Work with Cindy
(She/Her)
My name is Cindy Tran and I am an illustrator based in Lancaster, PA.I love to paint dreamy, colorful scenes and subjects, and my biggest style inspiration comes from gouache and watercolor paint.
As a Vietnamese American, I take pride in my heritage and use the hard work and legacy I've inherited from my parents to inform my work ethic and workflow. I’m passionate about doing what I love while also helping to create a more colorful world with greater POC and LGBTQIA+ representation!
I'm also a deep lover of music and all things lovely, pretty, and magical! Music plays a huge part in my daily life so I often have work that’s inspired by different albums and song lyrics. You’ll find my style to be quite dreamy, floral, and celestial in nature and it’s all thanks to the anime I grew up with, like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura.
What I do.
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Illustration Services
Price Range: Starting at $100 (based on illustration type and usage)
Cindy specializes in watercolor and gouache-style illustrations for indie authors, creating soft, dreamy artwork that blends expressive character design with painterly textures and atmospheric color. Her style leans slightly anime-inspired while remaining versatile and story-driven, making it a beautiful fit for authors looking for something delicate, romantic, and visually distinctive.
Her work is ideal for character art, author merchandise, reader magnets, and branded promotional graphics, helping authors create a cohesive and memorable visual presence across their book marketing.
Illustration Services:
• Character Illustration (Portrait, Half-Body, Full Body): Starting at $100
• Character Sheets (Sketches + Rough Color): Starting at $200
• Illustrated Merchandise Designs (Bookmarks, Stickers, etc.): Starting at $100
• Food & Floral Illustrations: Starting at $100Usage & Licensing:
• No additional charge for social media promotion use
• +50% fee for in-print usage and promotional freebies
• +100% fee for full commercial usage (print, merchandise, marketing, ads, etc.)What’s Included:
• Custom, hand-painted artwork in watercolor/gouache style
• Soft, atmospheric color palettes with a dreamy aesthetic
• Collaborative process to match your characters and branding
• Final high-resolution files for approved usageIdeal For:
• Romance, romantasy, and character-driven fiction
• Reader magnets and author merchandise
• Social media graphics and promotional artwork
• Food, floral, and lifestyle-themed book aesthetics
• Authors seeking soft, painterly, anime-adjacent illustration styles -
Illustrated Cover Services
Price Range: $500–$800+ (based on format and usage)
Cindy creates custom illustrated book covers for indie authors, blending a soft watercolor and gouache painting style with dreamy, atmospheric color palettes and subtle anime-inspired character design. Her covers are ideal for authors looking for something romantic, expressive, and visually distinctive, with a strong focus on mood, character, and aesthetic cohesion.
Each cover is designed to capture the emotional tone of the story while remaining eye-catching and marketable for readers browsing online storefronts. Cindy’s painterly approach makes her work especially well suited for romance, romantasy, cozy fantasy, and character-driven fiction.
Cover Packages:
• Illustrated Front Cover (Ebook): Starting at $500
• Dust Jacket / Full Wrap Cover (Front, Spine, Back): Starting at $800Pricing may vary depending on complexity, detail level, and usage rights.
Usage & Licensing:
• No additional charge for social media promotion use
• +50% fee for in-print usage and promotional freebies
• +100% fee for full commercial usage (print, merchandise, marketing, ads, etc.)What’s Included:
• Fully custom illustrated cover artwork
• Soft, painterly watercolor/gouache rendering
• Typography and layout integration
• Collaborative revisions to refine the final design
• High-resolution files for approved formats and usageIdeal For:
• Romance and romantasy book covers
• Cozy fantasy and soft aesthetic storytelling
• Character-driven illustrated covers
• Indie authors seeking painterly, atmospheric designs
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Interior Art Services (Scene Separators, Chapter Headers, etc.)
Price Range: Starting at $100 (based on illustration type and usage)
Cindy offers custom interior book illustrations for indie authors, including chapter headers, scene separators, spot illustrations, and decorative elements that add a soft, cohesive visual layer throughout your book.
Working in a watercolor and gouache painting style, Cindy specializes in delicate, atmospheric artwork with a focus on floral and food illustrations, making her interiors especially well suited for romance, cozy fantasy, contemporary fiction, and lifestyle-inspired stories. Her work brings warmth, texture, and visual charm to the reading experience while remaining clean and readable within your book layout.
Interior Illustration Options:
• Chapter Headers & Scene Separators (floral, food, or decorative motifs)
• Spot Illustrations (small accents and visual details)
• Character Illustrations
• Scene IllustrationsAll interior illustration pricing follows her standard rates (starting at $100), with final quotes based on complexity and usage.
Usage & Licensing:
• No additional charge for social media promotion use
• +50% fee for in-print usage and promotional freebies
• +100% fee for full commercial usage (print, merchandise, marketing, ads, etc.)What’s Included:
• Custom, hand-painted watercolor/gouache artwork
• Cohesive designs aligned with your cover and branding
• Collaborative revisions to refine each piece
• High-resolution files for approved usageIdeal For:
• Romance and romantasy novels
• Cozy fantasy and contemporary fiction
• Books with floral, food, or lifestyle aesthetics
• Indie authors seeking soft, painterly interior design elements
“Extremely professional and responsive, and immediately captured the magic I was looking for in her art.”
Cindy was such a pleasure to work with. Extremely professional and responsive, and immediately captured the magic I was looking for in her art. She’s detail-oriented and kept me posted throughout the process, and created such a gorgeous piece. I’d highly recommend any author to her work.
— Judy Liu, The Vending Portal
My Portfolio
Let’s work together
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I love painting characters and scenes with dreamy and moody color palettes and elements. I’m open to many genres including romance, fantasy, and slice of life and especially love painting women,queer couples, pretty men, florals, and food! If you want an illustration with flowy elements (fabric, hair, etc), PLEASE reach out. I would prefer not to work on projects that include high fantasy elements, like fantasy creatures such as dragons and complex armor.
I do not specialize in these subjects, but would be open to discuss:
High fantasy (dragons/other fantasy creatures, complex armor, etc)
Robots/Mecha/Cars
Blood/Gore
NSFW/Erotica
I will NOT do:
Any projects involving Gen AI, including AI references
Bugs/Insects
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I make sure to have a clear workflow that you will be a part of every step of the way to ensure you have a final piece that you love! I always start with a few thumbnails after receiving the brief and preferably a mood board and references. From there I create a clean sketch and rough color sketches to decide on the color palette. Once that’s decided, I go into the full rendering of the painting and will send you updates when I’m halfway and fully finished!
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After receiving your brief, I can provide a custom quote for your project. From there, I require a nonrefundable 50% deposit of the project fee upfront and the rest after your approval for the finished piece. Once the final payment is received, I will send the high quality files. You can expect to receive a contract that will outline our agreed upon commercial rights if applicable as well as general deadlines for each step of the art process (thumbnails, sketch, color sketch, ½ render, finish). I like to keep communication as clear and concise as possible for both of our benefits! Because of this, any significant revisions requested after the render period begins can result in an extra revision fee. I’m always open to discussion, so please don’t be afraid to ask questions!
All invoicing and contracts will be done through Hawthorn & Aster.