Speaking of covers...

[beckyminor]

Hey guys...I've been doing some research about what makes a good book cover, and wow is this a hard topic to gather information on! Genre to genre...even within one genre...covers vary so widely it's hard to judge one against another to say what's good and why.

So I'd love to hear your opinions: what are some of your favorite book covers, and why do you like them?

[rjj7]

The first things that pop into my mind are the covers of books that I like.

As in, covers of books-that-I-like, not covers-of-books that I like.


EDIT: Yes, I realize that this wasn't a very helpful reply.

[Bainespal]

One of my favorite covers is featured on one version of the all-in-one editions of The Chronicles of Narnia. This it here:
www.remnantbooks.org/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=24905

That cover benefits from being classical but also simple and iconic.

I think landscape paintings depicting scenes from the book or a montage of various plot elements from the book can be risky. Although the paintings might be good in themselves, they can make the covers look busy and crowded, and too often, they don't actually illustrate the characters and the secondary details like armor or heraldry accurately. The covers for the American editions of The Wheel of Time suffer for all of these reasons. In contrast, I liked the iconic Wheel emblem on the British versions of those books, although I've only seen those covers online.

I think Robert Mullin ended up with an excellent cover for Bid the Gods Arise. Like the depiction of Alsan's head from the Narnia cover, the twisted tree is strongly iconic. Also, the patterned background on the back cover strikes a compromise; it's not quite as complex as a full wrap-around painting.

Most of the other CSF books that I've read have been ebooks, so it's harder to judge the full experience. I do like the wrap-around painting on the print edition of The Windrider Saga, because it's not overly complicated, and the way that the dragon's wing forms the only connecting element between the front and back covers is a brilliant design technique. (And, of course, it's a very good painting.)

[beckyminor]

I agree that Robert got an excellent cover for BTGA--the illustration is iconic and the typography is strong, in terms of being well-placed and sized properly. I also think the Narnia cover Bainspal posted is a high-quality cover.

I have to agree, when too many elements fight for the front cover, it becomes junky, and a lot of times, novice designers then short change the text in order to work around the pictorial elements.

Thanks for the good word on the Windrider cover...the wing element that carried through to the back was a nice touch.

[Steve Crespo]

A strong image of the main character(s) works best, in my opinion. Not necessarily a scene from the story, but something that evokes an emotional response, or reflects the tone of the book. (Perhaps with a telling background.)

I remember reading that NC Wyeth's philosophy for book illustration was NEVER to paint what was written, but what wasn't written. That is, those images that exist between the lines- the things that must have happened, but were never described.

His idea was to add to the narrative, rather than illustrate it.

The cover, in my opinion, should do the same.

Eric Fortune's work is among my favorites today: www.ericfortune.com/book

[Ranger Varon]

For me, a simple, strong image, I think, that is fairly unique and quickly recognizable and sticks in the brain, like the cover of "The Death of Superman" that has Lois Lane holding his body and his torn cape fluttering like a flag.

[raleneb]

I agree with bainspal, The Narnia collection is one of my favorites. I'm also a big fan of the simple, strong image, like in The Chair by James Rubart, or the eye on the cover of I am Ocilla by Diane Graham.