I'm curious as to why the Author has so little control of the artwork on the cover.
Is it a timing thing?
How much time does the Artist have before it's due?
Is the Artist typically just given a rough outline of a scene?
For example, was Sweet just given a few pages from the manuscript to go on?
I understand , obviously, that the book isn't published yet so the artist has to make due with whatever info he/she is given.
Is it traditional that the Author and Artist seldom see eye to eye?
Can they not work together or is that like mixing oil and water?
Can someone give me a typical behind the scenes kinda thing?
High Lord Tolkien wrote:I'm curious as to why the Author has so little control of the artwork on the cover.
Is it a timing thing?
How much time does the Artist have before it's due?
Is the Artist typically just given a rough outline of a scene?
For example, was Sweet just given a few pages from the manuscript to go on?
I understand , obviously, that the book isn't published yet so the artist has to make due with whatever info he/she is given.
Is it traditional that the Author and Artist seldom see eye to eye?
Can they not work together or is that like mixing oil and water?
Can someone give me a typical behind the scenes kinda thing?
tia.
This is just what I've heard, but supposedly Sweet despises fantasy even though he's done so many covers for fantasy novels. I don't know if that affects his work, though.
I've also read a story somewhere from a guy who had a teacher in high school who painted covers for bodice rippers as a part-time gig. Apparently, the publisher would just tell him something like "18th century, busty redhead" and have him do a cover based on that.
Encryptic, thanks for the reply.
I hate to say it but i'm one of those people that judges a book by it's cover.
Cover art defines what is in the book even if it totally contradicts the text.
I mean, those images of Mhoram and the Forestal and Covenant and Linden are *it* for me.
The image in my mind has altered a bit since I've read the stories over and over but it's basicaly the cover image I see.
I wonder how many oddballs there are like me that will pass over or pick up a book because of the cover?
(Did I mention my extensive collection of boddice ripping novels I have?)
I wonder how many oddballs there are like me that will pass over or pick up a book because of the cover?
Learn from my mistakes: I started the Sword of Truth series based on the cover of Wizard's First Rule.
Goodkind's stuff isn't awful, it just gets really preachy in the later books, which I find highly annoying. In the very least, it's a step up from Salvatore's stuff.
In any case, I didn't so much mind the art as the garishly flat-colored borders of Sweet's stuff, but I like the more contemporary covers (Of which I have none) that look Runes of the Earth-ish more, from what I've seen of the scans.
Go Godzilla, go!
Jurassic Lizard Superstar Hero
Go Godzilla, go!
For the people, for the planet!
I'm curious as to why the Author has so little control of the artwork on the cover.
Because the publisher is the one shelling out the money (both for the art, and for the whole production). So he controls.
Is it a timing thing?
Not primarily. If there were all the time in the world available, the publisher still wouldn’t give the author control over the art. But time is a factor in terms of the artist having to do his work while the book is being written.
How much time does the Artist have before it's due?
Usually many months, maybe even half a year or more. Understand, though, that he gets that much time only because he is given his assignment well before the book is completed (or sometimes even started). And of course it’s typical for his first efforts to be sent back for revision.
Is the Artist typically just given a rough outline of a scene?
Yes, or not even a scene, just a description of what is wanted. Of course, once he’s painted a character for Book One, for instance, it’s understood that the same character in Book Three or Five should look similar. One of the things that drives Wheel fans crazy about DKS is that his Rand and Perrin keep changing from book to book. They don’t match the book(s), and they don’t even match each other. Maybe some of this is caused by trying to “correct” the depictions to match the text and the readers’ expectations.
For example, was Sweet just given a few pages from the manuscript to go on?
Probably no pages. Even if SRD had written specific pages at the time DKS was given the commission, the publisher would not have sent those to an illustrator.
I understand, obviously, that the book isn't published yet so the artist has to make due with whatever info he/she is given.
Exactly.
Is it traditional that the Author and Artist seldom see eye to eye?
Absolutely. It would probably shock a publisher or artist to hear an author praise the artwork, and it would shock an author to see his vision of a scene fully realized by another person.
Can they not work together or is that like mixing oil and water?
In the Internet era, you’d think they could confer and that the artist could get constant feedback. That could happen, but it probably doesn’t and won’t. An artist isn’t going to put up with amateur criticism for long, and the publisher has no interest in letting the author hang over the artist’s shoulder. That’s just going to exasperate the artist and force the publisher to find a new one. More importantly, the publisher is paying the artist to paint what the publisher asks for, not what the author would prefer.
As for Goodkind, I just read his latest, Chainfire. I don’t know why I keep picking his books up. I think it’s because he actually resolves each book. He’s a rare exception in today’s serial fantasy world. I agree that he’s not very good, and he is definitely a crank, like of lot of Ayn Rand disciples. Also, he writes long novels to (over-) illustrate a single point (often a fairly trite one).
Thaale wrote:
Is the Artist typically just given a rough outline of a scene?
Yes, or not even a scene, just a description of what is wanted. Of course, once he’s painted a character for Book One, for instance, it’s understood that the same character in Book Three or Five should look similar. One of the things that drives Wheel fans crazy about DKS is that his Rand and Perrin keep changing from book to book. They don’t match the book(s), and they don’t even match each other. Maybe some of this is caused by trying to “correct” the depictions to match the text and the readers’ expectations.
I hear you on this one. There's a pretty funny spoof of the Wheel of Time covers on the Net somewhere that basically tries to figure out just what the hell is supposed to be going on on the covers of the Wheel of Time books.
