Book cover illustration by book cover illustrator Duncan Long

It’s usually easy to visualize what a book cover illustration should look like. And going into a project it’s always good to have an idea of what the outcome should be. Otherwise, like someone lost in the wilderness, you go in circles without positive results.

However when followed too closely, a concept for an illustration can generate a very stilted picture that captures none of the excitement needed for a book cover.

Why?

As noted artist Robert Glenn recently wrote “From the evolved Impressionists to the greats of today, the most effective art-making processes follow the evolution of the works themselves. Process trumps plans” (“The Case for Visualization“).

In other words, a skilled artist will be constantly making adjustments to the concept of his painting, changing it as he proceeds so that the result will be considerably better than the initial concept. In other words, sticking to the “map” may get you to where you want to be, but that destination may be disappointing compared to where you’d be had the artist taken an unexpected detour.

The illustrator who adjusts to the conditions that lie in the creative road will generally find a new route to an even better place than where he was originally going.

Unfortunately when a client demands that an original cover concept be adhered to closely (or if an artist is too rigid inf following a client’s dictates), the resulting illustration will be stilted and contrived. Everything the original concept called for is there — but with less than glorious results.

My advice: If you want a book cover that is alive, dynamic, and attention-getting, let your illustrator have a free hand. Tell him what you want, what the overall mood of the book is, and then stand back and see what the illustrator will devise.

I can guarantee that the result will be much better than the original concept you — or the illustrator — had in mind going into the project.

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Duncan Long tries not to adhere to cover concepts too religiously. He has created book cover illustrations for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, Fort Ross, and many other publishers and self-publishing authors. See his book cover illustrations at: http://DuncanLong.com/art.html
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