Choosing a book cover artist

[gmw]

For my current project, assuming it to progresses to publication, I will be looking to get a custom cover made. At this point I still have very little idea what the cover should be, but I expect book title will probably decide the main theme/feature.

A quick search shows LOTS of people advertising as cover artists, and I found a thread on Goodreads where people have posted links, and also various blogs provide similar (usually shorter) lists. I also remembering getting lost in DeviantArt a few years ago (fascinating but so easy to lose yourself and not get anywhere).

I'm wondering what words of wisdom others here might have to share on the subject of finding someone compatible.


A few thoughts / food for comment:

Other than trying to find someone that produces covers I like, are there any sage warnings or recommendations regarding making a choice? Things to look out for, things to expect, and so on. (I do have that link from Hitch about what makes a good cover.)

I see quite a few artists are also authors. Is this good, bad or indifferent?

Lots of places offer pre-done covers for $x and that sort of thing. This tends to make me shy away a bit. (While I don't want to spend a fortune I'm not really looking for cheap either.) Should I be overriding my tendency to shy away from such sites (they're obviously better at marketing than I am).

One place I saw offers unlimited revisions within the price (I haven't asked what the price is yet). Again I wonder how an artist can afford to offer such a guarantee - he hasn't met me yet, he doesn't know how firstly vague and then subsequently picky I can be. (And my wife tells me I have a decision making disorder.)

The genre of my work tends to be a bit fuzzy, and in this work in particular (starts off contemporary but eventually turns into fantasy, but with a small taste of science fiction). That is going to make it difficult to get just the right cover. To get the best job possible, I will need to make some decisions about where I'm going to try and place the book, and I'm not very good at that (being fairly omnivorous in my own reading, genre has never been that important to my selection process). I may have to get some beta-readers to tell me where they think it belongs before I can get a cover done.

[Cinisajoy]

I could make one for you for $3.

*It would look like what you paid for it. If you want it hand-drawn, I would have to charge you $4 because it would look like a 4 year old did it. Oh wait, I have met 4 year olds that draw better than me.

Seriously, watch out for offers like I just made and good luck.
Let me know when you need a beta.

[gmw]

I will spend more than a $4, I promise.

It's possible I am premature in thinking about covers. I promised myself a few days off from writing after finishing the draft*, but my mind won't shut down, so it found something else to obsess over.


* I handed off the draft to a trusted reader in the hopes of finding out whether I have a novel or half-a-novel. It's obviously not the end of the story, but it's also obviously the end of what I started in this book. That does make sense once you see it. At almost 300 pages I'd rather publish it separately, provided readers will accept it. If my first reader thinks it is okay, then I will be back soon asking for guinea pigs beta readers. ... If it is not okay, then I may need to reconsider/restructure the whole project.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by gmw

I will spend more than a $4, I promise.

It's possible I am premature in thinking about covers. I promised myself a few days off from writing after finishing the draft*, but my mind won't shut down, so it found something else to obsess over.


* I handed off the draft to a trusted reader in the hopes of finding out whether I have a novel or half-a-novel. It's obviously not the end of the story, but it's also obviously the end of what I started in this book. That does make sense once you see it. At almost 300 pages I'd rather publish it separately, provided readers will accept it. If my first reader thinks it is okay, then I will be back soon asking for guinea pigs beta readers. ... If it is not okay, then I may need to reconsider/restructure the whole project.

I would personally recommend you put some kind of conclusion, otherwise you might get a reputation as nothing more than a money-grabber.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I would personally recommend you put some kind of conclusion, otherwise you might get a reputation as nothing more than a money-grabber.

Part of what I am exploring with the current draft is how a few readers feel about it. I am too close to it to get a good sense of how well it wraps up. I can already see most of the rest of the story (vaguely, but it's there), so it is hard to tell how the reader will feel with what is told so far.

[Lemurion]

Finding artists can be tricky. I found a guy on Fiverr who could do a good job in the pulp style I'm looking for at a reasonable price. It took a while though.

[gmw]

"Tricky" is an understatement.

For example I found one that had some really nice covers of the photo-realisitic style I am looking for ... but some of the other covers shown tend to put me off - they are so busy!

For example one cover has a waterfall lit by moonlight, a soaring eagle, a roaring bear, what I think might be a speedboat, a fire, and three! faces. ... Oh, and also a sticker of some sort. These are all separate elements (okay, so two of the people make up one element). I should add that the designer has, remarkably, managed to make all that come through with good clarity even in a very small thumbnail - which would seem to demonstrate considerable skill.

Now I might be tempted to say: blame the author. In this extreme case it is probably true, but there are quite a number of busy covers in the portfolio. Do I blame the authors in all these, or do I think it is a tendency of the artist? It's so difficult to guess until you take the plunge and try one.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by gmw

"Tricky" is an understatement.

For example I found one that had some really nice covers of the photo-realisitic style I am looking for ... but some of the other covers shown tend to put me off - they are so busy!

