Cover Art Critique

Discussion in 'Cover Design' started by Rain Oxford, Dec 14, 2014.

  1. James Random

    James Random Member

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    The text irks the typographer in me. Whatever you do, use flat, plain,white text. Nothing else. Don't use outer-glows or bevels and embosses, all they do is cheapen the cover as a whole.

    Also you used a Medieval font alongside Papyrus, by the look of it. These are conflicting styles, having been borne of two different cultures from two different parts of the world.

    You really want to replace the papyrus with something like Trajan or Copperplate.

    Personally, as a designer in these matters, I would've used a plain black background, the icon in the centre, your name at the bottom and the title at the top. Often more is less.
     
  2. Jack Asher

    Jack Asher Banned Contributor

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    Here's a good tutorial.
    Remember that the shadows on the book are not pointing in the same direction in the tutorial as they are in the cover and your will have to correct the angle of the bevel and emboss settings accordingly.
     
  3. Mike Kobernus

    Mike Kobernus Senior Member

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    I have to say, for $100 you could get a pro cover made. I kid you not. It would do everything you wanted, including rock your, and your reader's world.

    If you do not have the money, then save. If your book is any good at all, it deserves the best chance it can get. And, without wishing to be rude, your efforts (like mine when I try to make a cover) leave a lot to be desired.

    I can send you a recommendation of an excellent cover artist, who I have worked with on my own series, if you are interested.
     
  4. Mike Kobernus

    Mike Kobernus Senior Member

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    Here is a link to a youtube vid. This guy designed two covers for me, and I have never looked back.
     
  5. qp83

    qp83 Member

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    Why have an image of a book on a book? :D

    Why not just make the actual book look like the actual grimoire? :D
     
  6. Jack Asher

    Jack Asher Banned Contributor

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    Yeah, what publisher wouldn't want to print a 10 pound book, bound in human skin?
     
    Komposten and Mike Kobernus like this.
  7. qwertyportne

    qwertyportne Member

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    The font in the first cover was very difficult to read, and the one identified as "Smoke" is, well, too smoky, so I prefer the one titled "No Smoke" much better. Not sure who your target audience is, but I had to look up the meaning of the word "grimoire" to understand why there was a book on the cover. Probably just me. It's not my genre.
     
  8. Adora Belle

    Adora Belle New Member

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    Embossing the symbol on to the book is a great tip, imo.

    As for the font, I think you should use the same for your title as you do for your name and ditch the metallic. My first version of the cover I'm working on, I did the same thing, so I understand the temptation.

    The forest in the first one was better - since it's background, the details shouldn't be sharp. Also, I think you could find a better book cover to use for the central picture - there must be something old-looking and leather-bound in the public domain, or find something ancient-looking in a flea market and take your own photo to crop and manipulate. Maybe it's just me, but I picture Grimoires being a bit ratty looking. I'm not crazy about the symbol either. Maybe a simpler looking sigil might be more effective? The concept is good, it's more the execution.

    Anyway, just my opinion.
     
  9. Sipsik

    Sipsik Member

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    I like the pentagram thing, I like the forest and the color theme you have picked. The title font is not easily eye-catching, it demands too much focus to read. I would place the author name right under the page. Not sure about the mist, for me too much animation or computer editing felt in the design make it look cheap.
     
  10. AASmith

    AASmith Senior Member

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    I would make the title and your name in a larger text

    I would change the colouring of your name to something that stands out more. For uniformity I would go with the same colouring as the title but maybe a different more classic font.

    Is the title: The Gaurdians Grimiore? The Gs look like Bs so I think its best to stick with a more classic font so that if someone is walking by they can read the title easily without having to pick it up.

    The symbol in the middle should be much bigger in my opinion.

    ETA: Personally I would do away with forest background and the book at the bottom. If it were my book I would keep it as simple as possible, like a black book, matte finish with glossy silver word. TITLE up top, large symbol in the center (again in sliver), authors name at the bottom.
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2015
  11. AASmith

    AASmith Senior Member

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    Sorry didnt see this. My previous opinion stands. But i do like the changed texts better for the title but i do not like the authors texts and colouring.
     

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