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I actually used to be as familiar with the major illustrators in the realm of SF&F as I was with the authors-- and would pick up books with covers by illustrators I recognized, just to give them a look, even if I didn't buy them. On the other hand, it was years before I read the Harry Potter books, because I really didn't like the first three covers. (And I did end up liking the books, though there are other books I like more.)
These days I do buy more books online than in person, and as I noted above, I'm more likely to be swayed by online bookstore recommendations (or librarything) or recommendations by people I know. As an example, Amazon kept recommending The Amulet of Samarkand and I kept ignoring it as some lame HP knockoff-- for a while. I eventually read some reviews, tentatively put it on a wishlist, and then picked up a copy-- of all places-- at a library fundraiser sale. I bought the two sequels within the week. Good stuff. I've paid a bit more attention to the Amazon recommendations since then, though they can still be pretty far off -- especially if I forget to mark purchases as gifts, in which case I end up getting recommendations for items which can be pretty far off my tastes. But their "find more like this" hints aren't bad at all.
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