When the writer Edgar S. Cortés contacted me to design the cover of his book Taquicardia (Tachycardia), his only request was clear and challenging: the image should not just accompany the title, it should make it beat. The cover had to convey, on its own, the physical sensation of fear and paralysing anxiety. That is how this horror book cover illustration for Taquicardia was born: an intense, vibrant and visceral piece.
Horror book cover illustration
Emotion as the starting point
As an editorial illustrator, and especially as a novel illustrator, I know that a cover is not just visual packaging: it is the reader’s first emotion. Here I had complete creative freedom, but with a clear direction: to represent visually what you feel when your heart races with terror.
From the beginning I wanted the cover to evoke tachycardia, anguish, oppression and paralysing fear. Instead of illustrating a specific scene, I chose a symbolic, emotional composition. The face in the foreground, mouth open in an endless scream and hands tense, triggers an instinctive response in whoever looks at it. It is impossible to look at the cover without feeling a shiver.
Technique and process: from sketch to scream
This horror book cover illustration began with preliminary sketches on paper, where I explored extreme facial expressions, distorted space and lighting. After choosing the right concept, I moved to digital illustration, building texture, contrast and visual energy layer by layer.
I used brushes that imitate traditional strokes and added blur and distortion effects to reinforce the feeling of vertigo. The final result is an image that seems to scream off the page, amplifying the title of the book.
The book: a collection of intense terrors
Taquicardia: 8 historias tenebrosas (Tachycardia: 8 Dark Stories) is an anthology by Edgar S. Cortés, born in Úbeda in 1993 and passionate about horror since childhood. His influences, from Poe to Clive Barker and Cronenberg, can be felt in every story.
The blurb leaves no room for doubt:
Palpitations, muscle weakness, shortness of breath… Your body does not respond as it should. Fear paralyses you. And yet you swallow… and turn the page.
Each story offers a different journey through fear, human fragility and the grotesque, from “The Machine Made of Flesh”, where love becomes a bodily experiment, to “The Skeleton Challenge”, which pushes the protagonist to his physical limits. The cover had to live up to that intensity.
A project that joins image and word
For me as a cover illustrator, this commission was a chance to merge two languages: the visual and the literary. The result is a cover that does not just present the book, it anticipates it. Readers are already inside the atmosphere before they open the first page.
These are the projects I enjoy most as a book illustrator. Designing covers that tell their own story, that invite readers in and confront them at the same time, is one of the most exciting challenges in editorial illustration. You can see more of my work on my horror illustration page.
An animated cover for social media
Besides the static illustration, we developed an animated version of the Taquicardia cover, designed especially for social media and promotional materials. The animation enhances the key visual elements (the scream, the moving background, the distorted face) to create an even more immersive experience. The goal is clear: to catch potential readers’ attention in seconds, conveying in motion the same anguish and fear that run through the book.
Looking for a horror book cover illustration?
If you need a striking cover adapted to the tone of your book, one that works both in print and in digital formats, I can help. My approach is based on deeply understanding the author’s universe and translating it into an image that does not go unnoticed. Take a look at my book cover illustration work and, if you are a self-published author, my For Authors page.
Contact me here if you are looking for a novel or cover illustrator.
