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Good Minimalist Covers

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
I'm going to be designing cover art soon and since I'm going to be doing a lot for various short stories so I'd like to have a signature thing that sort of loosely ties them together. Therefore I'd ideally like to do minimalist cover art that can be done quickly but still looks good. Do you know of any minimalist design that you like?
 
The classics are Salinger's books in mass market, especially the old red cover with gold type of CATCHER, not the new one that replicates the original hardcover jacket. Amacom, where I work now, has a series by Brian Tracy (The Brian Tracy Success Library) that has a simple series look. Continuum's 33-1/3 series has a very identifiable look that's pretty minimalistic, although I find it clunky.

It's a tricky thing, the series look, because it's not the elements (title, author name, etc.) that readers have to recognize, it's their layout.

For some ideas, check out Chip Kidd's page. I love how he puts text over text. Maybe you could so something similar, with the book's titles in dark ink on a light field and your name ghosted large in pale gray, making it a consistent decorative/textual element. You might even break up your name to fill the cover:

P H I
L I P
O V E
R B Y

with the the title running between LIP and OVE, perhaps running over the lower and upper halves respectively.
 

Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
I've thought specifically about what I'd do as a cover for a series of short stories. The solution I came up with was something like a zodiac wheel, most of which would be faded out, with a spotlight on the one part of the wheel that would represent that story.

Here's an example of what I mean.

chinese-zodiac-astrology-wheel-animals.jpg


So each story would have the same cover, but with a different slice of the wheel highlighted and rotated to the top, and the color backdrop changed to match.

Another example with the same kind of concept might be highlights on a map or a timeline. Here's an example of the kind of timeline it would work with.

Proterozoicearth.jpg



That said, you can't do that for free. You'd have to get your image professionally made. But it's a way that you can stretch the budget for a concept across multiple short stories. You should be able to commission an image like those, and even get somebody to get you started on the layout, on a budget of under $100 if you're careful about where you look.
 

Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
You could look for public domain images, like this search for public domain elf pictures to tie into Splatter-Elf. I found loads of pics, but I can't copy them here right now unless i Upload to my photobucket, but you can do that yourself.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Thanks for the tips, everyone! I have had some people mention that my water colors that I've done in the past might be good art. Mostly because they're kind of quirky and weird, which is the vibe I'm trying to give off with my writing anyways. I don't need anything super serious looking. I do like the ideas you've all shared. I may share some of my art in a new thread and see if people think it could work. I guess I have to keep in mind certain cover art may attract people ("Oh, this looks quirky and weird") while it may turn others off ("This looks thrown together.") I have to balance the pros and cons of such an approach I guess.
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
I'm also experimenting with using my own art for short stories. I was inspired by Secret of the Kells, which is an animation inspired by Celtic manuscripts. Since Addison Lane is a Celtic name (meaning "awesome warrior"), I used Celtic Knots and Celtic Hand as fonts (both free without that "for personal use only" crap), and came up with a layout that consistently uses her name, story title, my name, her likeness and her target. There will always be some kind of border, be it a forest or a 50-foot-long monster with a serpentine body.

addylane01_tinycover_by_legendarysidekick-d8nms9p.png


Is this the best book cover possible? No. But I think the personal touch goes a long way.

I will give myself awesome points for finding a Chinese font that looks good next to a Celtic font.
 
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Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Wow, that looks awesome, LS! I wish I could do something remotely that cool. Do you usually sketch this first and then digitally add details to it? Or do you do it all digitally?
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
This piece is 100% digital, using a drawing tablet. I did make some rough sketches on paper, but I didn't scan the sketch or even trace a digital sketch like I usually do. I just made a face, then added details, body, limbs, clothing, monster. The text was there first, so I guess my thought was to make Addison's head about the size of the letter O.
 

Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
I've been painting for years and I fully encourage you to paint if it feels like the right thing to do. But then, I'm a bit digitally challenged.
 

Svrtnsse

Staff
Article Team
Keeping the font and typography the same from cover to cover will go a long way. If you're able to draw or doodle and you're able to do it in a consistent style you could use that as well.

I've got two stories up on wattpad (here: Nils ×dlund (Nilsdlund) - Wattpad) and I produced both covers myself. For the one for Enar's Vacation I had a friend give me a photo and I got help with the image manipulation and feedback on the font/layout from another friend.
The cover for Werewolf On A Train is done in the same principle (don't read the story, it's crap), but with a different background picture. The font is the same and the layout is sort of the same. If I'd been more serious about it, I'd probably have made sure that the font size and placements matched better between the two versions, but I think you get the idea at least.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Yeah, I like that style. I'll have to look into different styles before I launch something soon.
 

The Goblin

Banned
(...the goblin suggests the minimalest book cover of all: the white book...)

images

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(Hey! WTF did Pat run off to?)
________V
MoblinOrange.png
MoblinBlue.png
MoblinOrange.png
<(He's got a feminine issue.)
__/\
(Yes, Chris. SHEEEE does.)
 
Phillip, if your still looking for something, there are plenty of Photoshop tutorials that would be really good to try out.
If you aren't artistically inclined, you can do photo manipulation as mentioned above that has someone guide you through the process. Not everyone just happens to have Photoshop, so I at least hope there is a program that goes about it easily. I'll keep an eye out in my random searches :)
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Thanks, Manalodia! I've got a friend doing art for me now and I'm going to do some of my own stuff now and again. Cheers!
 
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