Can anyone help

[ALB2012]

OK I cannot draw, I cannot use computer drawing.

I need a cover for my book. I cant pay but I can give credit for the artwork in the book.

I know roughly what I want which is something along the lines of

Redhaired elf mage (will specify what she looks like later)

blond haired human man (storm mage)

darkness, light and storms

I want lightening I have a photo of light over a lake tinted blood red at the moment which I am using.

Can anyone help. Drop me a message if so

 

[Chime85]

I personally cannot draw for toffee, but have you considered a proffessional graphics designer? I don't have any in particular to recommend, but I'm sure there's a company out there who'll be happy to help you out.

 

[Steerpike]

If you can part with at least $5 for the cover, you might also check out fiverr.com.

 

[TWErvin2]

A cover is a very important tool in attracting readers. A bad cover (art/layout/design) will turn readers away in droves. There is just so much competition out there.

Although it somewhat depends on you goal(s), but scraping money together to get a quality cover created might be a good investment, and delaying publication (I am guessing you're self publishing) until you have the funds might be wise.

 

[ALB2012]

OK can people help me here. I like my cover, it is atmospheric, in my opinion anyway. However I have had mixed comments- (some quite nasty) about it. Saying it doesn't reflect the genre etc, blah blah. I want to shy away from scantily clad elves and warriors built like conan as that is well a bit cliche. I have had some people say they love the cover and I am not sure I should change it simply because a couple of people hate it. Please can people here tell me what they think. (Keep in mind adult dark fantasy romance).

Ta

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

I can't draw for (well toffee will do!) either. But I do my own covers regardless, and I love the process. I'd suggest getting photo's from the morgue file, they are licensed for creatives to use freely, (by the way if you use faces then you have to be careful as someone might still get pee'd off) then some cutting and pasting of bits of images and a few photo editing programs like photoscape (it's free). It's amazing what you can achieve with a little time.

You can check out my covers at the bottom of my blog - Greg's Books

Some are lame, some are ace. And if you like any of the styles let me know and I'll tell you how I did them.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Darkphoenix747]

Gimp is also an awesome tool to use in creating your own covers. It is also free and YouTube has all the videos on how to use it. You can also download the manual and read it instead. I can't draw for (it seems toffee is the word of choice here), but with that program I was able to layer pictures over my (toffee) drawing. Then all it took was a little fiddle with the lighting and the cover looked great! I'd highly recommend it.

 

[ALB2012]

I have Gimp, you still need some artistic ability I might have a look at the other ideas though. I have a cover artist for book 2 and I may just leave book 1 as it is for now and the cover artist I have will do it for free. I do not want stock pictures, I will see what i can find, we did find a site where you can buy the pictures and it is pretty cheap:0

Oddly I have had people saying my cover is great and some saying it doesnt fit. I will have a play with what I have but I have tried to layer and paste and all I get just looks shit.

Thanks for the advice though.