This PDF cover has to be seen...

[pawsplay]

I wonder if the publishers are posters here.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If so, I hope they take this as constructive criticism.

 

[Steel_Wind]

I know I'm about to ruffle some Old Skool feathers here - but I started in 1978 too - so... yeah.

Bad art on the cover can still sell a million copies+. Not saying, just sayin.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Maybe the publisher is under 13-years-old and drew it themselves? It's kind of par for the course in 13-year-old fantasy fan art. Decent even, if so.

But if that art is the drawing of an adult . . . then . . . I'm sorry. They should have skimped on art and gone all text.

 

[Gundark]

I know I'm about to ruffle some Old Skool feathers here - but I started in 1978 too - so... yeah.

Bad art on the cover can still sell a million copies+. Not saying, just sayin.

World of difference....world of difference. The 1st ed book might have been bad art, but it's still worlds better.

 

[FireLance]

Since I'm not a great artist and I don't know any decent artists who are willing to work for close to free, I don't use any interior art and just try to make sure that the cover doesn't look too bad. This usually means fairly simple designs with uniform colors (no shading, etc.).

 

[Mark]

Well, yeah, but there's "Cutting costs" and then there's "Damaging your brand."

There's free/dirt cheap clip art they could've used that's of higher quality. This doesn't just look cheap, it looks like they literally don't care. It's very unprofessional.

IME, when someone puts something of that quality on display, it is not that they do not care, it is because they are not aware of what others might think, even if those others would likely represent and overwhelming majority and that majority opinion would be unfavorable. It is far simpler, and less expensive, to craft a cover that has no artwork or some nebulous graphic or texture. One might even surmise that the person who created that cover art spent quite a bit of time and cares a great deal. I think I would stop short of calling them unprofessional, though it is truly not to my taste nor likely to the taste of many.

 

[pawsplay]

World of difference....world of difference. The 1st ed book might have been bad art, but it's still worlds better.

Plus, the troll looks pretty awesome.

 

[CleverNickName]

"It took me like three hours to finish the shading on the upper lip."

 

[Oryan77]

That PDF cover looks almost exactly like the portrait my brother drew for his girlfriend when he was about 22 (I'm not joking). He meant for it to be romantic and I didn't have the heart to tell him not to give it to her. It was either hurt my bro's feelings, or his girlfriends feelings....I think I made the right choice