The Positivity Cover Art Thread

[Kazz Wylde]

Thanks Kat, I like that Fable cover I think the best.

[KatG]

And last batch:

12) The Unquiet, Jeannine Garsee



13) Transcendence, C.J. Omololu



14) Midsummer Night, Freda Warrington



15) Midnight, Stephen Leather



16) Permeable Borders, Nina Kiriki Hoffman

[Dogman'sBladder]

[Mark_P]

Raymond Swanland is probably my favorite cover artist, but he's already been mentioned so many times in this thread.

I also really like this cover by Steve Stone...so ominous:

[Luya Sevrein]

What do you guys think of covers with people on? Actual people, like, photographs for example. I'm not sure I like them, makes it feel too... Iuno. Real, one interpritation-y, tacky. Though some of them do cool things, like the Unquiet cover up there.

I know this is meant to be praise only but the topic seemed rather small to sstart up a new thread about.

[TooNice]

I think it can work, but it's quite hard. I like this one

[Loerwyn]

I spent months looking for that cover, and I have it.

Generally I find 'photo' covers to be absolutely terrible, but some can be done right. I much prefer the work of a good artist (Chan, Komarck, Dos Santos, Swanland, etc.), though.

[TooNice]

I think due to fantasy's otherworldly nature an actual photograph just feels odd somehow. Under the Dome benefits from being grounded in our world.

[Loerwyn]

No, it's not that, I think it's just fantasy attracts people who don't understand how proportions and posing should work, hence why Urban Fantasy covers are so anatomically broken and why most photo covers - shadowy figure or otherwise - tend to look a bit pants.

King's publishers can afford to spend a bit extra on a really, really decent photographer and editor. Ace/Roc, Del Rey/Spectra, Gollancz, Tor UK, etc. largely cannot - or not to the same extent.

[TooNice]

Does a good photographer really cost much more than a good artist?

[Loerwyn]

You have the model to pay for, the costuming, the post-production of the photograph and so forth.

[KatG]

The artists use models too. In costumes. That's how we got Fabio. And sometimes the artists are using picture models with computer graphics. I think that's where some of the off proportions sometimes come in, in the blend. King's Under the Dome is one of his SF horror novels, so a photo was a possibility. There have been some good photo fantasy ones, but there is such a long tradition of fantasy cover art, I think people are less receptive. But I like for instance Jo Walton's Among Others cover that we've had up in the thread previously.

[Contrarius]

The artists use models too. In costumes. That's how we got Fabio. And sometimes the artists are using picture models with computer graphics. I think that's where some of the off proportions sometimes come in, in the blend. King's Under the Dome is one of his SF horror novels, so a photo was a possibility. There have been some good photo fantasy ones, but there is such a long tradition of fantasy cover art, I think people are less receptive. But I like for instance Jo Walton's Among Others cover that we've had up in the thread previously.

Speaking of computer-manipulated photo covers, I like the photoshopped cover for The Heroes -- though I'm not a fan of the matching cover for Best Served Cold. Photos can indeed be put to good use.

[Luya Sevrein]

Speaking of computer-manipulated photo covers, I like the photoshopped cover for The Heroes -- though I'm not a fan of the matching cover for Best Served Cold. Photos can indeed be put to good use.

Can I see those? I'm not sure which ones you mean.

[Mark_P]

I think due to fantasy's otherworldly nature an actual photograph just feels odd somehow.

Agreed. Fantasy is supposed to be an escape from reality, and the juxtaposition of an invented/magical world with an actual photo on the cover doesn't work for me. Of course, this MIGHT work with some urban fantasy, but that's the limit.