YA Fantasy book cover

kindratiah

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I decided today to start posting chapters of my novel on Wattpad. Then, I decided to throw together a quick temporary cover for it. Then I spent pretty much the whole day on it :p

What do you guys think? Would this cover entice you? I'm bound to change it many, many times, I'm sure. I'm already thinking maybe it needs more contrast and more, um, expression to her expression.

mirefallcover3.jpg
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Enlightened

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Some observations I have....

I like the font and the vibe of the environment.

Different thickness' where the horns attach to the skull (and color). One horn looks like it comes out unicorn style (instead of the side of the head). The horns look like hands or, maybe, large deer family members (like moose). They do not look like smaller deer family antlers (like deer).

Take a look at deer antler pictures online compared to a moose.

The left antler is hard to see; it blends in too much with the trees and sky.

The metal work, bottom, right corner, seems transparent to the other metal work.

The object in the letter M is distracting (white and black).

A mire is a swamp or bog, but the image is of a forest and mountain. For me, this is confusing.
 
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kindratiah

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Thanks for the feedback :)

Mire is also the name of a sludge-like magical substance in the book. There are bogs of it but they aren't the most visually compelling part of the story.

As for the antlers, yup...they're moose antlers, I do believe. I chose them for the shape (specific species is largely irrelevant as the main character basically wargs a number of different beasts, many of which are wildly transformed by said magical substance and so can have any number of features).

I will definitely be rendering over them and making them less species-specific, though.

As for the antlers being hard to see, it's a design aesthetic I'm playing with, having them kinda be made of the negative space. Not sure if I'll stick with it or not. The character doesn't have literal antlers, so I wanted them to look kinda ghostly and unreal,but not actual ghost antlers...yah know?
 
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Enlightened

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Aha, mire has a different meaning.

I like the concept of the bog transfiguration. Great.

It will be interesting to see how you make them less species-specific.

Again, the cover looks good. I just wanted to note some things that caught my eye.
 

frimble3

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Re: the antlers - if you're wanting to suggest them by negative space, why not consider the wedge-shapes created by the antler tines being cut off by the edges of the cover? If those spaces were made to look more like sweeping evergreen branches, dark like the tiny trees at the bottom, would that help with the 'illusion' of antlers.
Also, if you want something less species-specific, have you considered looking at extinct horned animals (Irish elk, etc)? If no-one's seen it in eons, they're less likely to recognize them.
 

Girlsgottawrite

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The one antler is coming out of her forehead which is a little strange. Otherwise, I think it's pretty bad ass!
 

kindratiah

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Thanks for the feedback and ideas, all :)

I really like the idea of referring to the antlers of extinct species, thanks for the suggestion, frimble!
 

Mishi

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Um, okay, being completely honset...if I were looking at books in a store, I'd likely look right past yours.

I can't even tell she has horns or antlers at first glance, so those really need to stick out more, especially if they're a key facet of the character.

The cover in general seems pretty dark. Is it a dark story? I feel covers should reflect that.

I like the title Mirefall, and that would grab my attention, but I think you might be trying too hard to get the title to stand out. Maybe plain white text would be better?

And also I can't really tell what the book is about from this cover. A girl who has horns? That could mean a lot of things. Does she transform into animals? Is she magical?

I think a lot of these issues could be fixed if, instead of a close-up, you wereto put her off into the distance. Maybe a foggy setting and half-transformed?
 

kindratiah

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This is still a work in progress, hence the choppy bits and parts that aren't painted in fully yet, but here's an updated version-


The story is about a girl who falls into a magical substance called the Mire and obtains the ability to control other living things within a certain range, something she mostly only uses on animals. She doesn't have literal antlers, but she does have an animal familiar that's a cervine and a strong connection with beasts in general, so the antlers were meant to be something you saw in a secondary sense that eluded to that. However, I've decided to make it more of a straight-up crystaline antlered headdress thing as later on she does get an artifact which allows her to expand the range of her abilities, a "crown" made from the skull of an ancient magical beast.

It definitely was too dark (although the story does get dark), and needed more contrast. I'm pretty happy with the direction it's going in now, but it might be interesting to do an alternate full-body shot version to see how that compares. Thanks so much for your feedback!
 
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Mishi

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I like the second one a lot better. It would definetly catch my eye.

I like the crown/headress thing. It made me think she was a queen of beasts, not a shifter. And according to your synopsis,she kinda is.

And I like how the title stands out more. And the forest underneath is a neat touch,gives dimension.

The only issue I have now is thetop text. Maybe brown or black or dark gray would be a better color. And it should be off center. It kinda distracts from the girl where it is.
 

SarahJane

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They are both lovely and eye catching, but I definitely like the second one more.

The tagline is hard to read. I agree with Mishi that a darker colour would help.
 

Marissa D

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The tagline text is way too small. It would disappear completely when the cover is viewed in thumbnail.

And, um...your name needs to go in there somewhere... ;) I'd consider using the space at the top of the image for author name, make the title a wee bit smaller, and move the tagline to just above it, possibly all on one line.

Also, I'm not sure the flourishes on the title running off the page work. The bottom of the F also needs tidying up.

But on the whole, it's pretty damned cool. Just needs tweaking.
 

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Where are you going to put the author's name? Other than that, I like it.
 

kindratiah

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The tagline text is way too small. It would disappear completely when the cover is viewed in thumbnail.

And, um...your name needs to go in there somewhere... ;) I'd consider using the space at the top of the image for author name, make the title a wee bit smaller, and move the tagline to just above it, possibly all on one line.

Also, I'm not sure the flourishes on the title running off the page work. The bottom of the F also needs tidying up.

But on the whole, it's pretty damned cool. Just needs tweaking.

Heheh yep, the lack of author name and the bits around the "F" in need of tidying up are all part of the whole "work in progress, things aren't all finished/on there yet" bit. I definitely will work on the readability of that tagline.
 
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