What do you need from a book cover?
I’m working on the cover design for ‘Christopher Tyson – Mark of the Ancestor’ at the moment, and thought I’d let you see some progress.
The old saying that you can never judge a book by its cover is a complete lie. Sure, we can judge a book properly after we’ve read it, but we’re talking about first impressions here. What draws you in? What grabs you to read a book? Unless you already know the name of the author or are a particular fan of a series of books, or they’ve been heavily advertised, then the cover is the first thing you will see. It’s what sparks your imagination, perhaps gives you a hint about the characters or story. The blurb might be what helps you to make the final decision, but it’s the cover and title that get you to the Blurb.
Unlike the analysts and focus groups that publishers trust, I don’t believe you can distill what makes a good book cover or movie poster. At the end of the day, you can only try and create something that appeals to you, in the way that your favourite books have in the past.
I have some general ideas in my head, based on old book covers and movie posters I love. The most important thing I want is a painted cover, even if it’s digitally painted (I haven’t got the time or space at the moment to go the traditional route, but I don’t want to do a straight forward photo composite either). I want something that echoes the fun kids’ adventure movies from the 80s, and the science fiction book covers of the 70s and 80s. So what artists are my main influences and inspirations ?
Chris Foss
When it comes to spaceships, it’s hard to beat Chris Foss’ work, such as the covers he did for a lot of Asimov’s books. His use of bold colours for his spaceships, extreme perspectives and unusual shapes made him very distinctive. You could always tell a Chris Foss book cover. They never hinted at story or character, but they never failed to to grab you and turn your imagination in the direction of grand space adventures.
“There’s always been something about distance and wide-open space that excites me. A lot of my science fiction landscapes are actually western landscapes transported into a space setting. Open vistas are a big influence in my work. A painting has to have an atmosphere; that’s one of the main things I strive to achieve.” – Chris Foss
(Check out http://www.chrisfossart.com/)
Michael Whelan
Michael is well known for exciting, colourful and adventurous covers, often illustrating a scene or setting from the book. My personal favourites are his Edgar Rice Burroughs Martian Tales covers, which is where I first saw his work. To me, his covers were the perfect embodiment of the stories and always sparked my imagination.
Each painting usually had a particular overall colour tone, but with strong, bold colours within that. Take for example the centre painting, almost all in blue but with strongly coloured central characters.
“How do you distill 1200 pages of battle scenes, characters, other worlds, fantasy landscapes, creatures, weather patterns, into one image?” – Michael Whelan
(Check out http://www.michaelwhelan.com/, though the site appears to be down at time of writing)
Drew Struzan
As any film fan will tell you, Drew is one of the most famous movie poster artists, certainly from the 80s. His posters often encompassed an atmosphere of grand adventure, whilst offering a glimpse of the story and characters.
In drew’s posters the main characters/s usually dominate the image, with secondary characters posed around and perhaps a few items from the film if appropriate. There’s always a very strong sense of composition in Drew’s paintings, not just a scene or items from the film.
“I don’t mind computers as a tool but it’s a shame it has not only changed the feeling of the world but also the industry. There’s a lack of the handmade human touch that people enjoy.” – Drew Struzan
(Check out http://www.drewstruzan.com/)
Christopher Tyson – Mark of the Ancestor
Obviously Christopher’s cover is going to be a creation of my own, but I can’t help but be influenced by the covers and posters that have grabbed me over the years. As such, I want something that is colourful, gives you a glimpse of the main characters, and hints at the locations and grand adventures therein. I don’t, however, want it to be an over-crowded concoction, like modern movie posters. I also don’t want the standard ‘enigmatic photo of main character’ or ‘dramatic silhouette’ that so many book covers have these days, especially on young adult books. Christopher Tyson is about adventure, excitement and fun. That doesn’t mean it lacks drama or depth of character (I hope!), but whilst Christopher Tyson may sometimes deal with deeper issues, he’s supposed to take you out of the real world and make you dream.
So here are a few sketches that I started off with. I want to include the main characters on the cover, so that people have an immediate image when they think of them.
That doesn’t mean you can’t imagine them the way you want, but before you start to read those pages, they’ll give you some idea of the characters inside.
I decided to follow up on the top left sketch which, to be honest, was what I had in my head. The characters are forefront but not taking over the image, the spaceships are in dramatic motion, and the rings of Saturn are cutting across at an angle. As you can see with the Michael Whelan covers, I need to take into account an overall image that also works in two halves, with something related on the back, but not as essential and dominating. In this case, I’ve used a city on an alien planet (one of the key locations in the book) that has a ‘space-elevator’ extending from a dominant cone-shaped building. There also needs to be a logical space to put the title on the front and the blurb on the back.
Next, I started messing with how I’ll lay out the titles and blurb, the spine, and even the space for the barcode.
Now it’s a case of painting the elements properly. Let me know what you think!
All work is the © copyright of W.D.Lee and/or the respective companies, individuals or organisations to which the work is related. No infringement is intentional. No reproduction or copying is permitted without express permission.
