Art advice for a beginner?

[Ireth]

I want to try my hand at making cover art for my first finished novel, but I'm not sure of how to go about it. What would you say are good things for a cover, besides the most obvious "it should be relevant to the story"? Do people like covers that show the protagonists, or something else important that shows up? Should I try to portray a scene or keep it simple? I'll probably photoshop a cover together rather than drawing anything by hand, if I can't convince my more artistic sisters to draw something for me. XD

 

[kjboe]

I want to try my hand at making cover art for my first finished novel, but I'm not sure of how to go about it. What would you say are good things for a cover, besides the most obvious "it should be relevant to the story"? Do people like covers that show the protagonists, or something else important that shows up? Should I try to portray a scene or keep it simple? I'll probably photoshop a cover together rather than drawing anything by hand, if I can't convince my more artistic sisters to draw something for me. XD

I always like the idea of the cover representing something deep within the book rather than a picture at the front of it being the hero or what have you. I love it when your reading a book and then close it to realize that's, hey that what that is.

But each to their own i suppose, have fun either way.

 

[Taro]

i am the same, i am so shocking at anything arty and i alwasy wonder what i could do for a cover. damn it being so hard

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

I can't tell you what to put on your cover. That really has to be your creativity at work. But I can tell you roughly how I create mine (so you can make sure that you don't make the same mistakes!)

First, if you're planning on photoshopping, make sure your photos are free from copyright etc. To avoid this I get my photos from the Morgue Files photos - morgueFile free photos for creatives by creatives Remember that even though the licence is exactly what an author wants, people can still be funny about faces. You don't want someone seeing your book on the shelves and saying hey that's me.

Next there are loads of free software programs out there that can do all sorts of editing for you. I use photoscape mostly, but also Paint (yes I know people bag on it) to cut out bits of photos like a skull or a sword etc, and power point - no kidding, to paste them on to the primary photo. Not only can you move, resize and turn things around in it, but it has a brilliant transparent background feature you can use. So if you edged your object with purple, you can just set the purple in the image to become transparent.

I've also used Merge, another freeby, to combine two photos together, with mixed results, and Dreamlight Photo Editor to add some special effects. I have GIMP as well, but am still working my way through it. It seems complicated, or maybe I'm just simple. As for the text, I usually just use powerpoint. I tried Word Art once, but wasn't pleased with the results.

Its a slow and difficult process for someone like me who's artistically challenged, but its also a hell of a lot of fun and sometimes when I see what I end up with, it fills me with a sense of accomplishment I find worthwhile.

As an example of what I can do (and again I would point out that I am far from a genius at this stuff), here's the cover of my current WIP. It won't be out for a couple of months, but creating the cover inspired my writing.


- Ooops! No apparently I can't do that. The add photo thingie doesn't give me the option to upload from my computer, so all I can give you is my facebook page.

Greg Curtis | Facebook

It's the cover of Days Of Light And Shadow.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[AllisonTravis]

I think Photoshop is a fantastic graphic design tool for beginners...You can try this

 

[Addison]

Hmmmm.....it really depends on you and your story. They say that when you have a title the cover art will appear. Like one fits the other. Same goes for the reverse. Like you said though, whatever you put on the cover, have it honest. If you have your hero jumping off a ledge with a sword flashing ready to impale the dragon waiting below, but don't have that scene in your story, you're lying to your readers before they open the book. Just think about the title, let it show you its font, its color and see what starts to grow behind it.

 

[flyfishnevada]

First real post!

Before you do anything, look at other covers in the genre. Content doesn't sell books. It's the cover and the blurb. Readers, even if they can't describe it, know what a professional cover looks like. Big author name, appropriate font for the genre, readable at thumbnail size, bold and lot's of contrast. If you're talking about ebooks, simple is better. Those fabulous covers on fantasy books that sit in you're local book store are great if you can pick the book up, look at it and really appreciate the art. In the ebook world, you get a virtual shelf with dozens of thumbnails size books and about a tenth of a second to catch a readers attention. Simple, bold covers catch the eye and sell books.

You can have many different styles that accomplish that, however. Browse the Kindle store and see what fantasy covers catch your eye, find the ones you like and use elements of those. Compare the ones you think are professional and which ones are amateur and see what makes them that way. Some of the really cool covers in fantasy right now are indie authors, though the cover may be professionally done.

Beyond that, learn Photoshop or Gimp, use the stock photo sites to find art, models (it is within the license to use as an ebook cover up to 500,000 impressions on most sites - we should all be so lucky to violate that). Collect brushes and layer styles like they are going out of style. Try to replicate what you see. Experimenting is the best way to learn and find a style. If PS is out of you budget, Gimp is good, but you can pay monthly ($19.99 if you commit to a year) for PS now and you always get the latest version. With that you can do some killer maps too.

 

[saellys]

I would advise you to keep it simple, not only because of the small size of ebook thumbnails, but also because if you don't keep it simple, you end up with the covers to The Prince of Nothing trilogy, which cause eyeballs to bleed.

I'm not trying to pick on Bakker and I loved those books--that was just the most recent example of eyeball-bleeding cover art that came to my mind. There's a LOT of it out there (like the entire New Jedi Order series, which was when Photoshopped book covers really started to be a thing and Lucas Books stopped hiring Drew Struzan), and almost all of it can be chalked up to attempting to represent too many aspects of a novel. Throw in a character portrait, a landscape, some kind of weapon or artifact, and an ominous blood-colored sky and you have one very busy cover. It's best if you select a single image or facet of your story and make that the focal point. The recent Song of Ice and Fire reprints have been great examples.

Here's a pretty great article emphasizing iconic cover art with great typography above all else: The Big Idea: Joe Monti

And remember that super-expensive software isn't necessary, but it does make certain things easier. Whatever program you end up using, make sure you learn everything you can about how to use it before you try to nail down a final version of your cover, so you can do justice to your vision.

Good luck, and have fun with it!

 

[Addison]

Just remember that when you have an idea for the cover, think Art before Cover Art. Using lighting and shading, lines and swirls, colors and textures to guide the viewer's eye to all the details, catching their eye (dangling the hook if you will) before they open the book.