Cover Art (done for fun, book's not really ready)

[psychotick]

Hi,

First, pick up Photoscape - it's also free and it has a lot of effects. Next take your figure out of the tunnel, and give him some colour - maybe a deep red. Your cover is grey - there's no other way to put it. Since the figure has to be darker than the tunnel, change him up by using colour to make him stand out. Alternatively add colour to the tunnel and have him black and broody.

I don't understand the tattoo's at all. How can you see a tattoo on someone's back if he's wearing clothes? And they don't seem to conform to the shape of his body.

The glow doesn't work for me I'm afraid.

After that I'd probably play with the lighting. Photoscape has a brilliant little tool for darkening and lightening spots called region out of focus. Use that to focus the image where you need more light, and takeaway from say the sides. You can also play with GIMP's lighting effects, though I personally find them tricky to get right. However it occurs to me that some of those alien sun effects centred on the red light at the front might produce an interesting effect.

Cheers. Greg.

 

[Trick]

So, I bought PS Elements. $55 was a great price. I haven't used it yet (just came in the mail today) but I'll mess around with it this week. It's been 3 years since I worked with Photoshop. Hopefully it's like riding a bike. I think I want to play with several more cover options. I really want to nail the theme down (dark sci-fantasy, assassin/thief) but keep it interesting. I'm a fan of minimalist covers but they seem to be most appropriate for well known authors. Somewhere between minimalist and grandiose seems best. BWF's cover made me think to put just my tattooed assassin/thief hand on the cover with a texture in the background or something but I'm not sure yet.

 

[BWFoster78]

I'm a fan of minimalist covers but they seem to be most appropriate for well known authors. Somewhere between minimalist and grandiose seems best. BWF's cover made me think to put just my tattooed assassin/thief hand on the cover with a texture in the background or something but I'm not sure yet.

Trick,

I'm not sure anyone can be less of a graphic artist than I am. My thinking was that I really wanted my cover to stand out at thumbnail size. It seemed to me that the best way to do that was to have a high contrast between a dark background and a bright image. It also seemed to me that the simpler the image, the easier it would be to make it stand out.

I don't know anything about appropriateness for me since I'm not well known, but I love the final result.

Best of luck on your design.

Brian

 

[Trick]

Trick,

I'm not sure anyone can be less of a graphic artist than I am. My thinking was that I really wanted my cover to stand out at thumbnail size. It seemed to me that the best way to do that was to have a high contrast between a dark background and a bright image. It also seemed to me that the simpler the image, the easier it would be to make it stand out.

I don't know anything about appropriateness for me since I'm not well known, but I love the final result.

Best of luck on your design.

Brian

I agree with you about the light and dark at thumbnail size. I like your cover a lot and I think, from reading your novella, that it fits your story or the theme at least. I'd also say it's less minimalist than many famous covers, so many of which are focused on the author's name and have some generic symbol with a texture and that's it. I think yours struck a fine balance.

I'm trying to come up with a simpler image that represents my story but I haven't nailed it down yet.

 

[BWFoster78]

I'm still to figure out what the apple had to do with anything in Twilight. Did Bella ever even eat an apple? Use an apple computer?

So, so confused.

Seriously, though, I originally envisioned the protagonist standing with his hands on fire with his love interests behind him. I think this version is easier to see at thumbnail size and conveys a message of epic fantasy over YA angst.

 

[Trick]

I'm still to figure out what the apple had to do with anything in Twilight. Did Bella ever even eat an apple? Use an apple computer?

So, so confused.

Seriously, though, I originally envisioned the protagonist standing with his hands on fire with his love interests behind him. I think this version is easier to see at thumbnail size and conveys a message of epic fantasy over YA angst.

So, so agreed.

Were they going for a Snow White vibe? Who knows.

