For the next part of my process, I designed 3 different ideas for a King in Yellow design. The king is never described in the book, so I let myself have fun with the designs, but I kept to a white mask, monochrome gold, with only highlights of black. For all of them, I kept with a decadent aesthetic and transformed the crown of the king into a gigantic Halo.

Design 1 kept close to the traditional King in Yellow design, a ragged yellow cloak, but with a twist. I added these bandage wrappings, meant to allude to the possibility the power of the King is being contained.

Design 2 went really different from typical depictions, the golden cloak being transformed into a golden veil the mask was made elaborate in its decoration, and he was given a loose black dress to keep that ambiguous feel to their body.

Design 3 was the most faithful to traditional depictions of the King, with the only real twist being the Halo not resembling a crown at all.

Each of these elements were taken and adapted into the final design I made for the King in Yellow, and what was used for the cover.