Are those not delightful covers? (and they look even better in real life!) They say "I'm a vibrant and exciting fantasy book, don't you want to read me?" Delightful. Also the books are written in coloured ink. And the pages are watermarked. Who does that? Who puts that much money into books in this day and age where the average book cover seems to be a low-res stock photo with a photoshop filter thrown over top. Okay maybe that's not average but it's happening a enough to frighten me as an illustrator. Costs about...5 dollers to make if you use the right stock photo place. , so why pay hundreds of dollers to have someone create a beautiful cover? So how did you rate Wayne? Why are you so lucky? As Mr. Batson is of an artistic nature himself (see his door within wallpapers on his blog here) I'm sure he's very grateful. No one wants to see the covers of their books and think "Gah! I could have just drawn them myself you crazies!"
Okay I'm rambling. Here's my question to you all. How valuable do you think cover art is? Do you think it's a crime for publishers/art directors to cut the budget for covers? Do you honestly think it makes a different to sales, or do I only care because I'm an illustrator? (insert portfolio link: here) I'm not trying to say that illustration is the only way to go, there are some absolutely beautiful photographic and photo-manipulated covers out there, and some great mixed media covers like these ones. I just feel that cover art is so important to creating interest in the book and I'm always disapointed when I see stock art covers with a filter thrown over them(Tayln). Sometimes the combined photos aren't even all of a resolution for print. Makes me crazy. Hug an illustrator today!
