Do
It Yourself Cover Art
The
Basics for an Extremely Competitive Market
Okay. Face it. Creating cover art is psychological
warfare. Your book you are designing a cover for is competing against
approximately some 17 thousand releases total in a day. You heard me
right. 17 THOUSAND releases. I heard this news on a Thursday in the middle of
the month— not a traditional publisher release day. So think about how many
releases there are coming out on the popular beginning of the month or end
of month days.
Now this number includes all genres and authors of varying
talent. But still, 17 THOUSAND. And your book has to stand
out enough from the pack with your marketing and social networking to garner
sales. Face it, your book WILL be judged by it's cover first, it's
tag and blurb second, and it's content last.
Reviewers these days will take your cover and take into
account if they bother to leave a review at all. And yes, while no 'real'
author considers Kindle, Goodreads, or BN reviews to have merit. Those reader
reviews do have enough weight to make us trip completely out on a social
networking site when some reader turns into a nasty troll just to bring you
down. (All Amazon, Kindle, Goodreads, and Barnes and Noble trademarks and
copyrights are acknowledged in this article.)
Here some of the tips.
Here are the first 3 things that I start out with
in mind when beginning a cover.
1) THEME- This has to do with the 'feel' of my
author's book. If the overall tone of the book is light and funny, I will try
to use brighter colors and some sunshine to convey that feeling. If the tone of
the book is dark, then I try to use dark colors. Unless you are Janet
Evanovitch or Nora Roberts, (All Trademarks and Copyrights pertaining to Janet
Evanovitch or Nora Roberts are acknowledged) or some other wildly famous author
who can sell a book by the name only and forget what the cover looks like.
2) What is TRENDING and selling ONLINE-
Funny. While what is selling for a particular NY Times author in the store may
not be sellable as an online book. For a time cartoon style covers were
very popular in the physical bookstores for certain funny
popular authors. I thought that this style would fit perfectly with a
couple of particular authors. My authors were wildly funny with a great story
that moved at a fast pace. Sadly, I was wrong and had to reissue covers
because the reviewers hated non-photo cartoon style covers that I'd put in
close to 40 or more collective hours carefully putting together.
So now, unless I ever get my hands on a Manga artist, I
will not do cartoon style covers, no matter how fun they are to work with.
Photos seem to sell best for adult books. “Clinch or Bodice Ripper” covers
or books with the couple for the sexual interest of the reader for adult
romance. (Example. For F/M- either a hot couple or a hot guy as the
centerpiece. For M/M- always a hot guy or a hot guy couple. For F/F- always a
hot female. For ménage or more, target the audience of the main POV. For YA
books it’s a little more iffy there. YA covers so much more than the 13-18 year
old group that most seriously think that it does. What I've found is that YA
usually incorporates 15-25ish age group and then jumps again to a more open
minded (but wanting something a bit sweeter) 40-70ish age group.
A lot of those 40ish+ people seem to be looking for their
vibrancy and youth again. The teenish+ age group is deceptive too because, what
teenager has a debit card to buy your book online unless their guardians
have given them full access on a tablet? I don't know that many.
Most 15, 16, and non-employed 17 year olds buy their books in a
store with actual money or beg said guardians to get it for them. So,
then you are looking at 17 to 25 year olds with jobs and bank accounts and an
internet connection that play Hi-Def video games, go to 3D movies, and
pretty much want the best that the entertainment market can offer. (See what I
mean? Tough crowd.)
3) As for Who
or What to put on the cover?
Think movies and video games again. What single element, theme, or idea
permeates the story? Let's use the Hunger Games for example. Go to Amazon and
look it up. Every cover pretty much has the stylized Hunger Games Icon as the
central motif. For the kindle covers, they get away with the super simple but
with some futuristic flair on the artwork that personally reminds my inner geek
of Sci-Fi emblems. (All copyrights and
trademarks pertaining to The Hunger Games franchise are acknowledged)
The 2 photo scenic covers in original Hunger Games
books are still simple, with the first bearing the main character
(remember it's not a love story, it's about 'man vs man' or 'girl vs everyone
else'.) with a very simple background so as not to detract from the character's
awesomeness. It's also the oldest print version I saw, from 2010. It's also a
bit deceptive and fails at placing the character in the correct time period. If
I'd never heard of this series, I would have assumed it was a historical.
