Cover Art Ideas-Got Any?

[jacoblindaman]

Does anyone have any creative ideas to obtain cover art? Hiring a professional would cost somewhere around $800-$1,000. Out of my price range by a long shot. I'm thinking college art student, abstract photos (i could take) something like mini faking en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_faking, or something else that would cost $50 or less.

Any ideas?



jacoblindaman.com/

[Divides the Waters]

I could probably get you in touch with a graphic artist who could do it for a couple of hundred, but I don't have any $50 suggestions apart from what you have already mentioned.

[metalikhan]

The only other suggestion I can think of is to approach a high school art teacher and see if any hs student(s) might be interested in a cover art project for extra credit and a small amount of cash or gift card for art supplies. Maybe present it as a competition with the winner getting the cash prize plus publication as cover artist. There are a lot of extremely talented art students in the high schools.

[firestorm78583]

There might be a few artists on DeviantArt. You might have to run some searches on book cover art. The prices I've seen for commisions varies greatly from artist to artist. I don't think I've seen anything in the $800+ range.

Worth a shot.

[paulinecreeden]

My cover artist does Ebook Covers for $50 and the full cover for a bit more - facebook.com/MarcyRachelDesigns - she's done several covers for me and works with me until I'm happy with it - she's a graphic design student in Calif.

[Kessie]

Yeah, definitely don't discount deviantart. Lots of folks on there who'd be happy to do commission work for you. It just depends on what kind of look you're going for.

[beckyminor]

I would also say check with college illustration departments... unless you are working with a high school aged prodigy, steer older if you can. Chances are, a high school student may also not have access to the kind of software you need for a print-quality cover.

Cover art is one of the soapboxes I can't resist jumping up on whenever it's open. I personally believe that covers in speculative fiction are more important than most genres. Cool factor has a lot to do with what our readership is looking for, so if you have a cheesy cover, they are likely to assume your writing is cheesy as well. Some things to think about in terms of cover development:

• Big enough, non-standard fonts that are readable: the title is the star of your cover. The illustration must play (a very cool) second fiddle.
  
  
• If you're going to try a piece of stock art, do your homework to make sure the rest of the world hasn't used it too.
  
  
• Get the honest opinion of people who won't be more invested in protecting your feelings than they will be in telling you if the cover is any good. And don't ask them after the cover is done and paid for, or else they will say it's fine even if it's not, since it's already too late and there's no point in being honest then.
  
  
  

And just a word to advocate for artists: a cover could easily be 40 hours of work or more to get right. Bear than in mind when you consider its value. I know we all need to pinch pennies in the book business, but I am a huge detractor of asking artists to create original art for literally pennies per hour. If you're on a tiny budget, you may need to look at stock art and talk to someone with graphics chops for whom you can somehow return a favor if you can't pay them outright. Just my pair o' pennies on the subject. Sorry if I seem harsh.

[Divides the Waters]

www.goodreads.com/topic/show/837698-book-cover-artists-illustrators

[Lady Rwebhu Kidh]

Well...I don't really have any ideas other than what you mentioned. But I do make bookcovers myself. I have made them for my own books mainly. I don't know if my style would be what you want, but I could PM you a couple if you want, to see what they are like. It's digital art, often based on photos, but pretty abstract.