With this exquisite wraparound cover, James continues to raise the bar.  This is right up there with the OGN cover and some of the other trade covers as one of James' most impressive works to date.  This piece is the very definition of "eye candy", and it has fantastic balance and composition.  Bigby and Snow have a soft, sentimental quality to them that mirrors the emotional response elicited by Fables 33.  I can keep talking about this cover, but sometimes words just can't do a piece justice.  This is one of those times.

Below are James' comments on the process of creating this cover, as posted on Process Recess:

> I'm currently working the next Fables trade paperback wraparound cover. This is the sketch blown up and printed out, the sections taped together. I transferred the image onto a sheet of grey Rives BFK with blue transfer paper.

> My "drafting table" consists of a piece of MDF board propped on a paint box. A french easel holds up another piece of MDF board with the sketch taped onto it so I can refer to it while working on the final drawing.

> I inked the drawing and gave it 3 or 4 coats of acrylic gloss medium. I left the faces in blue pencil since I anticipate the edges there being softer than the rest of the composition. Now it's ready for paint this weekend . . .

> I've coated the surface with some washes of color ( layers of trans. blues and browns work well ), and used some liquitex acrylic white gesso to bring out the forms. The gesso works well since it provides a little bit of tooth for subsequent layers of paint and other mediums, like pastel or colored pencil.

> And then, a little more than a day later, I arrive at the conclusion to the painting. This composition, which was so busy to begin with, is now further embellished by form, color, and texture. It will take some work in photoshop to bring clarity back to the picture.

> I outline the beanstalk and render Cinderella in vector to "pull" it from the surface. More pushing and pulling ensues.

> After some color dodging and color adjustments, I've arrived at the finish!