The second one features the three main characters in a group
headshot with what is obviously a post-apocalyptic background. What do they
have in common? They all tell us very quickly what the story is about with the
most impact.
Now the vast majority of DIY cover artists are not classically
trained artists, nor does everyone have a degree in graphic art behind them.
For some, it’s a “learn because you have to survive”, kind of thing. The Hunger
Games of Publishing, I suppose. Me, I’m firmly in that group, having taught
myself graphic art and am continually on the lookout for new programs and
techniques. I am blessed enough that I was an art geek throughout middle and
high school and had some very good teachers that liked to teach things like
Perception, Shadowing, Classic art, Modern Art, etc. I also tend to research…a
lot.
So how does art class play into this? For this topic, Photo
Manipulation Cover Art, I’m going to fall back to old style hand drawing
technique because well, cover art is ART after all and all art first began in
drawing.
Helen South gives some very good tips that you can extrapolate
from in her article: http://drawsketch.about.com/cs/tipsandideas/a/drawingmistakes.htm I suggest reading the article in its entirety
and taking a stroll around the website. (All copyrights and trademarks for
drawsketch.about.com and Helen South are acknowledged.) She knows her stuff.
For cover art- I’d like to make my own suggestions.
Please note that this is about photo manipulation cover art, but I’m sure the
same principles can be applied to other styles/formats.:
1)
Use a good quality
program that has enough options that does not limit you. On the reverse side,
if you have the best and latest and don’t bother to research how to use it,
then you are essentially crippling yourself. You might as well be using a
PowerPoint slide and a decent photo from a reputable licensed site if you
cannot use the basic filters and options in PhotoShop. (Don’t get me wrong,
this is a finger point at myself as well. PhotoShop is not the easiest thing to
learn for a beginner. But it CAN be done if you are determined. (All PhotoShop
an Adobe Trademarks and Copyrights are acknowledged)
2)
Flash Photography- Be
choosy with your photos. Beware of using your own cell phone or old, low
quality photos. There are a lot of great royalty rights managed sites out
there. Some have good plans that are very affordable, but those tend to have a
lot of low quality pics mixed in with the higher quality. That means sometimes
sifting through hundreds of photos for THE ONE. Be patient and give yourself
both a time limit that includes both the hunting down and the photo
manipulation.
Nuances and color is vitally important.
Especially in cover art. If you are using your own or someone else’s camera
pic, be careful. The lighting is not controlled and will have to be adjusted.
The ORIGINAL artwork needs to be at least 300 DPI so that you can manipulate
details. And yes, even though you have a beloved relative or favorite model you
want to use, they need to be posed good and fit in with the overall subject
matter of the your cover.
And as much as I hate to say it, cover art is
cliché. It also uses basic stereotypes to quickly get you at the desired
destination. So if your model fits the wrong stereotype, you may want to
reconsider. And YES, I did cringe as I wrote that. I personally HATE
stereotypes and often try hard to break them in my own writing. When making
covers….not so much. The goal is to get the potential reader to identify with
the work within a fraction of a second.
3)
Proportion- Remember
that essentially, you have a thumbnail size area to grab a reader on a
smartphone or tablet. If your main element is too small or too busy, then all
anyone sees is a blob. Unless your author has a large dedicated fan base, a
blob is not going to pull in readers. The same goes for your font. Make them
bold and simple. When you add a new element to your cover, shrink it down to
about an inch tall and see what it looks like. Get someone else who isn’t
invested to give you an honest opinion.
4)
Misalignment issues-
when you combine different elements or people onto a background, make sure they
are in proportion to one another and are appropriately facing a logical
direction for the cover. If there is lighting coming from somewhere in the
photo, then you need to apply lighting filters to your elements so that they do
not look like a cut and paste project, but rather a part of the whole.
