Friday, June 15, 2012
Thanks Michelle for the gorgeous new covers for my Kelly McWinter PI series. Looking at Jimmy on these covers definitely helps keep me inspired to get Deadly Consequences, book three, coming in August/September finished.
Writing a series can be inspiring and fun, but there are some pitfalls. It's so easy to fall into forget that your reader doesn't necessarily know all about that fantastic new nightclub you described so vividly in book one. Oh yes, and the reader doesn't know that your heroine absolutely cannot stand pink, or that your hero is allergic to shellfish. Oh yes, lots and lots of easy little traps to fall into.
Of course, as with all writing, there is always the temptation to go do something else -- like me -- over here visiting on the Blog instead of writing. Sigh! Nice to chat with all of you, but if we're ever going to see Book 3, I guess I'd better put my nose back to the grindstone. Enjoy Kelly McWinter - a/k/a Jimmy Thomas.
Behind the Cover: Images selection
By Michelle Lee
BWL Art Director
I’ve been called a Cover Goddess a couple of times, and as
typical of me, I shrugged it off. But
now, I have decided, that if others are going to award me Goddess-ness, then I
am going to start using it. So in true Goddess fashion, I have a few
proclamations!
- No professor shall require a term paper to be written for any class that I am attending during my graduate coursework. All term papers are to be voluntarily done for extra credit.
- No final shall be comprehensive. In fact, finals shall be abolished!
- This crap with “self-teaching” is not going to happen anymore. I am paying you, as my professor, to instruct. Don’t tell me my learning is going to be self-guided. If I wanted that, I would just buy the textbook and read it.
Wait … what? You just
want to hear the ones in regards to cover art.
You sure? Cause I have a few
more. Well, okay …
Cover Art Proclamation 1:
No character, from this day forward, shall have hair. None.
No wavy golden locks, no straight raven tresses. Nadda, nothing. Zero, zilch hair.
Number 2 …
What? I can’t
proclaim that characters can’t have hair anymore? Why not?
Artistic freedom! The
heck you say! But I am a Goddess … but,
but …
*Insert several minutes
of whining and whimpering*
Well fine then!
I guess I will return to the original topic I meant to
address this blog post – image selection and how they relate to covers and
artists.
The images that are picked for a cover are crucial. CRUCIAL I say. For, after all, they are the core of the
cover. And the cover is what a reader
sees first. Before the blurb, before the
excerpt, generally they see the cover.
So you want a nice one.
You also want a sane cover artist. S.A.N.E.
Got that? Which means when you
are selecting images to suggest, think about what you are asking for.
What I mean by that is, if the image has a woman with
fly-away hair (you know what I am talking about, where it looks like a fan was
turned on during the photo-shoot) and you don’t like the background, find a new
image. Isolating hair in images is
tricky, so it is better if it lies fairly flat in the image.
Also, don’t pick a real dark image of a person, where they
fade into a black background, and expect it to work with a sunny day beach
scene behind him/her.
It’s hard, as an author, to pick images. I know – I am also an author. So I know that there is a certain way a
character is supposed to look, and often times, stock art is just too limited
in options. But doing photo-shoots for
each and every e-book an author does is not cost-effective or practical.
So authors have to, in some ways, settle for what is
available. Which can be hard.
But if you take the time to make sure and pick images you
are happy with, and that are easy to work with, you and your cover artist will
both wind up happy with the finished product.
To that end, I am offering just a few suggestions, off the
top of my head:
- Don’t pick images with fly-away hair (see above) unless you LIKE the background
- Don’t pick dark images, with dark background, and expect a bright background to be put in replacing it. (Also see above)
- Think about how many images you are suggesting. Often, most covers have 1-3 images. Any more than that gets costly.
- Think about the perspectives of the images. If you are looking flat on at a couple, and upward at the background you want behind them, it isn’t going to work together.
- Make sure you know if the image is a photograph or computer generated. Some times, a computer generated background can work in a cover – other times, it just doesn’t.
For example, here’s one where it does work:
- If you KNOW you are doing a series, and using the same characters, make sure there are other images of the SAME model that you like for future covers, and that there are enough for however many books you are planning.
- If you know you are doing a series, think about the style of image, and make sure you can find other images in the same style to match your future characters.
- Consider your images carefully – have you seen it/them on a ton of other covers? If so, you should probably find something else unless you are just absolutely, completely in love with that image and it just fits perfectly and you have to have it or the world will just end in misery.
