Best way to find an artist for my book Cover?

[Juggernaut]

Hi all. Fortunately I am slowly making my way to self-publishing my two novels

What is the best way to find a reputable cover artist?

Thanks!
Paul

 

[lizmonster]

What's your budget?

I was lucky enough to know a guy who knew a guy. We're still working on the cover, but I'm quite happy so far. He is not, however, inexpensive.

Before my guy-who-knew-a-guy, I was browsing DeviantArt, and occasionally Etsy, looking for people with the right vibe. Not all the artists I found on DA took commissions, but enough did that I would have had a selection.

If your budget is smaller - I've run across sites that sell pre-fab covers, some of which are not unattractive. You'd have to handle font treatments yourself, and it probably wouldn't hurt to have some Photoshop/Illustrator skills to customize what you get.

I imagine the availability of both artist and prefab covers is going to vary by genre as well.

 

[stephenf]

As your self-publishing, the budget might be a big consideration. I would suggest you do your own book cover. Have a look on youtube. You can use word for the fonts and in the public domain pictures. I like to search for old pictures such as illustrations from medieval manuscripts. You don't need word you can use other and free software, I like Gimp. But it is a bit more complicated to use.

 

[davidjgalloway]

You can also find interesting artists on Fiverr if you are looking to go from idea to image. But getting an artist isn't necessarily the same as producing a cover--the layout, fonts, etc. all make a huge difference even if you have an arresting image. So you could conceivably get the art one place and either do the layout yourself or have a different person do that if it weren't part of the skillset of the artist.

 

[AstronautMikeDexter]

I'm not sure of this forum's opinion on Reedsy, but I've used it for a lot of different things as I begin my self-publishing journey. You can find various artists on there by genre, read user reviews based on the artists' works, and reach out to them for a quote. I just received my book cover a few weeks ago from someone I chose on there. Granted, it took way longer than it should have, though that was the artist's fault, not the site's, but I really, really love the work. (And to be clear, the reviews on this person discussed how he takes forever sometimes, so I was prepared for this.)

More experienced people here might use a better service, but this worked for me.

 

[brandonwhite]

I think at this point in time, Fiverr is your best bet. Especially because of quarentine, there are more people willing to provide good services for cheap prices.

 

[starrystorm]

Another vote for Fiverr. I got my cover there. There's a portion of it as my avatar, or you can click on the Amazon page if you want to see the full thing. It was extremely cheap, even if I had to go through a couple of artists (you get your money back), and everyone always comments on it.

 

[Jeff N.]

Try sending an email to the art department head of your local universities. They will often have very talented students willing to work with you in exchange for just putting a note, "Cover art by John Doe," someplace inside your front cover.

 

[Unimportant]

Try sending an email to the art department head of your local universities. They will often have very talented students willing to work with you in exchange for just putting a note, "Cover art by John Doe," someplace inside your front cover.

Hey, Jeff. Just to let you know, this question was asked and answered two years ago. It's a good idea to check the dates on threads before hitting reply so that you don't necro -- raise from the dead -- threads that have long ago died a natural death.