The ancient Irish tale of Cú Chulainn is one that I grew up with so when I was approached to design the cover for Cú Chulainn of Eirú : Book 1 - Isle of Shadows I jumped at the chance. Book 1 focuses on the emergence of the Setanta, who would later become Cú Chulainn. His trials through his young life and the politics and strife of ancient mythical Ireland. 

For this cover I really wanted to tie in the main players of the story. Setanta, the Hound, the Morrigan and Lugh. I tried to bring balance and flow to the overall piece by using primary colour yellow and secondary colour black so the eye is drawn to certain areas. The colour choices also speak about the characters as well as Lugh, yellow, is a sun god and also Setanta's father so the colours tie these characters together. This holds true for the Hound and the Morrigan being represented by black, both being evil and nefarious characters.  

I designed Setanta (who will be renamed Cú Chulainn "The Hound of Ulster") very deliberately. He is a young man throughout the tale. Very handsome, strong and quick to anger. I wanted to show all these qualities through his design. Showing his berserk rage, his golden hair and very much his youthful good looks. Setanta is shown in front of a Standing Stone which has a rope tied around it. This is foreshadowing to what will happen at the end of Setanta's life. A type of Easter egg for those who love the tale. 

Lugh the Sun God is the father of Setanta. For his design I went with the sun as a background having the sun's rays radiate out from behind him to show who he is but also to create a very vibrant image. 

The Hound being so central to the story needed to take an important position in the book cover. It is described as not being part of this world, that the very earth the Hound treads is repulsed by the touch and that matter seems to be dissolving from it's body. So I wanted to create a visual that represented all of these comments. 

The Morrigan is a very famous Celtic and Irish mythical goddess. There are many forms she can take and ways to represent her. I decided to show her as a hooded figure to create mystery and to show her crows and ravens branching out away from her to show foreboding for things to come.   

Thank you so much for taking the time. If you would like to see more of my work you can follow me on my Instagram @worksofhill