- Be open to changes … I can’t stress this one enough. Just because you suggest an image does not mean that it will be used. Often times there is a very good reason why the cover artist will not use it (such as the sizes not being right, it is more long than tall – such as a woman laying down, it doesn’t match with the other images you selected, it can’t be isolated to fit with the other images, or there are terms that don’t allow for the image to be used on commercial items)
- Speaking of isolating images, when you pick an image of a person, you want at least one side of their body to fully be in the image, not both sides running off of the image. That allows for the person to be isolated from the background and merged with other images. (Unless, that is, you just want that ONE image on your cover).
For example:
The image for CODENAME: ROMEO is one that I would not be able to move to the side. Whereas the woman in WILDING NIGHTS I could move around the cover as needed.
- If you are want the person moved into another background, be careful that you don’t pick an image with something from the foreground blending into the image. For example, grass or wheat stalks, snow or rain, etc. Both of these images work because they fit the changed background. Had the author wanted either of these women at the beach, it wouldn’t have worked.
Well that’s all that I can think
of right off. Hope it makes selecting
images just a little bit easier!
As for how I work them together,
well, it’s not really something I can put to words. I have to look at the angles/perspective of
images, the colors and brightness/contrast to them, and just play around some
times to get the right fit.
I do keep in mind previous covers
I have done for the author, and also the genre. The hardest covers for me are
mysteries and dark themes, since I like doing light covers. I like happy couples – and especially SEXY
couples. Which can cause some problems,
since I like sexy images, and some romances are sweet. (So half-naked people just don’t work).
When I select images, I also keep
my own “do/don’t” list in mind. I also
look at colors, and sharpness/starkness of images. It a couple has almost a harsh lighting on them,
then I won’t put them on a real soft focus background.
Also, while brown/red hair can be switched fairly decently to the other, turning an image of a blond into a raven haired person, vice versa, etc isn't that easy. So I try my best to find images that fit the hair color as well as I can.
Eye color on the other hand is something that I can modify - so I never worry about it when I pick an image, because I know that I can modify it as needed (provided I know what color to change it to - so be sure to provide that info in your CAF).
Other than that, a lot of image
selection for me is just flipping through images on stock sites and seeing if
anything jumps out at me. From there, I
work all other elements around the image I selected.
If period clothing is required,
then I will focus on the person, and worry about making the background fit.
If a setting is pivotal, and the
couple’s attire isn’t that big of a deal, then I find a background that will
work and then find a couple to fit.
And so on …
Labels:
Behind the Cover,
Cover Art,
Kat Attalla,
Lee Killough,
Michelle Lee,
Shirley Martin,
Tina Gerow
Born to ride on the back of dragons, to journey among the stars in a ship traveling faster than light, or to dance the night away in the arms of a mysterious vampire, Michelle Houston willingly shares the worlds in her mind in an effort to bring them to life.
Writing everything from short and sweet stories, to hot and spicy tales of kink, from contemporary tales of romance to erotic romances featuring Greek Gods, vampires and were-creatures, she has crossed sexualities and has gone wherever her mental muse has guided her. A journey she has never regretted.
CONTINUED SUCCESS FOR PRINCESS OF BRETAGNE
The reviews keep pouring for PRINCESS of BRETAGNE. This one is a 4-ribbon from Romance Junkies. it says:
“Her attention to the harsh conditions of this violent time period is spot on, and starting with a brutal Viking raid caught my attention immediately. She brings the world of Pressine to life with vivid details of daily life, clothing, customs, manners, Celtic history and the conflict between the early Christian church and the old pagan beliefs of the goddess.
This story is filled with action and danger and there are many interesting secondary characters that help drive the plot forward. I particularly like Gwenvael, Pressine’s brother, who has extensive scenes in his own viewpoint scattered throughout. Look for the just released, PAGAN QUEEN, to continue the saga of these two lovers.”
You can read the entire review at:http://romancejunkiesreviews.com/artman/publish/historical/Princess_of_Bretagne.shtml
This review certainly made my day.
Vijaya Schartz
Swords, Blasters, Romance with a Kickhttp://www.vijayaschartz.com
Vijaya on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/author/vijayaschartz
“Her attention to the harsh conditions of this violent time period is spot on, and starting with a brutal Viking raid caught my attention immediately. She brings the world of Pressine to life with vivid details of daily life, clothing, customs, manners, Celtic history and the conflict between the early Christian church and the old pagan beliefs of the goddess.
This story is filled with action and danger and there are many interesting secondary characters that help drive the plot forward. I particularly like Gwenvael, Pressine’s brother, who has extensive scenes in his own viewpoint scattered throughout. Look for the just released, PAGAN QUEEN, to continue the saga of these two lovers.”
You can read the entire review at:http://romancejunkiesreviews.com/artman/publish/historical/Princess_of_Bretagne.shtml
This review certainly made my day.
Vijaya Schartz
Swords, Blasters, Romance with a Kickhttp://www.vijayaschartz.com
Vijaya on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/author/vijayaschartz
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