The Positivity Cover Art Thread

[Contrarius]

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

Sorry, I guess more than one of those covers is photoshopped!

This is The Heroes one that I do like:



And this is the Best Served Cold one that I don't much like:



This one I don't like, in part, because the model looks like she doesn't have a clue about holding a sword -- and, in part, because she's obviously wearing the same bracer (wrist guard) as the guy in the first cover, and it's obviously waaaaay too big for her, and anybody who knew anything aside from photography should have noticed that.

[Loerwyn]

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.

Some do, some don't. I know Dan Dos Santos uses models, but I don't think they're 'professional' models at all. Marek Okon (probably spelt that wrong), the guy who did the jaw-droppingly awesome cover for Gail Z. Martin's Dark Lady's Chosen, has used his wife as a model before.

So whilst it's true some artists will use costumed models, I would think that in general they would use an amateur model or even themselves (Dan Dos Santos has done that, too, IIRC) in order to get the reference.

[Mark Lawrence]

How's about this one - no chainmail bikinis in evidence here...

[Luya Sevrein]

Those bracer's look a tiny bit too big for the first guy so, yes, too big for her. xD Also I'm sure she would have been directed in how to hold the sword so maybe they were going for a 'I am so casual with this shizzle,' approach? xD; There is something odd about the model though... maybe proportions. /shrug

Thanks for showing them. 8D

[KatG]

This guy begs to differ:





In YA, models are used a lot as even when they do art, they use photographic material and styles:



And in fantasy and elsewhere, they still Boris Vallejo it and use models. And artists using photographic material don't have to take a new picture each time. They can use stock photos and alter them. When they do use a model for a new shoot, they can also use their friends and family instead of a professional. So there really isn't necessarily a price differential between photographic and fine art treatments, especially in the digital age when everyone is using DAZ Studio.

What there are is what people get used to and what they don't. Teens are very used to seeing photos on covers. (The problem being they're still mostly getting fed white people on covers.) That's been the case since the 1960's for them. Romance, which includes paranormal romance, is used to both photos and art. Contemporary tends to use photos if they use anything, and that look was adopted for the oughts run of contemporary fantasy novels, but they also went back into art treatments. That look has also been used in secondary world and historical fantasy, as you can see with the Abercrombie covers. However, secondary world fantasy readers got used to elaborate cover art, from the 1950's on, so photography covers can seem like "cheating" to them, since they want the art too. In the 1980's, there was a backlash in some quarters towards the elaborate art, which led to a lot of non-people graphics cover treatments in the 1990's, especially in Britain. At the moment, we have a very large mix of cover styles.

The point of the whole thread is that none of these types of cover treatments, nor cartoons, nor decals, line drawings, comic style art, holographs or anything else is wrong and that if a person likes a cover, they can post it here and not be criticized for liking it. Even if the body proportions are off, the bracer is too big, the chain mail has boob plates, the pose of the female model is physically impossible, the horse wouldn't run like that, the colors are orange and purple, the sword is held at the wrong angle, light doesn't refract like that in the real world, the subject matter are cute fairies on toadstools, etc. Tough luck. The person likes the image and put it up. It is not that hard to let it go. So moving on.......

I like this one:

[Jussi]

Art by David Gentry.

[theonefirestorm]

Anyone else thinks of a movie poster when you see this cover?

[Rob B]

Anyone else thinks of a movie poster when you see this cover?

Only bad photoshop job.

[KatG]

Only bad photoshop job.

Rapping you on the knuckles -- you're off topic.

[Rob B]

Rapping you on the knuckles -- you're off topic.

I knew I'd get rapped on the knuckles or some equivalent, I've been holding back commenting on some of the photoshopped covers, but I digress.

This one was making the rounds this week, for the second installment in Elizabeth Bear's new silk-road fantasy series.

[Mithfânion]

Malice: The Faithful and the Fallen by John Gwynne, due in December.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Malice-The-F...1258501&sr=1-1

[Kazz Wylde]

Pretty cool cover for Malice, I been looking forward to that one. The font is cool.

[theonefirestorm]

The Last Detective Of The Elvis Cole Series
It looks like it's done in the style of a painting, and it looks excellent.

[Rob B]

The Last Detective - Is that a new cover? Looks like a mystery pulled from a 1980s spinner rack.

[Kazz Wylde]

The Last Detective - Is that a new cover? Looks like a mystery pulled from a 1980s spinner rack.

I think thats a new book, does look pretty retro huh? lol