Cover Help

[RupamGrimoeuvre]

Here's a cover of my dark short story/novelette (MALAHA) that I am currently working on.

I need some help in deciding the Author's name color. I like the darker version, but then my friends prefer white font. So I thought I should ask what you people think, which works better?


Dark:

Light:

 

[CupofJoe]

The light author name pops to my eye [but then it also looks like part of the title].
The dark author name doesn't draw my eye as much [but doesn't look it's part of the title either].
So... Sorry No help here
I'm glad you told us the name of the story, I couldn't work out "MALAHA" from the script you've used...

 

[RupamGrimoeuvre]

The light author name pops to my eye [but then it also looks like part of the title].
The dark author name doesn't draw my eye as much [but doesn't look it's part of the title either].
So... Sorry No help here
I'm glad you told us the name of the story, I couldn't work out "MALAHA" from the script you've used...

Thanks, Joe! I made that up, but yes, I guess I should keep it simple.

I'm attaching another one, would like to know if that works better. Thanks!


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[RupamGrimoeuvre]

Here's another one:

 

[skip.knox]

Worse. "The Cursed Child" makes me reach for my glasses. The bleed from the title gets mingled with the mark on his nose.

The title doesn't need to be creepy. The face is creepy as all get-out, so the text should let the face do the work.

Why not put "The Cursed Child" below "Malaha"? The way the third sample reads, it's "The Cursed Child Malaha". If it were below, the text would read "Malaha The Cursed Child", which reads more naturally to me.

Also, maybe move the author name down a bit. The lack of a mouth is the most striking aspect of the image, but you cover it up with the author name.

White text is easier to read for this image, especially when you thumbnail it. You could try a very simply font effect, such as embossing, to set the title off from the other text, but I'd keep it understated.

I see what I think is an artist signature at the lower right. Do you have rights to use the image? No need to answer; I raise this only so you make sure you don't create trouble for yourself down the road.

Overall, I like the cover. It's arresting, which is really all you can ask a cover to do.

 

[Michael K. Eidson]

The font used for the title in the first two covers is definitely hard to read. The other title font used is readable. As skip.knox says, it doesn't need to be creepy. But I don't think it's that bad either. The real test is to make the thumbnail and see if it is still readable.

The tag, "The Cursed Child," would work better beneath the title, all on one line, I think. I'd like to see how that looks, anyway. Not as far down as it is in the first two covers.

I also agree with skip about the placement of the author's name. It covers an interesting part of the cover. I'd move it down, so that it's nearer the bottom edge of the image (but sufficiently above the bleed line, of course, if you might be using the image as a cover for a print version).

As for the color of the author's name, I like the feel of the darker text, but I'm not confident it would stand out in a thumbnail. I'd experiment with the light author's name text and try adding some dark effect -- emboss, outline, drop shadow, etc. -- but only at about 25-50% opacity and not very thick, to see if that helped give the light title a darker feel while still having it pop out in the thumbnail.

For the dark text to work, I think the background image would need to be lighter in the area where you place the dark text, to get it to pop at thumbnail size. But such lightening might ruin the mood of the image.

 

[lyl syly]

I would say that you should normalize the text, move it both as high as possible and as low as possible and let the Outstanding picture speak for itself.

Of course, YMMV.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

The graphic doesn't do it for me I'm afraid. It's not striking enough. Perhaps some work with colours and lighting might help. My latest - Wolves - has a greyscale wolf with yellow eyes which works quite well. As for the text, the angled text you used initially I couldn't read at all, and the sort of wavy text you changed it to is readible but not really that much more striking. Also if the cursed child is a subtitle, it needs to be below the main title.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[RupamGrimoeuvre]

Thanks everyone for the feedback, I'll redo this in some time.

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[spectre]

I like the third picture, then the first. Don't like the second

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