Sunday, June 13, 2010

Cover Matters

Does the cover matter? A question that is so often asked. For me, it does.
This is a topic very often discussed in the blogsphere and after reading a similar post here, I felt inspired to share my thoughts as well.

As I´ve already stated in on of my review´s, I´m really not a big fan of the now so often used half-revealed man-chest and tattoos just for the sake of it.

Especially as there are so many beautiful covers and many very talented Cover artits out there.

One of my favourites are the covers of the Mercy Thompson Series, done by the uniquely talented Dan Dos Santos.

















Even though I just picked two random covers, all the others are just as breathtakingly beautiful. There are few books where seeing the face of a cover model doesn´t actually disturb me, quite the contrary. I couldn´t have pictured Mercy any better in my mind. I know that the cover also features tattoos, but Mercy, the main character, actually has tattoos.
I also always love it when you look at the cover after you´ve finished the book and you suddenly discover details that are also featured in the actual story.
Dan Dos Santos also has a great taste in the colors. In his covers, he manages to create an atmosphere which fits perfectly for each book, unlike many other of the seemingly random covers in the Urban Fantasy genre.
All in all, everytime I see the cover of a new Mercy Thompson book, that´s enough to make me want to have the book.

Onother great cover artist is Tony Mauro who has, among others created the covers for Jennifer Estep´s Elemental Assasin Series and Yasmine Galenorn. I´ve already mentioned the Elemental Assasin covers in my reviews for the book, but because I can´t stop raving about them, here´s what I liked most about them: once again, the details. Obviously, I´m all about details. In my opinion, you can judge by the amount of (relevant) details just how much work and thought an artist has put in his or her work. It seems like Tony Mauro has put some serious thought to it. Gin is captured wonderfully and the backgrounds are never random but very well chosen and do matter in the story. Well, like I said, I like raving about these covers.

















These two artists proove that it is possible to create original and destintive covers, ones I´d love to see more often. Other random covers I really like:


















































So, what are your favourite covers? And which one don´t you like at all?
Feel free to share your thoughts!












2 comments:

♫♥✿Chas @ LovLivLife Reviews✿♥♫ said...

I agree!! Cover does matter to me!

Whether we want to admit it or not covers is among one of the first things a potential buyer sees. Well, at least for me... when I shop with my young daughters I dont have much time to flip every book over and read the blurb. Something needs to draw me in: cover, author name, or a quote on the cover. Mostly covers wins and forces me to stop and read the blurb.

I love the Mercy series covers!=) I love the series itself!=) Team Adam!=)

Also, I love Tony Mauro's work on Jennifer's books! They are very detailed and you should have seen me get all excited when reading Spiders Bites... I can so tell which scene is depicted on the cover. I am about the details as well and you can see it all over the covers!=)


Great post!=)

Kate Evangelista said...

I think I like Torment the best.