Cover Design

The sky is MUCH better. You're introducing value and chroma into it, which is needed for good art.

The problem remaining is that part of your drawing is realistic and part is "cartoony." The buildings look like they started out as photographs and were photoshopped into art, so why don't you do the same for the trees and grass? They are cartoony looking.

Cartoony is the result of either being deliberately drawn to look that way, or because the art has no value and chroma (light and color intensity variations). The lawn and trees are cartoony in both aspects.

YK, if you moved the moon to the left, that could solve the light source problem. It's also out of scale; too big. Then rearrange the text, of course.

The buildings on the skyline should be like this:



Here's another cover with a theme I've used on the right:

I found a lamp post.



Quiz: Who can guess what, other than the conspiracy, is illegal in this picture?

Ok, I hate to be a nitpick, but the lamppost isn't positioned right. I'm presuming the guy is behind the fence, right? Therefore the lamppost has to be behind the fence too, casting the shadow forward.

Other than that, I don't know any illegality. Plane flying too low?

I liked the moon and plane better in the other pic. And the lettering. Maybe the lampost wasn't a great idea.

These have more impact.



I guess that flying small aircraft at night is illegal in the US?

I like the first one and middle one and love how Shelagh did the O in Shadow.

The middle one is great. Esp. the layout of the text and inclusion of the target.

LC wrote:

Ok, I hate to be a nitpick, but the lamppost isn't positioned right. I'm presuming the guy is behind the fence, right? Therefore the lamppost has to be behind the fence too, casting the shadow forward.

Other than that, I don't know any illegality. Plane flying too low?

It's a wooden fence. You can't project a shadow through wood. It isn't translucent like a window shade. The guy is off the cover to the right. The shadow is cast by a second lamppost, which is out of sight. I'm thinking about turning off the light in the visible lamppost.

In the story, the assassin visits the plaza the night of the 20th after having seen the show in the Carousel Club (Jack Ruby's strip joint). That's what this scene depicts.

Flying too low is close but not the illegal act.

Thanks for the comments.

Shelagh wrote:

I guess that flying small aircraft at night is illegal in the US?

Very close.

The plane is a Piper J3 cub. No electrical system, thus no running lights. You can't fly a plane at night without running lights. Pilots in other airplanes couldn't see you. But a spy wouldn't worry about that. I spent many an hour with a little yellow J3 strapped to my butt, flying the blue ridge at 500 feet off the ground. No radio, no starter, no gyros, no heater, no phone, no pool, no pets.

Nice designs. I like the use of the crosshairs as the O.

Played some this morning with Photoshop's Gradient Overlay feature to emulate lighting effects in an image. Lots of potential.

Quote :

It's a wooden fence. You can't project a shadow through wood. It isn't translucent like a window shade.

Oh, I know. I just figured you were taking artistic license. But you STILL need a light source to cast a shadow, even a fake one. lol.

Last step was to clean up the airplane's edges, drop a wing just a bit and make it a bit brighter. This ought to finish up this project, and I can go back to querying agents. Ugh.

I forgot the plane!

Do you have to tell the whole story on the cover? Less is more.

The whole story? Dallas is about 15 pages in a 285-page book. And that scene represents one hour in a story that spans about 10 months. Do you see DC? Langley? Frankfurt? Zurich? Walnut Creek? Bethesda? Arlington? Tampa? Cape Canaveral? And there are several other lesser known places. This guy gets around. To get all that on a cover, I'd need a link to google earth.

Well, I still like Shelagh's cover better. It says "mystery/thriller in Dallas," and does it correctly and succinctly. Too many technical errors in yours detracting from the message (which itself is unclear). For instance, I see you've added stairs, I presume to make the lawn a knoll, but the line against the fence remains horizontal. The trees still suck, and if the lamppost is not the one casting the shadow, it doesn't need to be there. Its high level of detail clashes with the more abstract buildings to its right. And why isn't anything else casting a shadow?

Al -it's a good amateur effort, but you're not an artist, give it up or give it to someone who IS an artist.

Actually, the stairs are really there and in proximity with the picket fence almost as shown. The fence is on a level part of the knoll, and the stairs slope down as I remember it. Sometimes ground does that. You need to get outdoors more.

I know you don't like the trees. You've already said so more than once. The fact that they're still there should have told you that I disagree. But since it didn't, I'm telling you now. I like the trees. I repositioned one of them because it was really on the closer side of the fence. A stockage was behind the fence. All the trees have grown a lot since then, though.

The street lamp is burned out. Did you notice the absence of a burning bulb? Duh. There's another one off-cover. Stage left. If you go to Dealey Plaza that's what you find. Although they've probably replaced the bulb by now. (I was last there in 1968.) I'm working on casting other shadows. Photoshop is not a ray-tracing program, so the artist has to simulate them.

I went to the Carousel strip joint, too, and it's in the book. But I don't have any naked ladies on the cover. Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. Maybe sitting on the fence. No, I guess not. Splinters.

And, yes, I am not an artist. This is just a way to kill time now that the manuscript is done. And a way to wring out some features in Photoshop that I'd never tried.

You are aware, I suppose, that publishers don't pay much attention to authors' cover suggestions. I know that to be true. I published about 30 books with covers I don't like.

As I said it's only a way to burn time, so I am definitely not going to take your advice and pay someone to redo it. The publisher will take care of that.

However, if I self-publish, 'twill be a different matter.

I thought all this effort was because you were planning to use the cover for something, not just to kill time playing with Photoshop. And yes, I did wonder why, since a pub will design a cover, probably without your input. Well, carry on. I'm going to take a third class in Photoshop myself this summer, and one in Illustrator.

Al Stevens wrote:

However, if I self-publish, 'twill be a different matter.

... and a different cover, I hope.

If I self-publish, it will be a similar cover. Perhaps the version of this one that you said was a "winner." Removing details is not difficult in Photoshop. But I'll solicit other opinions, too. Maybe run a contest. I won't mention the naked lady, though.

Which naked lady was that, Erykha Badu? lol

When I visited the Carousel Club in '68 (which might have had a different name by then) I saw a then-famous stripper. I think she was either Candy Barr or Tempest Storm, but I'm not sure. I don't always remember the unimportant details.

Well, I created my only cover for a $.99 story at Kindle, The Valentine. It was a former Amazon Short that I have now moved to Kindle (as previously advised). I'd be happy to have you take a look and offer constructive criticism (I have plenty of my own - I just couldn't see paying for a cover on a $.99 story).

Thanks for taking a look - it was just posted to Kindle today. Go to Kindle Books and punch in D. K. Christi. If you punch in The Valentine, it brings up too many choices! In fact, they let you sample for free even a $.99 story - the sample will probably be nearly the whole story. It's about 5000 words.