I feel like I kinda did the same thing with this cover as your first idea would have, tried for too much. I feel like the two things I need to convey on the cover are 1.)Glowing magic tattoos and 2.) Assassin/thief vibe. I found an image with a figure whose face is shaded by a hood and I thought about his shirt being torn to show the tattoos but I feel like it would start looking romance-like, which it is absolutely not. Still thinking on it.

 

[BWFoster78]

So, so agreed.

Were they going for a Snow White vibe? Who knows.

I feel like I kinda did the same thing with this cover as your first idea would have, tried for too much. I feel like the two things I need to convey on the cover are 1.)Glowing magic tattoos and 2.) Assassin/thief vibe. I found an image with a figure whose face is shaded by a hood and I thought about his shirt being torn to show the tattoos but I feel like it would start looking romance-like, which it is absolutely not. Still thinking on it.

The first step is to understand the vibe you want, so you've got a good start.

Brainstorm what says "assassin/thief." A bloody knife? How does he kill?

 

[Trick]

The first step is to understand the vibe you want, so you've got a good start.

Brainstorm what says "assassin/thief." A bloody knife? How does he kill?

He kills in lots of ways, having to get creative quite often, until he gains powers via the tattoo/tribal magic of his people (long lost magic trope, I know) and then he kills by genuinely being faster and stronger than his targets/opponents. Since the book's subtitle is "The Mark of a Thief" I think the assassin angle is the right one to take to kind of come full circle with the story.

He does carry a pair of unique blades but they may not fit a cover - because there is some advanced tech in this WIP, he carries laser saws converted into knives. They may give the wrong impression of the genre because it is fantasy first, sci-fi second.

 

[Devor]

What about:

Black-and-white arm coming in from the right side of the page.

Tattoo super-prominent on the arm, shaded red for blood.

A bloody knife in the hand arcing over the arm.

A drip of blood falling from the arm onto the tattoo.

Title above, author below.

 

[mt_jupiter]

Hi Trick, I haven't read through the conversation but I believe you're wanting some feedback on the cover. In art school the instructor would pick-up our brush or charcoal and on our work illustrate a technique or method to help us along. I hope you don't mind but I've done this to your cover. I would of taken be an hour to write what's visually posted.

1.) To create an illusion of space be sure what is not of interest does not have more contrast than what is the interest. In this case it seems the figure in the foreground is more important than the detailed background. However the background is as in focus as the figure and the level detail is even more than the figure. So I blurred the background just a little to knockout the detail and made it a little darker than the figure.
2.) If an image is not complete black and white try to never use black to outline form...So I picked color around the tear and toned down the pure black and did likewise with the hand and gun.
3.) To tone down and unify the tear with flesh and the exposed hand I picked color from the blue glow outlining the form and on a new layer and a big brush painted that area then blurred it out then changed the layer to overlay..
This was done with photoshop but can as easily be done with Gimp.
Once again hope you don't mind :angel:
Don't know if the image will show since the link looks broken in preview.
So here's the link to view is:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/v00vobni1z37vsu/quarter4 example.jpg?dl=0

 

[Trick]

What about:

Black-and-white arm coming in from the right side of the page.

Tattoo super-prominent on the arm, shaded red for blood.

A bloody knife in the hand arcing over the arm.

A drip of blood falling from the arm onto the tattoo.

Title above, author below.

I like the idea, but I want to make sure we're picturing the same thing. Are you imagining the arm from above or below the elbow? Perhaps with the elbow bent to accommodate the blade curving enough to drip blood on the arm? I'm picturing a relatively straight blade with the sharp side tapering to a mild curve.

The tattoo can't be red but it could be white. I tried to give them a blue tint but they really would be closer to white anyway. (the villain has red tattoos and the color carries a specific meaning)

 

[Trick]

Hi Trick, I haven't read through the conversation but I believe you're wanting some feedback on the cover. In art school the instructor would pick-up our brush or charcoal and on our work illustrate a technique or method to help us along. I hope you don't mind but I've done this to your cover. I would of taken be an hour to write what's visually posted.