5)
Perspective- I don’t
have much to add because most cover art is usually a straight line of sight
type of art. Truly great cover art makes you think (Like art is supposed to.)
It POPS and doesn’t feel 2 dimensional. That’s
why we add different elements and make them glow or use shadow or whatever.
Don’t be afraid to try something new. Just make sure that it fits in with all
the other elements you use so that the effect isn’t skewed. Also don’t feel so
committed to a project that you can’t scrap it and start over if it isn’t going
well.
6)
Don’t be afraid of
shadows. Often black and shadows can be used to make another part of the cover
really stand out. I’ve seen some nice black and white style art, but it’s not
done often and I haven’t found any on the top 100+ listings at Amazon.
Personally, I like to use black space backdrops for Science Fiction- especially
dark Sci-Fi. Dark Paranormal stories deserve shadows and mist in my opinion,
but that’s the kind of artist that I am. I like to use shadows to suggest a
story element that is equally dark or shady. Bright and shining stories deserve
all the bright and light they can get. Gruesome bloody stories frequently have
red tones in my work. AND- opposite of shadows, if you are going to suggest
blood- it does need to be a really bright fake splash that offends the senses.
Regular brown dried blood doesn’t show up well or make the same statement.
Different shades of a color can mean different things too. Like bright red
lipstick automatically means sex. Anyway, shadows and shades of color are
important. Use them to evoke emotion.
7)
Hard outlines and
Fading give different impressions on the whole as to what is most important.
Make sure you know when to give your elements a hard edge or when to soften the
edges so that it fades into the rest of the picture. Personally, I like to fade
and blend my elements into a backdrop. Sometimes I’ll fade the whole picture so
that you can through the overlay. But, not always is that best, especially if
you want a face to be the main focus of your cover. Whatever is the main focus
should be solid with the other elements blending into THAT.
8)
Wrong Format- Make
sure when you START that your pictures are of the same quality that you will
need in the end. If you start with a lower DPI picture and save it as a higher
one, that doesn’t increase the DPI of the original. Not really. It’s the law of
physics. If you have less mass, you can’t make more. But if you have MORE MASS,
you can downsize and make it less. Start with quality and you end up with
quality.
9)
Use complementary
images if you have to add elements. Photographers are artists who have their
own style. As cover artists compiling more than one style, it’s best to make
sure that parts complement each other. If you have a bare landscape and want to
add a tree, make sure that the tree you are pulling from is either from the
same photographer or at least from a complementary one. Unless you are
intending to jangle the senses on purpose with an Alice in Wonderland effect.
Again, make sure that you have obtained proper royalty managed rights on all
work that you use.
10)
Filling in the gaps-
Don’t be afraid to blend and blur to fill in gaps of color. Not every single
space needs a line or a detail. Often less is more when doing cover art. Even a
blank solid backdrop is at times better than a busy background.
Useful websites that may assist in understanding Graphic Design;
how cover art, ad market art, sketch art, and painting can assist in creating
cover art. Don’t forget to research, research, research. Whether you have a
degree or not, all knowledge is power.
Pen and ink drawing styles- http://www.artistdaily.com/ink-drawing/
Preparing your art presentation for submission: http://99designs.com/designer-blog/2013/03/19/5-tips-on-how-to-prepare-a-design-presentation/
Think like a designer: http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2009/08/10-tips-on-how-to-think-like-a-designer.html
Graphic Design Theory: http://design.tutsplus.com/articles/50-totally-free-lessons-in-graphic-design-theory--psd-2916
Graphic Design Tips: http://blog.canva.com/top-5-tips-for-graphic-design/
Logo Design (also how pictures and color evoke emotion): http://mashable.com/2014/04/30/logo-design-tips/
A good all-around Graphic Design Tutorial Resource: http://www.youthedesigner.com/
Buffi BeCraft- General Manager
Eirelander Publishing Group
@EirelanderBooks
Buffi BeCraft- Author
Paranormal Romance Across the Spectrum!
@BuffiBeCraft
