Kevin O. McLaughlin: Science Fiction and Fantasy author and blogger.
Alternate Layout and Colors for the Cover?
Still playing with the art some. I rough-drafted a new layout, which I think might have more energy. Also tried tweaking the colors again. Just brainstorming various ideas. These new ones are just mock-ups – I haven’t scaled everything perfectly yet or redone the fonts. But they’re decent concepts, I think. Like these better? Or the original one?
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about 12 months ago - 1 comment
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about 2 years ago
Kevin, I like the red one. It seems scarier and fuller. The white one makes me feel like something is missing. I alos like the contrasts better with the red.
about 2 years ago
Thanks, Derek! I’m liking the red one a bit myself. I’m thinking about moving the claws a bit though – bring the top one higher, the bottom one lower. And move the title text to the right just a shade to pull the B away from the monster’s eye. But the initial runs were just slapping the original art on there in new ways – lots of little tweaks I can make.
You like the claws circling the title better than the title over the monster?
about 2 years ago
Red one gets my vote.
Second choice is the original.
#2, IMO the title doesn’t pop enough.
about 2 years ago
I personally like the white one. Reminds me of Jurassic Park
about 2 years ago
I was shooting for a Crichton-esque look to the covers, yes. Thanks for noticing.
I think that sort of simple, clean, iconic cover is pretty much ideal for ebooks, and don’t look bad in print either.
I did some tinkering with the images in grayscale thumbnail size, like they would show up if shopping for them on an ereader. The contrast on the red one shows up even better there – the monster really pops, as does the text.
about 2 years ago
Red tends to draw the eye more than white, and thus might be more effective as a thumbnail. I didn’t think about grayscale but I guess that’s not a problem.
It seems that most fantasy books now are using darker colors on the covers. Looking on the Kindle fantasy top sellers, I see a lot of black and dark purple and blue. Standouts include the quirky art on H.P. Mallory’s books and the mono-color schemes on Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire and J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood.
about 2 years ago
I like the red, looks more eerie.