First, from Rebecca, this is a fascinating article that profiles Claire Brown, who designs covers for romance novels from Forever.
I love this article because it's not condescending or snide- it talks about the art involved.
The design of the romance genre is driven by sales, but the formula works. “There are constraints in how much we can deviate without alienating the reader,” Brown says. “Familiarity in typeface and painterly style reassures the reader that this book is what you think it is going to be, and you are going to love it.
“With that said, there are an infinite number of design problems that need to be solved within the constraints of a romance cover. The canvas is very small and the typography and setting are grand. A knowledge of history and classical art, architecture, and furnishings is important. We have a library of classical art books, contemporary high fashion, architecture, and interior design. I take field trips to the Met for inspiration.
And speaking of the art involved, check this weirdness. I am on the mailing list for a local art supply store because they have fantastic sales on Crayola and other art supplies my kids love. So today Jerry's Artist Outlet had an announcement for a special program 2 June with artist Max Ginsburg.
Ok, neat, but I'm not into painting, so I didn't think much beyond, “Hey, that's cool.” I liked the samples on the page and thought they looked familiar, but then I went on to the other sixty-zillion messages in my inbox.
Until I signed into Pinterest – and hello, no wonder Max Ginsburg's art style looks familiar – he does romance covers!
He's done several of Kleypas and Quinn's covers, including Suddenly You – both the cover and the step back, Dreaming of You (I love how he describes the author as “the famous and important Romance Writer, Lisa Kleypas” — right on, Max), The Duke and I and Brighter Than the Sun.
His illustration process is fascinating. I'm tempted to go to the day with Max, except I'm totally busy that day, and I wouldn't want to rob someone who is a painter of the chance to see him in action.
At RT, Angela James was helping Nalini Singh at her signing, and told me one of Nalini's fans brought a giclee print of the cover of Archangels' Consort, which was created by Tony Mauro – who sells calendars of his cover art as well. I heard that the print itself, full size with the full background which isn't seen on the cover of the book, is just stunning.
Do you have a favorite cover artist, or piece of cover art? What book cover would you want to own in poster size?
ETA: Cover Contest for 2011 is Live and taking votes! WOO!
Wow, that was a great trip down memory lane with Max Ginsburg! I remember Zemindar, Shadow of the Moon, and I still have my copy of Night Sky, which is a great book.
The classiest, most stylish and, as it turns out, most successful cover art of them all is Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James. It’s very stylish and very relevant to the story too, yet it’s not embarrassing as typical romance covers. It’s definitely part of the success of the book.
Hi, Keira – I can tell you a little about the design process for the covers of my books, although they probably are NOT representative of the romance genre since they were published by a mystery publisher. (And within the mystery genre, they may be atypical since they were published by a small and very personalized press.)
Soho Crime (the imprint that published my novels) publishes mystery SERIES only, almost exclusively set outside the US in “exotic” locations. Since the focus is on the brand, they have a very specific look for all their titles, and the spine of each series in paperback has a color specific to the author. (So mine are yellow, Cara Black’s are midnight blue, Peter Lovesey’s are turquoise, etc.) The covers themselves are photos, framed by the spine color. (The spine colors are sometimes non-random. Mine are the yellow of the Spanish flag, since my books are set in Spain, and Qiu Xialong’s, which begin with “Death of a Red Heroine” are red, to mimic the Chinese flag.) While I was with Soho they switched the look of their hardcovers, to be one photo over the entire dust jacket, instead of having the hardcover mimic the paperback, where one photo is in the upper right corner, signaling the LOCATION of the mystery (generally a landscape shot) while the other, in the bottom half of the cover, generally shows something about the characters. (I recall my editor, the late Laura Hruska, saying that human figures are important, since they sell.)
That much is the formula for all books in the line, and it’s a pretty effective branding. (I’ve heard people say they pick up Soho books based on knowing that the Soho brand is something they like.) For individual books, the cover artist (Cheryl Cipriani) got info from the editor about the setting of the book, and a blurb about the story, and then made a mock-up using stock photos, cropped as necessary. For my first novel the main photo is a cropped version of a fantastic portrait by Eugene Smith, and a news photo from the time period. For my later books, my editor actually asked me if I had photos of the settings. The second book features a small landscape photo I took, and the third is a photo from a book of photographs I own, where I directed the editor and publisher toward the original photographer for permissions. I know Cara Black’s series, set in each of the various arrondissements of Paris, feature photos from each arrondissement that Cara herself has taken. I believe other authors have pointed their editor toward photos they thought were evocative. Sometimes their advice is taken and sometimes it is ignored, if Cheryl (or her colleagues) come up with photos they think are better.
So the entire process is (or was) a collaboration between the editor, the jacket designer, and the author, and involves both the branding for the imprint, and the individual series (if the book is a series). Hope this is the info you were looking for (and that it wasn’t too detailed).
“There are constraints in how much we can deviate without alienating the reader,” Brown says. “Familiarity in typeface and painterly style reassures the reader that this book is what you think it is going to be, and you are going to love it.”
I found this quote really interesting, I’d noticed that many romance books have a similar font and styling (particularly historical romances, from what I’ve seen) and even looking through my own collection of books I clearly gravitate towards certain designs.
When I saw the cover of the Twilight I thought it was beautiful. I still think that cover had a lot to do with jump-starting sales. (On the other hand, the publishers obviously felt that the book merited a stunning and different-looking cover. Chicken or egg?)
Susan: Just to let you know, I’m working on getting your questions about cover art and modeling answered, so stay tuned. 🙂