1.) To create an illusion of space be sure what is not of interest does not have more contrast than what is the interest. In this case it seems the figure in the foreground is more important than the detailed background. However the background is as in focus as the figure and the level detail is even more than the figure. So I blurred the background just a little to knockout the detail and made it a little darker than the figure.
2.) If an image is not complete black and white try to never use black to outline form...So I picked color around the tear and toned down the pure black and did likewise with the hand and gun.
3.) To tone down and unify the tear with flesh and the exposed hand I picked color from the blue glow outlining the form and on a new layer and a big brush painted that area then blurred it out then changed the layer to overlay..
This was done with photoshop but can as easily be done with Gimp.
Once again hope you don't mind :angel:
Don't know if the image will show since the link looks broken in preview.
So here's the link to view is:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/v00vobni1z37vsu/quarter4 example.jpg?dl=0

Thank you! I don't mind at all. It does look quite a bit more realistic the way you have it. And actually I just got photoshop thanks to Devor pointing out a great amazon sale. I'll be messing with it and I'll definitely keep your points in mind.

 

[Devor]

I like the idea, but I want to make sure we're picturing the same thing. Are you imagining the arm from above or below the elbow? Perhaps with the elbow bent to accommodate the blade curving enough to drip blood on the arm? I'm picturing a relatively straight blade with the sharp side tapering to a mild curve.

The tattoo can't be red but it could be white. I tried to give them a blue tint but they really would be closer to white anyway. (the villain has red tattoos and the color carries a specific meaning)

Specifically I was thinking below the elbow, but at just enough of an upward slant to let the dagger arc above the arm. But play with it or run it by an art guy - there's only so much you can see without some kind of an image in front of you.

A drop of red blood on a white tattoo sounds pretty cool as well. Red and white typically represent bandages.

 

[Trick]

Specifically I was thinking below the elbow, but at just enough of an upward slant to let the dagger arc above the arm. But play with it or run it by an art guy - there's only so much you can see without some kind of an image in front of you.

A drop of red blood on a white tattoo sounds pretty cool as well. Red and white typically represent bandages.

How about this? Not a final image, just a concept:

 

[Devor]

I think I was picturing him holding the dagger backwards and a little closer to the arm. But make it a little bigger and this would be a good mock up.

 

[Trick]

I think I was picturing him holding the dagger backwards and a little closer to the arm. But make it a little bigger and this would be a good mock up.

If he was holding it backwards the arm would be upside down. Would that seem odd?

This image is at half size the original.

 

[mt_jupiter]

This recent pic looks good. Cool tattoo effect. Visually to me if the knife was angled about 10 or so degrees more to the right of the picture would make a nicer composition. Where the knife meets the hand would be the pivot point.

 

[Trick]

This recent pic looks good. Cool tattoo effect. Visually to me if the knife was angled about 10 or so degrees more to the right of the picture would make a nicer composition. Where the knife meets the hand would be the pivot point.

Thanks. I tried out changing the angle and I'm also looking at simpler tattoo options (the above one looks like a white sleeve at thumbnail size).

 

[mt_jupiter]

Aww I can see how that could be because of the curve of the ear. Are you able to rotate the tattoo or may be flip it so the wolf faces toward the hand? That might do the trick of decuffing and may symbolize at least 2 things: the wolf bites the hand that feeds it, beware I bite (since it faces away from the bearer of the tat).

 

[Trick]

Aww I can see how that could be because of the curve of the ear. Are you able to rotate the tattoo or may be flip it so the wolf faces toward the hand? That might do the trick of decuffing and may symbolize at least 2 things: the wolf bites the hand that feeds it, beware I bite (since it faces away from the bearer of the tat).

Actually, the earlier version with the larger, more complex tattoo is the one that looks like a sleeve at thumbnail but now that you point it out, the head-only tattoo does create an odd look with that smooth ear. In the below, I messed with it a bit and instead of tilting just the knife, I tilted the whole hand and knife together, plus added some sample text.