4 Answers

  1. Each publishing house has its own practice. For example, an art director receives a technical specification for the cover from the editor and selects a cover designer based on this technical specification. The designer draws sketches, and the sketches go through several stages of approval within the publisher. The approved sketch is finalized, the designer collects the entire cover (with the spine and fourth side), sends it for proofreading and approval with the copyright holder (if this is stipulated in the contract). Sometimes several people work on the cover: an illustrator, designer, typeface designer, or lettering specialist.

  2. To draw a cover that really fits, you need to familiarize yourself with the contents of the book. Thus, at first, the artist must necessarily read the work.
    Then the artist selects several subjects for illustration, which will reflect the plot's intrigue or main line, but will not reveal the ending. Then you draw rough sketches, from which the editor selects the most appropriate and interesting option. After that, the sketch is finalized into a full-fledged version of the cover and goes to print along with the book.

  3. What a book consists of: author's content (text, video, photo, author's charisma), technical parameters (format, spine type, cover materials, number of pages, bookmark-lasse, special effects-blintovanie, embossment, cut-off paint), author's name (and everything that stands behind it), text that describes the book — abstract, selling, text for managers. AND THE COVER ART. Picture, words, title, chips-completed on a small piece of cardboard, located according to (or against) the laws of composition. And in order for the book to be a complete product-from the author to the management text about the same thing-you need the project manager (also known as the editor) to see and clearly understand who he was doing this book for.

    The cover always targets the book to a specific part of the audience. Gentle book maidens, irreconcilable retrogrades, delovuli or adrenaline junks-all choose their covers by themselves. And the editor should take this into account.

    But if you forget about this and don't think about the consumer (as often happens), book covers are designed LIKE THIS:

    • buy original ones and localize them (expensive, you can use an untranslatable play on words and images)
    • they don't buy it and I adapt it (they just take a similar concept from another publisher — so-so practice),
    • adopt (they see a beautiful concept on pinterest and make IT LOOK LIKE IT),
    • invent from scratch — the most common solution for books by domestic authors (it all depends on the fine taste and common sense of the editor and art editor),
    • repeat the serial design (this is when the concept has already been invented and used from project to project).

    And you know, covers are often a taste thing. You like it, but I don't like it. What matters for your business-sales figures.

    Many people swear that they do not make font covers in Russia and set as an example how beautifully English and American large publishers work with them (Random Penguin House, hello!).

    Here's what I'll tell you: we have Cyrillic alphabet! And for her, until the last moment, there were not so many fonts, but you can, of course, develop your own.

    Conditionally, a large publishing house lives under strict restrictions: audience, time, copyright. And no matter how aesthetically appealing Ad Marginem covers look, not many people understand this.

    Others judge a book by its cover, based on personal experience, taste, and familiarity. When doing business, not just art, you should not forget about this.

  4. It depends on the style. True illustrators draw with their hands. Most often, these are very detailed works. Some people draw immediately in image editors. Of course, you need to know the work and be sure to search for the final composition through sketch search

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