Great Book Covers

Here's one from last year that I loved:

1597801054.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
 
Love the Wastelands cover. Might buy that book I enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction. It's got nothing to do with building a bunker in the garden, or buying all the baked beans and tuna at Morrisons.
 
I really like the ones for a book series whereby they all form part of one huge mural style cover. The dune series in the 90s comes to mind. (Sorry, i have already said this in the previous book cover thread. But, you know... :eek:)

BTW, the Wasteland cover looks superb. It looks like an interesting book Omphalos. Will we be seeing a review later?
 
The Dark is Rising cover brings back such great memories...

I love The Stand (hence my display pic). Not really sure why. Something about the simplistic, cartoony characters feels sort of sinister though I think.

Stand.jpg
Stand.jpg

Stand.jpg
 
It would seem that the Artist of most covers (both book and Record) is a bit of an unsung hero. They create some inspiring pieces of Art that could make or break a book and at the very least gives some memory of the book, yet we don't generally know who these people are. I can only think of a couple of SF artists names off the top of my head. Shame, as these artists are just as SF as the books they cover.

Also, do publishers commission an artist for a book, or do they find a piece of art that happens to fit the story?
 
Rodders said:
Also, do publishers commission an artist for a book, or do they find a piece of art that happens to fit the story?
Click to expand...

Someone in the industry or just more specifically interested in the subject might be able to give a more authoritative answer but it's my understanding that they do both and that the higher profile authors are more likely to get the higher priced comissioned art though, in book publishing, I wouldn't be surprised if the majority was comissioned. In magazines, it's almost always stock art that often doesn't even try to fit any particular story, though it sometimes at least does that.
 
I have often noticed that sometimes the picture depicted on the cover makes an appearance in the story. Or in the case of Aldiss's collection Space Time and Nathaniel the cover pic makes an appearance in one of the stories,(The Failed Men) so I'm guessing that an artist is commissioned to create something. Then having read the story or stories he or she then comes up with something appropriate.
 
Rodders said:
It would seem that the Artist of most covers (both book and Record) is a bit of an unsung hero. They create some inspiring pieces of Art that could make or break a book and at the very least gives some memory of the book, yet we don't generally know who these people are. I can only think of a couple of SF artists names off the top of my head. Shame, as these artists are just as SF as the books they cover.

Also, do publishers commission an artist for a book, or do they find a piece of art that happens to fit the story?
Click to expand...
As far as I know they commission an artist for a book and they sometimes submit more than one piece of artwork if it is not what the publisher wants.
 
Rodders said:
BTW, the Wasteland cover looks superb. It looks like an interesting book Omphalos. Will we be seeing a review later?
Click to expand...

Already up, good sir, and yes, it was a good anthology. I have a weak spot for catastrophe stories too. A few in this book are among the best I have ever read.

Omphalos' Book Reviews: Book Info

I also just got a copy of the same editor's Zombie anthology, though its a ways down in the pile. Some time later this year or early next year I think I will get to that one.
 
Rodders said:
It would seem that the Artist of most covers (both book and Record) is a bit of an unsung hero. They create some inspiring pieces of Art that could make or break a book and at the very least gives some memory of the book, yet we don't generally know who these people are. I can only think of a couple of SF artists names off the top of my head. Shame, as these artists are just as SF as the books they cover.

Also, do publishers commission an artist for a book, or do they find a piece of art that happens to fit the story?
Click to expand...

Most of the big SF awards have categories for artists. I have plenty of SF art books, and one from Greenwood that gives biographical data for most of those that were producing from the 90's back.
 
Well, looking at the Jack Kirby covers for the Discworld novels, Jack Kirby must have been reading the novel long before it was published.
 
Really cool covers!

I don't usually buy books because their cover catches my eye, but I admit this happened with Trudi Canavan's The Black Magician trilogy. I have the UK Orbit editions.

TrudiCanavan_TheMagiciansGuild.jpg
 
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