behind the scenes of making the cover for To Tempt a Viking, book 2 in the Forbidden Vikings series. You can read part 1 here, if you’re just joining in. (photos courtesy of Jon Wayne Brown)

The model, Taylor David, arrived in his street clothes. I talked with the make-up artist Jukka about what we wanted for the Viking. He asked if I wanted Taylor to shave, and honestly–I wasn’t sure.

I liked the grittiness of an unshaved hero, but I didn’t want a strong beard and mustache. We opted to trim down some of the beard to make it more like stubble but keep the raw quality.

To ensure that the book cover didn’t resemble Tempted by the Highland Warrior too much, we had to make some changes to the model’s hair. Jukka asked me what I wanted him to do, after the art director, Krista Oliver, thought we should pull part of the hair back. I agreed with Krista and also suggested a few war braids, which he added.

Taylor has some tattoos, and we opted to cover one of them and leave the other uncovered, in case we wanted to use it in the photo.

We talked about how the hero was shipwrecked, and Jukka added a scar to Taylor’s forehead, giving him a bit more character. He also added eyeliner and light make-up to define his features.

Then it was time to dress the Viking! Taylor put on a pair of leather leggings and an amber-colored shirt that looked as if it was made of a fishing net.

Marie-Eve then put a grayish apron on him. I teased him that he looked like he was about to bake cookies in that apron. But again, this was part of the optical illusion of layering.