When I arrived in NYC, I contacted  Penguin Books and had a revelation about what they were looking for. They liked my stuff but, seeing how young and green I was, they wanted some tear sheets (proven work for another publisher) first. I found out that many artists started with magazine covers to break into the industry. The only mainstream magazines appeared to be sci-fi or fantasy-based, and I preferred science-fiction paintings. I completed these two sci-fi paintings before I got busy doing album covers.
You can see more of my paintings here