For example one cover has a waterfall lit by moonlight, a soaring eagle, a roaring bear, what I think might be a speedboat, a fire, and three! faces. ... Oh, and also a sticker of some sort. These are all separate elements (okay, so two of the people make up one element). I should add that the designer has, remarkably, managed to make all that come through with good clarity even in a very small thumbnail - which would seem to demonstrate considerable skill.

Now I might be tempted to say: blame the author. In this extreme case it is probably true, but there are quite a number of busy covers in the portfolio. Do I blame the authors in all these, or do I think it is a tendency of the artist? It's so difficult to guess until you take the plunge and try one.

One author, many artist.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

One author, many artist.

I'm not sure I get what you mean. ... It's possible the various covers are coming from different artists, although the particular site I was looking at appeared to be the work of just one artist - or so I thought. ... Or maybe you just mean that I will have to try many artists in order to find a match, which may be true, but could turn out expensive.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by gmw

I'm not sure I get what you mean. ... It's possible the various covers are coming from different artists, although the particular site I was looking at appeared to be the work of just one artist - or so I thought. ... Or maybe you just mean that I will have to try many artists in order to find a match, which may be true, but could turn out expensive.

I thought you meant one artists portfolio,
If a few authors covers are busy then it is the author using that artist.
If most of the covers in the one artist portfolio are busy, it is probably the artist and not the author.

[gmw]

Shapely butts and bosoms. Hard abs and biceps. Rugged features. Alluring expressions. Clothes in disarray or oh so tight. And I'm not even in the romance section! Damn, it's hard to tell so many of these apart. I'm so sick of attractive faces. Half the time I have trouble remembering whether I'm somewhere on Amazon or a book cover artist's website. Despite the quality of the work (in most cases) it's so difficult to see anything I'd ever want to click on. It's one huge blur of body parts - some of them dripping in blood while still having hard abs, bulging bosoms and ruggedly alluring expressions ... okay, so maybe I'm getting my images a bit confused here.

Every now and then I find a page that shows the artist is more flexible and original (or what seems original after pages and pages of bosoms and abs), and they get bookmarked to try when I'm ready. There truly is some wonderful artwork out there. But after following yet another thread on covers as click-bait, I'm not at all sure I'm qualified to assess these artists' work.

And I still come back to not knowing exactly what I'm looking for anyway. That's my biggest problem. I do have a vague image in my head that I think would suit the book, but it has no butts, bosoms, abs nor biceps, so I think I'm probably doing something wrong. More seriously, the image in my head gives no hint that the work is fantasy (albeit only vaguely so in this first instalment) - and any ideas I've had to remedy that seem crass. ... Ah, still, at least I have a reliable source of procrastination for when I should be writing.

Just ranting really, after a long night staring at butts, bosoms, abs and biceps. It might be best to ignore me.

[Dr. Drib]

Give me 'ugly' and you've got my attention.

But not an ugly photo-face.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by gmw

Shapely butts and bosoms. Hard abs and biceps. Rugged features. Alluring expressions. Clothes in disarray or oh so tight. And I'm not even in the romance section! Damn, it's hard to tell so many of these apart. I'm so sick of attractive faces. Half the time I have trouble remembering whether I'm somewhere on Amazon or a book cover artist's website. Despite the quality of the work (in most cases) it's so difficult to see anything I'd ever want to click on. It's one huge blur of body parts - some of them dripping in blood while still having hard abs, bulging bosoms and ruggedly alluring expressions ... okay, so maybe I'm getting my images a bit confused here.

Every now and then I find a page that shows the artist is more flexible and original (or what seems original after pages and pages of bosoms and abs), and they get bookmarked to try when I'm ready. There truly is some wonderful artwork out there. But after following yet another thread on covers as click-bait, I'm not at all sure I'm qualified to assess these artists' work.

And I still come back to not knowing exactly what I'm looking for anyway. That's my biggest problem. I do have a vague image in my head that I think would suit the book, but it has no butts, bosoms, abs nor biceps, so I think I'm probably doing something wrong. More seriously, the image in my head gives no hint that the work is fantasy (albeit only vaguely so in this first instalment) - and any ideas I've had to remedy that seem crass. ... Ah, still, at least I have a reliable source of procrastination for when I should be writing.

Just ranting really, after a long night staring at butts, bosoms, abs and biceps. It might be best to ignore me.

You spent the night at Walmart or your nearest bar?

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

You spent the night at Walmart or your nearest bar?

The nearest bar is about 25km, maybe a bit more, the nearest Walmart equivalent is about double that. (In Australia you are always closer to a pub than to anything else.) Not that it matters, there is no way that anyone there could possibly compete with Photoshop ... although, looked at like that, I suppose the pub might sometimes come close.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by gmw

The nearest bar is about 25km, maybe a bit more, the nearest Walmart equivalent is about double that. (In Australia you are always closer to a pub than to anything else.) Not that it matters, there is no way that anyone there could possibly compete with Photoshop ... although, looked at like that, I suppose the pub might sometimes come close.

You did describe both in your first sentence so I had to ask.