Book Cover Illustrations

Over the last few years, too many corporations and publishers have deligated more and more decision-making to committees. I suppose this allows the proverbial buck to be passed endlessly when poor decisions are made, and perhaps this cover-your-posterior is a necessity during these rocky financial times.

However it’s arguable whether anything great has ever been inspired by a committee meeting. Or, to be charitable, whether a committee can ever match the capabilities of a savvy decision maker who knows their own mind.

Let me be blunt: When a book cover project is under the wings of a good art director, seasoned editor, or self-publishing author with a good eye, things generally go smoothly because that person has a vision, knows what works and what does not, and has the self-confidence to decide whether the goal is being reached. Such a person picks a book illustrator because they know the artist can handle the work, they explain to the artist what they want, and things are pretty straightforward with results that everyone can be proud of. Even when snags are hit, they eventually get ironed out.

This is not to say that illustrators always turn in perfect work with the first try. Or even the second. But when artwork is less than ideal, a knowledgeable editor or art director can make suggestions that will take things in the right direction, and understand how to help the artist polish a passably good piece into a gem.

Such positive direction seldom occurs when a committee starts to “makes suggestions” about what needs to be changed in an illustration. Often the whole project will lurch in a new and often terribly misguided tangent. Outdoor scenes are moved indoors, color schemes changed, and more or fewer characters added. New poses are dictated… On it goes. And generally all to the detriment of the project.

“Without vision, the people parish.” And a committee without vision too often dictates the death of any creative spark that might once of been in an illustration.

The downward spiral can be amusing — if you aren’t a part of it. As each new revision becomes progressively worse, the committee loses its nerve and becomes desperate for a fix. Soon they are asking everyone and their cat to make suggestions for changes. The illustration gets jerked this way and that, becoming proof of the old saw that a camel is a horse designed by a committee.

Having heard horror stories (and a few sad times having first-hand experience), I have come to call this process “death by committee” and it’s always sad to see an illustration that had great potential die a slow death from a thousand meaningless changes, each dictated by people that seem more intent on impressing others in the room than making things right, and/or the insecure throw their weight around.

Don’t get me wrong. Not all publishers have fallen into the committee trap. Many have not. And one must admire those publishing houses that have had the wisdom and foresight to avoid the death by committee complex altogether (Irene Gallo, art director at TOR books is one fine example of what happens when someone with artistic vision shepherds cover projects to their completion).

Hopefully the time will soon arrive when the vast majority of book cover projects will be run by a seasoned and secure art director or self-publishing visionary who can pilot book cover artwork to a safe harbor.

And then RIP, death by committee.

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Duncan Long is a freelance book cover illustrator who has created illustrations for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, Fort Ross, ILEX, and many other publishers and self-publishing authors. See his cover illustrations at: http://DuncanLong.com/art.html
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